Importance of Environmental Management System In Chemical Industries (Thesis)

1.1)       Introduction to Environmental Management                      System (EMS)

1.1.1)    Basic concept of environmental management system

Man-made changes in the environment have continued through most historical epochs. However, the last two centuries following the industrial revolution have witnessed Accelerated environmental changes due to the exploitation of natural resources on an unprecedented scale. Extensive burning of fossil fuels, release of various chemical pollutants into the air, the water and soil, clearing of forests for agriculture and extensive exploitation of all natural resources are now threatening to destroy the very environment on which human existence depends. Fortunately, awareness of environmental problems is growing in most countries of the world. It is felt by many people that to continue development patterns that cannot be sustained in the long term is a recipe for disaster. Governments are now listening more to the advice of environmentalists and increasingly enacting legislation aiming at protect in the environment from the negative impacts of economic activities. However, the enforcement of environmental legislation is proving to be difficult in most cases. A new approach to environmental protection is now available thanks to the development of new international standards on environmental management, in particular, ISO 14001. This approach relies less on command-and-control dictates from the Government and more on proactive efforts by all workers in the company. The implementation of the environmental management system prescribed by ISO 14001 can lead to good compliance with environmental legislation and tangible, continual improvement in the environmental performance of enterprises thanks to the commitment and evolvement of top management and all workers. Widespread implementation of these standards can go a long way toward improving the environmental performance of industry and promoting sustainable development in the countries of the world ^[1]. “An EMS is a continual cycle of planning, implementing, reviewing, and improving the processes and actions that a facility undertakes to meet its environmental Obligations.” ^[2]In the globalization world, the environmental issues seem to be one of the most important topics. The pollution created in any manner such as air emission, effluent, land contamination, etc., have several impacts to people throughout the world. Upon this pressure, the International Organization for Standardization has developed the environmental management standards which is known as the “ISO 14000 Series”   
1.2)       HISTORY OF EMS
In the present day, environmental matter is not limited only in one country or specific area. The environmental impact affects everywhere and leads to problem all over the world. Environmental conservation has become so complicated that it causes pressure to all business organizations. The International Organization for Standardization had led to the development of the International Standard for environmental management system. ^[3]1)      To support the June 1992 United National Conference on Environmental Development held in Brazil, the International Organization of Standardization (ISO) made a commitment to determine ways in which it might support the concept of sustainable business development.2)      TC 207 was formed in January 1993. And by September 1994, approximately 50 countries were working on developing tools and systems in six areas of environmental management.
1.3)       International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
The International Organization for Standardization widely known as ISO is an international-standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial standards. ^[4]
ISO has three membership categories ^[5]:·         Member bodies are national bodies that are considered to be the most representative standards body in each country. These are the only members of ISO that have voting rights.
·         Correspondent members are countries that do not have their own standards organization. These members are informed about ISO's work, but do not participate in standards promulgation.
·         Subscriber members are countries with small economies. They pay reduced membership fees, but can follow the development of standards.
Participating members are called "P" members as opposed to observing members which are called "O" members.1.3.1)    ISO 14000
ISO 14000 is a series of international standards on environmental management. It provides a framework for the development of an environmental management system and the supporting audit program.  A standard is a document that establishes uniform engineering or technical specifications, criteria, methods, processes, or practices. Some standards are mandatory while others are voluntary.ISO standards are documented agreements containing technical specifications or criteria to be used consistently as rules, guidelines or definition of characteristics to ensure that materials, products, processes and services are fit for their purpose1.3.2)    ISO 14001
ISO 14001 is the corner stone standard of the ISO 14000 series. It specifies a framework of control for an Environmental Management System against which an organization can be certified by a third party. ISO 14001 was first published in 1996 and specifies the actual requirements for an environmental management system. It applies to those environmental aspects which the organization has control and over which it can be expected to have an influence. It does not itself state specific environmental performance criteria ^[1].This standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to:

• Implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system

• Assure itself of its conformance with its own stated environmental policy (those policy commitments of course must be made)

• Demonstrate conformance

• Ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations

• Seek certification of its environmental management system by an external third party organization

• Make a self-determination of conformance

Table 1.1 ^[6]

ISO 14001	EMS – Specification with guidance for use	Published September 1996
ISO 14002	EMS – Guidelines on ISO 14001 for small and medium sized enterprises	No draft or published version available. Discussion in June 1998.
ISO 14004	EMS – General guidelines on principles, systems and supporting techniques	Published September 1996
ISO 14010	Guidelines for environmental auditing – General principles	Published October 1996
ISO 14011	Guidelines for environmental auditing – Audit procedures – Auditing of EMS	Published October 1996
ISO 14012	Guidelines for environmental auditing – Qualification criteria for environmental auditors	Published October 1996
ISO 14015	Environmental assessments of sites and entities	Publication expected 2000
ISO 14020	Environmental Labels and Declarations – General Principles	At draft voting stage. Publication expected late 1998.
ISO 14021	Environmental Labels and Declarations – Self-declaration environmental claims – Guidelines and definition and usage of terms	At draft voting stage. Publication expected 1999.
ISO 14024	Environmental Labels and Declarations – Environmental Labeling Type I – Guiding Principles and Procedures	At draft voting stage. Publication expected end 1998.
ISO 14025	Environmental Labels and Declarations – Environmental Labeling Type II – Guiding Principles and Procedures	At working draft stage. Publication expected 2000.
ISO 14031	Environmental Management – Environmental Performance Evaluation – Guidelines	At draft voting stage. Publication expected 1999.
ISO 14040	Environmental Management – Life Cycle Assessment – Principles and Framework	Published June 1997
ISO 14041	Environmental Management – LCA – Goal and Scope Definition and Inventory Analysis	At draft voting stage. Publication expected 1998.

1.3.3)    Elements of ISO 14001 (EMS)

 ISO 14001 is one of a series of emerging international environmental management standards aimed at promoting continual improvement in company environmental performance through the adoption and implementation of an environmental management system. The (draft) standard specifies the core elements of an EMS, but contains only those elements that may be objectively audited for certification or self-declaration purposes. A companion guidance standard, ISO/DIS 14004 includes examples, descriptions and options that aid in the implementation of an EMS and in integrating the EMS into overall management practices. It is not intended for use by certification/registration bodies ^[7].    ISO 14001 defines an overall environmental management system, closely modeled on the ISO 9000 quality systems standard, and covers the following key elements: ·         Establishment of an appropriate environmental policy that is documented and communicated to employees and made available to the public, and which includes a commitment to continual improvement and pollution prevention, regulatory compliance and a framework for setting objectives;
·         A planning phase that covers the identification of the environmental aspects of the organization’s activities, identification and access to legal requirements, establishment and documentation of objectives and targets consistent with the policy, and establishment of a program for achieving said targets and objectives (including the designation of responsible individuals, necessary means and timeframes);
·         Implementation and operation of the EMS including the definition, documentation and communication of roles and responsibilities, provision of appropriate training, assurance of adequate internal and external communication, written management system documentation as well as appropriate document control procedures, documented procedures for operational controls, and documented and communicated emergency response procedures;
·         Checking and corrective action procedures, including procedures for regular monitoring and measurement of key characteristics of the operations and activities, procedures for dealing with situations of non-conformity, specific record maintenance procedures and procedures for auditing the performance of the EMS;
·         Periodic management reviews of the overall EMS to ensure its suitability, adequacy and effectiveness in light of changing circumstances.
 The EMS as outlined in ISO 14001 provides a structured process for the achievement of continual improvement, the rate and extent of which is determined by the organization in light of economic and other circumstances. Although some improvement in environmental performance can be expected due to the adoption of a systematic approach, it should be understood that the EMS is a tool which enables the organization to achieve and systematically control the level of environmental performance that it sets itself. The establishment of an EMS will not, in itself, necessarily result in an immediate reduction of adverse environmental impact. Indeed, care needs to be taken that the mere establishment of an EMS does not lull the organization into a false sense of security. But effectively used, an EMS should enable an organization to improve its environmental performance and avoid or reduce adverse environmental impacts over time ^[7]. 

1.4)       IMPLEMENTATION OF EMS

1.4.1)    Structure and Responsibility

For an EMS to be effective, roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined and communicated. The commitment of all employees is needed for an EMS to live up to its full potential. Top management plays a key role by providing resources needed to implement the EMS. This is one of the most important jobs of top management. In some organizations, “top management” might be a single individual, while in others it might be a group of people (such as a board of directors).                       An effective management system needs an advocate. Thus, top management should appoint a management representative.                       This representative 1)    Ensures that the EMS is established and implemented
2)    Reports on its performance over time; and
3)    Works with others to modify the EMS as needed.
 The management representative can be the same person who serves as the project champion but this is not compulsory. A business owner, plant or shop manager, or any number of other people might serve as an effective EMS management representative ^[2]. 1.4.2)            Training, Awareness and Competency
 There are two excellent reasons for training employees about environmental management system           ·         Every employee can have potential impacts on the environment, and
·         Any employee can have good ideas about how to improve environmental management efforts.
 Each person and function within an organization can play a role in environmental management. For this reason, the training program should cast a wide net. Every employee and manager should be aware of the environmental policy, the significant environmental impacts of their work activities, key EMS roles and responsibilities, procedures that apply to their work and the importance of conformance with EMS requirements. Employees also should understand the potential consequences of not following EMS requirements. All personnel should receive appropriate training. Such training should be tailored to the different needs of various levels or functions in the organization. However, training is just one element of establishing competence, which is typically based on a combination of education, training, and experience.  After the successful completion of both training and awareness every employee should be able to demonstrate its skills for certain jobs (particularly tasks that can cause significant environmental impacts) ^[2],     

1.4.3)            Communications

 The importance of employee involvement in developing and implementing EMS has been discussed earlier. In addition, there may be parties with an interest in environmental performance and management efforts outside the organization. Effective environmental management requires effective communications, both internally and externally. Effective communications will help an organization to; ·         Motivate its workforce;
·         Gain acceptance for its plans and efforts;
·         Explain its environmental policy and EMS and how they relate to the overall organizational vision;
·         Ensure understanding of roles and expectations;
·         Monitor and evaluate performance; and,
·         Identify potential system improvements.
 Effective internal communication requires mechanisms for information to flow top-down, bottom-up and across functional lines. Since employees are on the “front lines,” they can be an excellent source of information, issues, concerns and ideas. Proactive, two way communications with external parties is also important for an effective environmental management system. Taking steps to obtain the views of these stakeholders, which can include neighbors, customers, community groups, and regulators, will help better to understand how an organization is perceived by others. These stakeholders can also bring important environmental issues to organizational attention. Taking advice from stakeholders when developing critical elements for EMS such as setting objectives and targets involving these parties will help to design effective EMS, but rather use their input to make your EMS stronger and more responsive to community concerns. Doing so will usually provide long-term benefits to the organization. Thus, an effective EMS should include procedures for:·         communicating internally (between levels and functions within the organization), and Soliciting, receiving, documenting and responding to external communications ^[2].


 1.4.4)            EMS Documentation

 To ensure that EMS is well understood and operating as designed, organization must provide adequate information to the people doing the work. There also may be external parties that want to understand how EMS is designed and implemented, such as customers, regulators, lending institutions, registrars and the public. For these reasons, the various processes that make up EMS should be documented.  A “road map” or description that summarizes how the pieces of the EMS fit together can be a very useful tool. This roadmap generally takes the form of an EMS manual. An EMS manual is a series of explanations of the processes an organization implements to conform to the EMS criteria (such as the elements discussed in the Guide). ·         Describes the system’s core elements (and how the elements relate to each other),
·         Provides direction to related documentation.
 In addition to the EMS manual, an organization should maintain other documentation of its EMS. First, document should be processed used to meet the EMS criteria. (For example, “How environmental aspects are identified?” “How corrective actions should be implemented?”) This documentation generally takes the form of system procedures. In addition, area-or activity-specific documentation may be maintained (such as work instructions) that instructs employees on how to carry out certain operations or activities. EMS documentation is related to (but not the same as) EMS records. EMS documentation describes what your system consists of (i.e., what one do and how one do it), while EMS records demonstrate that one is doing what the documentation said one would do. Document control and records management are discussed later in this Guide. One way to think about EMS documentation is to use the figure shown at left, which also can be applied to quality or other management system documents. One can maintain EMS documentation either on paper or electronically. There may be some advantages to maintaining documents electronically, such as ease of updating, controlling access, and ensuring that all readers are using the most up-to-date versions of documents ^[2]. 

1.4.5)            Document Control

 People in an organization probably use various documents (procedures, work instructions, forms, drawings and the like) as they perform their duties. To ensure that personnel are consistently performing their jobs in the right way, the organization must provide them with the proper tools. In the context of an EMS, the “tools” needed are correct and up-to-date procedures, instructions and other documents. Without a mechanism to manage these EMS documents, the organization cannot be sure that people are working with the right tools. To ensure that everyone is working with the proper EMS documents, an organization should have a procedure that describes how such documents are controlled. Implementation of this procedure should ensure that: ·         EMS documents can be located (one knows where to find them),
  ·         They are periodically reviewed (one checks to make sure they are still valid),
·         Current versions are available where needed (one makes sure the right people have access to them), and
·         Obsolete documents are removed (people don’t use the wrong documents by mistake).
  Procedure should designate responsibility and authority for preparing documents, making changes to them and keeping them up-to-date. In other words, one needs to make it clear who can actually generate and change documents and the process for doing so ^[2]. 

1.4.6)            Emergency Preparedness and Response

 Despite an organization’s best efforts, the possibility of accidents and other emergency situations still exists. Effective preparation and response can reduce injuries, prevent or minimize environmental impacts, protect employees and neighbors, reduce asset losses and minimize downtime. An effective emergency preparedness and response program should include provisions for: ·          Assessing the potential for accidents and emergencies;
·          Preventing incidents and their associated environmental impacts;
·          Plans / procedures for responding to incidents;
·          Periodic testing of emergency plans / procedures;
 Consistent with the focus on continual improvement, it is important to review one’s emergency response performance after an incident has occurred. Use this review to determine if more training is needed or if emergency plans / procedures should be revised ^[2].

1.5)       KEYS TO SUCCESSFUL EMS

An EMS after implementation will be effective if it contains following characteristics ^[8].1)    Top management commitment
2)    Focus on Continual Improvement
3)    Flexibility and Simplicity
4)    Compatibility with Organizational Culture

 1.5.1)    Top management commitment

 Top management is the persons with executive responsibilities providing leaderships skills. Sample presentation for briefing top management on EMS, including a discussion of cost and benefit  Making the environment an organizational priority (thinking of effective environmental management as fundamental to the facility’s survival); Integrating environmental management throughout the facility (thinking about the environment as part of product/service and process development and delivery, among other activities); and Looking at problems as opportunities to improve (identifying problems, determining root a causes and preventing problem recurrence ^[8].

 1.5.2)    Focus on continual improvement
 No facility is perfect. The concept of continual improvement recognizes that problems will occur. A committed facility learns from its mistakes and prevents similar problems from recurring. The EMS as outlined in ISO 14001 provides a structured process for the achievement of continual improvement, the rate and extent of which is determined by the organization in light of economic and other circumstances. Although some improvement in environmental performance can be expected due to the adoption of a systematic approach, it should be understood that the EMS is a tool which enables the organization to achieve and systematically control the level of environmental performance that it sets itself. The establishment of an EMS will not, in itself, necessarily result in an immediate reduction of adverse environmental impact. Indeed, care needs to be taken that the mere establishment of an EMS does not lull the organization into a false sense of security. But effectively used, an EMS should enable an organization to improve its environmental performance and avoid or reduce adverse environmental impacts over time The organization should review and continually improve its environment management system, to achieve overall improvement in environmental performance. At regular intervals management should carry out a review of the environmental management system to ensure its continuing suitability and effectiveness ^[8].
 1.5.3)    Flexibility and simplicity

 An effective EMS must be dynamic to allow the facility to adapt to a quickly changing environment. For this reason, EMS should be kept flexible and simple. This also helps make EMS understandable for the people who must implement it, facility’s managers and other employees. If an industry is going in loss for which production rate is increased with which the production of harmful waste material increases as well in this case the EMS should be flexible to allow the organization to increase their production rate. If the production rate is not increased then industry will go in loss, consequently there is no need to implement EMS ^[8]. 

1.5.4)    Compatibility with organizational culture

 The EMS approach and a facility’s culture should be compatible. For some facilities, thisInvolves a choice: (1)  Tailoring the EMS to the culture or
(2)  Changing the culture to be compatible with the EMS approach.
 Bear in mind that changing a facility’s culture can be a long term process. Keeping this compatibility issue in mind will help an organization to ensure that the EMS meets its needs.There should be an environmental management information system (EMIS) that supports environmental record keeping, report preparation, scheduling of critical tasks, etc ^[8]. 
1.5.5)    Employee awareness and involvement

 As you design and implement an EMS, a firm may encounter roadblocks. Some people may view an EMS as bureaucracy or extra expense. There also may be resistance to change or fear of new responsibilities. To overcome possible roadblocks, make sure that everyone understands why the facility needs an effective EMS, what their role will be, and how an EMS will help to control environmental impacts in a cost-effective manner. Employee involvement helps to demonstrate the facility’s commitment to the environment and helps to ensure that the EMS is realistic and practical, and that it adds value. The industry should involve all the employees in every conference or any meeting, held about EMS so that they are aware of advantages and disadvantages of EMS ^[8].

 1.6)       BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING ISO 14000 EMS
 Environmental Management Systems (EMS) is the foundation of the ISO 14000 group of international environmental management standards. An EMS can be registered as meeting the ISO 14001 EMS standard. Since the ISO 14001 EMS includes everyone in the Organization and all aspects of the Organization that affect the environment, it can improve an organization's environmental performance in many ways. This improved performance comes at a cost to the Organization, a cost that can be recovered by aggressively seeking benefits. The benefits of an EMS and registration of the EMS to ISO 14000 are organized into the following categories: ·         Increased Profits
·         Operations
·         Marketing
·         Regulatory Compliance
·         Social
 The benefits gained in each category are briefly described below ^[1].   

1.6.1) Increased Profits 
   
   Implementing ISO 14001 today can provide a basis for implementing the other standards in the ISO 14000 series. This incremental approach can reduce overall costs to implement ISO 14000 because of lessons learned in each phase.
·         The quantity of materials and energy required for manufacturing a product may be reduced, thereby reducing the cost of the product, material handling costs, and waste disposal costs.
·         Some companies have found that it costs more to run a compliance-driven system than an EMS
·         An EMS can help reduce incidents of pollution and the associated expense of recovery
·         Recycling manufacturing waste and unused inputs could increase revenues.
·         Recycling need not be within the same facility, but with another one that can use the waste as input to their production.
·         Employee health and safety can be improved, thereby improving productivity, decreasing sick days, and reducing insurable risk.
·         Insurance claims may be reduced, thus reducing the costs of coverage and settlements.         Meeting the standards of different countries can be expensive. ISO 14000 can reduce this effort by providing one standard ^[1] 

1.6.2) Operations

         The EMS standards can define "best practices" and create a foundation for the next level of improvement.
·         An EMS integrated with all other business systems improves management's ability to understand what is going on in their Organization, determine the effect on the company, and provide leadership.
·         The standards build consensus throughout the world that a common terminology for environmental management systems is needed.
·         A common terminology for all locations of a multinational Organization will increase efficiency of communication and improve results. An EMS can identify instances of redundancy in day-to-day efforts for regulatory compliance. These can be eliminated, thus making the Organization more efficient. An EMS includes procedures and metrics for measuring and evaluating wastes and the costs of environmental emissions. This information can help organizations implement the best practices and determine their results.
·         The environmental staff can help employees and management understand and use environmental systems to improve organizational performance and benefits.
·         A management system can lead to more reliable and predictable environmental performance, which can reduce or limit the severity of incidents. ISO 14000 requires a common terminology, which improves the communication of goals, procedures, impacts, and solutions.
  ·         Improved communications can mean greater efficiency in decision making. For example, the severity of an environmental impact can increase with time, so an efficient notification system can reduce the time it takes to respond and thus the impact, risk and liability to the Organization.
·         ISO 14000 provides feedback on the operations of the Organization that can be used for daily action and to determine the appropriateness of pollution prevention strategies. Problems that could be expensive to resolve and damaging to the environment can be identified earlier.
·         Early management awareness of problems would offer the best opportunity for efficient resolution.
·         Management awareness of environmental impacts provides the opportunity for planning to reduce negative impacts. As ISO 14000 is accepted internationally, organizations will need to meet only one standard, thus simplifying environmental management.
·         A unified approach to environmental management provides the opportunity for sharing ideas among facilities. This can increase the efficiency and benefits of an EMS.
·         Spreading environmental responsibility throughout the Organization places it with those directly associated with environmental impacts and pollution prevention. This improves the effectiveness and efficiency of pollution prevention programs ^[1].


 1.6.3) Marketing

When environmental risks are reduced, the company becomes a more attractive investment to potential and current stockholders. Three factors contribute; corporate environmental management, environmental performance, and environmental communications. Establishing a strong environmental image can help attract environmentally conscious customers and create pressure on competitors. This image must be carefully marketed to receive these benefits.
·         Employees see ISO 14000 as good for their Organization and for them personally.
·         Companies can receive credit for existing systems and accomplishments.
·         Customers might favor companies with an EMS. These customers could be the ultimate consumer or industrial customers.
·         As large, multinational manufacturers register to ISO 14000, they may favor suppliers with ISO 14000 registration.
·         Community support for a facility could be increased by demonstrating concern for the local environment through an EMS.
·         Workers may be attracted to a company with a plan to protect the immediate work environment and the surrounding community.
·         A company's products may appeal to customers seeking green products.
·         ISO 14000 registration demonstrates that the EMS meets international standards. Since registration requires third party auditing, it validates the EMS and the claims made by the Organization ^[1].

   1.6.4) Regulatory Compliance 

ISO 14000 requires evidence of working processes to maintain compliance with laws and regulations. These processes can help companies identify where they are out of compliance and take action. Regulators may favor organizations with an ISO 14000 registered EMS. Improved compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements could reduce penalties and redemption costs. An ISO 14000 EMS demonstrates to regulatory agencies that the organization is proactive about reducing pollution and committed to continual improvement 
^[1]. 
1.6.5) Social 

ISO 14000 helps to create a common language and way of thinking about environmental aspects which can help companies, communities, governments, and organizations communicate and work together.
·         Cleaner air, waters, and soils.
·         Longer resource life through reduced usage.
·         Progress toward a sustainable culture.
·         Less waste in land fills ^[1].

  1.7)       CONCLUSIONS

 Protecting the environment by coming into compliance or, ideally, going beyond compliance reduces waste and reduces costs and inefficiencies. It preserves natural resources and reduces the cost of finding new and more resources. It makes greater use of materials already purchased and reduces purchasing costs. It makes for cleaner emissions and reduces the severity of spills, leaks, and other accidents. Reducing these events reduces permitting costs, remediation costs, worker comp costs, insurance costs, lawsuit costs and fines, and many other costs and fees. Protecting the environment involves purchasing smaller amounts of materials or purchasing less toxic materials. These choices improve worker safety and morale, leading to more productive workers. Purchasing less hazardous materials reduces the need for and the costs associated with the need for special equipment, special training, and specially designed storage areas. These purchasing practices also reduce the cost of disposal. 

Chapter  02

CASE STUDIES

For the better understanding of environmental management system with industrial point of view, we visited different industries of Pakistan. The brief description of our work has been described as under.

2.1)    Hazara Phosphate Fertilizer (Pvt) Limited

2.1.1) Introduction

Hazara Phosphate Fertilizers (Private) Limited (HPFL) is a public sector company. HPFL is located in Haripur, NWFP 75 KM from Islamabad. The factory is situated on 57 acres of developed land, and includes factory, housing and other amenities. HPFL was incorporated under the Companies Ordinance 1984 in June 1985 as a private limited company and commenced commercial operation in 1989.

2.1.2) Nature and history of company

HPFL is operating in the fertilizer industry and manufactures Granulated Single Super Phosphate (GSSP) fertilizers using a combination of indigenous phosphate rock from the Kakul mines in proximity of plant and imported rock from Jordan and Morocco. Since 1999 rock phosphate is being imported mainly from Jordan for manufacture of GSSP, because of non-availability of local rock phosphate.

2.1.3) Plant capacity and production information

HPFL produces two products i.e. Sulphuric Acid and Granulated Single Super Phosphate (GSSP). Sulphuric Acid is produced to be utilized in the production process of GSSP. The designed capacity of the Plant is 90,000 M.T. per annum of GSSP.

The Sulphuric Acid Plant is designed to produce 110 M.T. of 89.5% Sulphuric Acid per day by using Monsanto’s double contact, double absorption process. The process along with use of high efficiency fibreglasses mist eliminator reduces air pollution to minimum while obtaining a conversion efficiency of 99.5%.

The SSP Plant has a capacity to produce 300 M.T. of GSSP per day by the reaction of indigenous ground Phosphate Rock and Sulphuric Acid diluted to 68% from the Sulphuric Acid plant storage.  The SSP process employs a 3 stage scrubbing system to wash reaction gases in order to achieve environmental pollution control standards.

The company manufactures GSSP fertilizer using a combination of indigenous phosphate rock from the Kakul mines in proximity of plant and imported rock from Jordan and Morocco.

Mainly consist of the following sections

Sulphuric acid plant

Single super phosphate plant

2.1.4) Sulphuric Acid Plant

2.1.4-1) Brief Description of the Process

            The production of Super Phosphates requires sulphuric acid for the acidulation of phosphate rock. That is the reason why Sulphuric acid plant is installed beside the Single Super Phosphate plant.

2.1.4-2) Introduction

Sulphuric acid is manufactured in this plant with sulphur as a raw material. The principal steps in the process consist first of burning the sulphur (S) to form sulphur dioxide (SO₂), second of combining the sulphur dioxide with oxygen (O₂) to form sulphur trioxide (SO₃) and third of combining the sulphur trioxide with water (H₂O) to form a solution containing 98-99% sulphuric acid (H₂SO₄). 

The reactions in chemical standards are as follows:

1)   S         +          O₂                                SO₂

2)   SO₂      +    ½O₂                                             SO₃

3)   SO₃      +     H₂O                                 H₂SO₄

2.1.4-3) Sulphur and Sulphur burning

Sulphur, the major raw material, is received in the solid form. It is melted, filtered and pumped to a sulphur burner where burns with air supplied from the blower to form sulphur dioxide. Before entering the burner, the air passes through a drying tower where it is scrubbed with acid to remove the water vapors present in it.

The burning of sulphur evolves a large amount of heat which materially raises the temperature of the burner gas.

2.1.4-4) Conversion of SO₂ to SO₃

In the second step of the process, the SO₂ in the gas combines with some of the remaining oxygen to form SO_3. For this step, the gas is required at a lower temperature then it left the burner; therefore it is necessary to cool the gas leaving the sulphur burner. The cooling is accomplished by a waste heat boiler.

The SO₂ is converted to SO₃ in the converter. The converter contains four layers of Enviro-Chem Vanadium Catalyst which causes the chemical reaction to take place at an enormously higher rate than would be the case if no catalyst were used. The catalyst is not itself affected or used up.

The reaction is exothermic and also reversible. The inlet temperature of the gas to each converter pass must be maintained at the correct level in order to achieve the required conversion. The gas is therefore cooled between passes to maintain the correct inlet temperature to each pass.

The gas leaving the converter is passed through another economizer where it is cooled before passing to the final absorbing tower where the remaining SO₃ in the gas is absorbed in 98% sulphuric acid.     

2.1.5) Single super phosphate plant

2.1.5-1) Phosphate rock

Chemical reactions involving acidulation of phosphate rock ar
Ca₃ (PO₄)₂ + 2H₂SO₄+4H₂O                     Ca (H₂PO₄)₂ + 2(CaSO₄.2H₂O)

           CaF₂ + H₂SO₄ + 2H₂O                                            CaSO₄.2H₂O + 2HF

           4HF + SiO₂                                                              SiF4     + 2H₂O

            3SiF₄ + 2H₂O                                                           SiO₂ + 2H₂SiF₆

The following is a more probable expression of the main reaction

CaF₂.3Ca₃ (PO₄)₂ + 7H₂SO₄ + 3H₂O                       3CaH₄ (PO₄)₂.H2O + 2HF + 7CaSO4

          
  The product from the above reaction is stored in a proper place for about 14 days. This stored material is named as Run of Piles (ROP).

Basic raw materials for ROP section are

1. Sulphuric acid
2. Phosphate rock

2.1.5-2) Brief Description of Process

The manufacture of super phosphate consists essentially of mixing in an intimate manner the phosphate rock and the acid to promote the reaction. As the later is never instantaneous and requires a certain residence time in order to ensure the maximal acidulation of the rock, after mixing the slurry thus formed is discharged 

in a “Den” where the reaction is going on. This allows the mixture to assume a solid form.

From the outlet of the den the super phosphate which is a more or less pulverized and wet product is transferred to the storage. Further more the acidulation is continued in the storage after the manufacturing itself, for the ratio the various raw materials is selected in such a way that it remains after manufacture an excess of acid with respect to phosphate rock. This is the curing of the super phosphate, where the super phosphate remains in storage long enough (2 to 4 weeks ) to permit the reaction to go to completion.

The product called ROP (run of pile) super phosphate is taken out of the storage and granulated for easier spreading by the agricultural equipment. 

2.1.6) Impacts on environment

2.1.6-1) Sulphuric acid plant:

The basic effluents produced in the sulphuric acid plant are;

1.    Unconverted SO₃, resulting from incomplete conversion of oleum to sulphuric acid.

2.    High temperature steam, produced in the process due to highly exothermic reaction.

             Fig 2.1 high temperature exiting stream   Fig 2.2 equipement eaten away by SO3 

      The EPA standards, that have been setup for the industry for SO₃, emerging form the stack is 0.2 PPM. Exceeding this limit will result in equipment damage and 
cause bad effects upon the resident’s health. Conversely, keeping below this limit causes the production losses to the industry. So EPA has devised an ultimate which yields maximum production and safe environment as well. The concentration of the effluent gases in the industry often remain more than the value that has been defined, for this reason most of the equipments have been eaten up by corrosion and are damaged badly. Moreover the gas is very much poisonous and case health problems to the employees.
Accounting for the high temperature steam, that has been produced in the process due to evaporation of cooling water during the conversion of oleum to sulphuric acid, comprises a temperature of 700*C. this steam is sent to environment without any treatment. This causes severe energy losses to the industry.

2.1.6-2) Single Super Phosphate (SSP) Plant

In the single super phosphate plant, main wastes produced are;

1.             HF gases, produced during the SSP production.
2.         Water containing dissolved acids and raw material, emerging from the dust scrubbing section.

The EPA standards for the HF gases produced within the plant are 0.16 PPM.

The effluent water running down from the scrubbing section contains dissolved raw material and acids in it. This water is not treated properly before discharging into the environment. This results in loss of raw material and also results in pollution of drinking water and eco system.

Moreover, due to inefficient and poor scrubbing system, the dust that is being sucked from various parts of the process in not entirely removed and is thus discharged in greater concentration along with the emerging HF gases. This also results a lot in raw material loss and accounts for health problem of the employees and the residents.

2.1.6-3) Other problems

Sulphur, which is the main raw material for the production of sulphuric acid is stored under unsatisfactory conditions. No precautions are made for the safe storage of sulphur. This not only decreases its quality but my also result in a serious hazard, as there in no emergency preparedness and no fire fighting equipments if fire hazard occurs. 

2.1)    Koh-E-Sufaid Marble Industries

2.2.1) Introduction

Due to its suitable geological environment the NWFP is blessed with significant marble and granite deposits of variety of colors and qualities. The marble deposits are major source of raw material for numerous marble cutting and polishing industries spread thorough out the country.

In NWFP, major deposits are located in Bunair, Mardan, Swat, Mohmand and Bajuar areas. The marble industry based on these deposits is not only meeting the domestic requirements of construction industry, but also providing tremendous job opportunities to the people I remote areas of NWFP. The industry is also a major contributor of revenue generation to government of NWFP n form of royalty and excise duty etc. The marble industry receives the marble blocks and boulders produced from marble quarries and change them into the end product of tiles, slabs, and carving products: number of marble cutting and polishing units has been established in NWFP. These are mostly clustered in Peshawar, Mardan, Gadoon and Hattar industrial estate as well as in other areas of province.

2.2.2) Environmental pollution by marble factories in industrial estate Peshawar

As already mentioned, a number of marble cutting and polishing factories/ units have been established at different localities of NWFP. These units processes the marble blocks and boulders produced from the marble quarries and change them into the end product of tiles, slabs and carving products. About 22 such types of units are operating at SDA industrial state Peshawar. The marble cutting process by these factories is a wet process, in which a lot of water is indiscriminately used. Each factory is consuming about 1000- 1500 gallons of water per hour and discharge effluents containing hazardous solid waste to the combine drain of industrial estate and as such causing various kinds of environmental pollution.

2.2.2-1)  Water pollution

Water is showered on marble rock during the cutting operation. A lot of water is used for cooling the cutting blades also. The water used during showering absorbs marble dust, produced as a result of cutting operation. The waste water so produced is routed to a series of settling tanks. The settling tanks are not being used effectively due to high level of marble sludge. The waste water overflows the settling tanks without proper control and is discharged into the effluents channels/ drains along the roads of the industrial estate. This water carries a large amount of marble

dust/ powder which settle at the bottom of the effluents/ waste water, the management of industrial estate normally remove the solid waste containing the marble sludge and dump on both sides of the drains. This on one side requires extra expenses while on the other side have serious health impact on the public health. In addition to the nuisance for the local inhabitants, such effluents ultimately pollute the ground water bodies and Kabul River.

2.2.2-1)  Air pollution

Marble dust is a serous problem for the workers who are exposed to the marble cutting operations for long duration of time. Another significant issue of air pollution is due to marble factories on industrial estate. Peshawar is the dust emission generated from the marble waste and sludge heaps when sun dried. The marble sludge in settling tanks in removed periodically to the efficiency of these tanks and is dumped with in as well as outside the factories. The recovered sludge over a period gets sun dried and become air borne and as such causing air pollution problem for the inhabitants of the surrounding area. Proper disposal of the recovered sludge is major environmental problem faced by the marble industry in industrial estate Peshawar.

2.2.2-2)  Noise pollution

Another environmental pollution caused by the marble industry is the noise pollution which is adversely affecting the worker as mostly the worker are not provided with ear plugs and if provided. They are reluctant to use such devices. 

2.2.3) Environmental cleanup demonstration model in the marble industry

Keeping in view the environmental challenge faced by the marble industry, the mineral testing laboratory (MTL), being located in SDA industrial estate Peshawar, felt it necessary to extend its technical assistance to the marble factories/ units operation in SDA industrial estate, Peshawar and to help them in minimization of environmental pollution generated as a result of their operations. To meet such purpose, the mineral testing laboratory designed a demonstration project namely “environmental cleanup demonstration model in the marble industry by MTL Peshawar” in accordance with the themes and philosophy of national conversation strategy (NCS) and Sarhad Provincial conservation strategy (SPCS). 

2.2.3-1) Objectives of the project

The main objectives of this project were;

• To keep the consumption of water by a marble factory/ units at minimum level by            recycling the waste water produced by such factory. 
• To safely dispose off or possibly utilize the solid waste with minimum cost and if               possible convert such waste in to useful products
• To keep the discharge of effluents/ waste water of a marble factory at zero level
• To minimize the concentration of pollutants in the main drains of industrial estate            and to keep such effluents within the level of NEQS
• To keep the combine drains in the industrial estate clean and clear for smooth                flowing of the effluent/ waste water discharge of other factories.
• To provide a demo/model project to the marble industry of the province and                   encourage them for keeping their operations environmental friendly clean                        technology

2.2.3-2) Construction work

 03 tanks (each consists a set of 02 tanks), a flocculent tank and a platform has been              constructed according to the already agreed lay out at Koh-e-Sufaid marble factory in             industrial estate Jamrud road, Peshawar.

The sanitary fitting work as per drawing has also been completed and a pump has                 been installed at the flocculent tank (reservoir) to pump the clean water for reuse in                the process.

2.2.4) Research and development work

2.2.4-1) Chemical analysis

45 no of samples of waste water and solid waste have been collected Koh-e-Sufaid marble factory, before and after construction of settling tanks and have been chemically analyzed for required parameters in comparison with National Environmental Quality Standards (NEQS). Chemical analysis data for 05 number of samples (table-I) collected before the construction of settling tanks and 05 number of samples (table-II) collected after the construction of settling tanks are given under;

                       Table 2.1 Chemical analysis 

The chemical analysis of the sample collected from the flocculent tank (reservoir for clean water) reveal that the values of all the parameters studied are with in the range of NEQS in these samples. It means that by proper use and maintenance of the settling tanks, sufficient clean water will be available to the marble factory for its reuse and as such on one hand the consumption of water will be reduced and o the other hand the discharge of the waste water will be kept at zero level which will ultimately contribute in minimization of environmental pollution the industrial estate. In other words the marble industry will keep its effluents. 

2.2.5) Research and development work for possible utilization of                  solid waste/ conversion of marble powder into products

The following products have been successfully prepared by MTL, by the efficient use of its facilities and expertise available in its mineral processing and chemical sections, after conducting extensive research work and laboratory studies for the utilization of marble waste/ powder on cost effective basis as per objective of this project.

              2.2.5-1)  Surkhi low cost cement

The mineral processing section of MTL prepared Surkhi low cost cement from the marble powder collected form the settling tanks at Koh-e-Sufaid marble factory. This product us useful for construction purposes preferably in saline environment.

            2.2.5-2)  Washing powder (VIM)

Washing powder (VIM) has been prepared from the marble powder which is very                      useful for the washing of house hold utensils. 

          2.2.5-1)  Insulation bricks

A number of tiles/ bricks have been prepared form marble sludge collected form                      settling tanks by mixing properly with Portland cement in different proportions. The                   insulation properties of these tiles/ bricks were compared with hollow blocks prepared             form cement and it was found that the tiles made by mixing the marble powder with                 Portland cement are having good insulation properties.

         2.2.5-2)  Calcium hydroxide (chemical grade)

After subjecting the marble powder into successive laboratory experiments and tests,              the mineral testing laboratory has successfully prepared calcium hydroxide of the                    chemical grade. By chemical and physical comparison of this product with the                          imported one, it was found that the quality of the product prepared by MTL is closely              matching with the imported calcium hydroxide.

Chapter 03

Research Papers

Science and technology is a dynamic field, even changes occurs if fraction of second. To keep updated one needs to study and develop the thorough understanding of what has been going on recently. We studied the following research papers to get the up to date knowledge of environmental management system. The executive summary is given as under.

3.1)    The role of environmental management system on introduction of new technologies in the metal and chemical/paper/plastics industries ^[09]

Gregor Radonjic, Polona Tominc

Journal of Cleaner Production 15 (2007) 1482e1493

Gregor Radonjic and Polona Tominc in 2006 studied the role of environmental management system on introduction of new technologies in the metal and chemical/paper/plastics industries. The research was performed within Solvene metal and chemical manufacturing companies.

The main objectives of study were;

1.   To study technology modernization due to ISO 14001 certification in industrial enterprises.
2.  To study whether ISO 14001 certification can accelerate the initiatives for adoption of new and cleaner technology within the certified firms.
3.  To study to what extent it helped to upgrade the environmental performance. 

Research was based on questionnaires survey conducted on sample of ISO 14001 certified manufacturing companies that operate in republic of Solvinia. These sectors were chosen because of

  Due to their high environmental impact

  Due to big popularity of ISO-14001 certification

The questionnaires were mailed to the companies within the two sectors under study. In order to achieve the objective of study, the following questions were addressed.

i)     How (by what means), did the enterprises reduced environmental impacts

ii)    Which factors were improved after the introduction of new technology and to what extent?

iii)   What is the origin of new technology?

iv)   How did enterprises estimate the role of ISO-14001 certification of adoption and upgrading of their technologies?

New technology in the context of study included any change, either modification, adoption of technology which was already in use, purchasing of completely new equipment which substituted for the older technology. 

Results that the authors obtained from question of how did enterprises reduce this environmental impacts is given by,

i)     Namely, they used combination of good housekeeping practices together with partial adoption of new technologies/ partial modification of existing technology.

ii)    Combination of good housekeeping practices with predominant modification of existing technology.

In summary 95.5% of metal industries in sample and all chemical and related industries reduced environmental impacts with technological changes.

Author says that in order to follow priorities of improving firms’ environmental performance, different factors may serve as an indicator of environmental benefits, such as increased share of recycle material, reduction of energy consumption, solid waste, emission to air and water etc.

All firms in sample considered more than one factor to reduce its environmental impacts.

In metal industries,

o   85% of the firms improved safety of their working staff.

o   81%reduced air emission

o   76.2% reduced water emission

o   76.2% reduced energy consumption.

In chemical and related industries the most considered factors was solid waste reduction, followed by the emission reduction, energy consumption reduction and higher working staff safety.

The author says that, in chemical industries, pollution can be prevented by

o   Modifying production process with adoption of more advanced technologies through process variable control

o   Changing cleaning process

o   Or by segregating and separating wastes.

Regarding the origin of new technology three options were given with intension of cleaning up processes

o   New technology as a result of in-house research and development

o   As a result of cooperation with academic and research institution

o   As a result of purchasing in licensed technology.

The results thus obtained by the author are as under,

o   35% of firms in metal industries reported on developing upgraded technologies in house.

o   25% within institute or through academic cooperation

o   60% have brought up licensed technology

Situation was a bit different in chemical industries,

o   66% reported on developing upgraded technologies in house

o   20% within institute or through academic cooperation

o   33.3% however brought up new licensed technology

On the basis of the research made, the author concluded the following results,

o   The requirements of ISO-14001 standard helped an organization in improving their environmental performance and reduce several impacts

o   Upgrading technology is one of the most important areas for an industry not only because of environmental requirements but also to increase productivity and lowering costs and energy losses.

o   EMS influenced firms’ economic performance through increased productivity and reduced costs.

o   In order to achieve drastic reduction in emissions more fundamental changes in the process are required. 

3.2)    Underlying Mechanisms in the Maintenance of ISO-14001 Environmental Management System^[10]

Michaela A. Balzarova, Pavel Castka

Journal of Cleaner Production 16 (2008) 1949e1957

Michaela A. Balzarova and Pavel Castka in 2007 studied the underlying mechanism in the maintenance of ISO-14001 environmental management system. In this paper Michaela and Pavel aimed to investigate the underlying mechanism on ISO-1400. Initially they looked into Hillary’s study reports on the basics, opportunities and devices for small and medium size enterprises. The adoption of environmental management system develops a comprehensive list of barriers identical in literature. They used observed list of barriers to investigate the underlying mechanisms in the maintenance of ISO-14001 through an in depth longitudinal case study in two medium scale manufacturing organizations.

They determined five underlying processes

1)    Transforming and value adding

2)    Administrating and improving

3)    Understanding and accepting

4)    Communicating and learning

5)    Availability of resources

And key actors,

·         External environment

·         Environment management team

·         ISO-14001 EMS

·         Organization’s resources and skills

Whose actions are captured and presented by them after their research as M-ISO (model of international standard organization for EMS 14001)

According to them the process of transforming and value adding captures the interactions between the external environment (i.e. external forces that shape the process of ISO-14001 certification maintenance) and the EMS team (i.e. group of actors that are responsible for maintaining and improving of the ISO 14001 EMS). In their research EMS team consisted of people from operations management and plant management was also classified as “external actors”. Their research revealed that EMS teams were given the authority to manage operations and EMS internally (at the facility level) yet they had to transform improved value to their activities based also on the external feed back from external auditors, senior management, as important translators between external environment and the rest of organization.

They stated that both case studies reported a strategy to embed ISO 14001 EMS in the day to day running of the organization. Indeed contradictory attitudes of the case studies employees were identified on the negative side. These were exhibited thorough comments such as, there is a lack of understanding, trip service, and managers do not care negative attitude towards ISO 14001 EMS. On the other hand sign of satisfactory level of EMS understanding and acceptance for identified as well. Examples of comments individual risks failure, issue environmental system help system to improve one quality positive attitude towards ISO 14001 EMS. The problem of acceptance of EMS was also aggregated by the fact that ISO 14001 EMS appeared as a stand alone system. This de-coupling was particularly notable in the case studies, where the research reveals that many activities took priority over the maintenance and continual improvement of ISO 14001 EMS.

All these issues are captured in ISO model by the process “understanding, accepting, communicating and learning.” They found out that these two processes

are lonely inter-linked and contributed to the exceptional and non-acceptance of ISO 14001 EMS and more importantly its maintenance and continual improvement.

The final process, “availability” describes the resource and skill management issue in the process of ISO 14001 EMS maintenance. But case studies were leading specialized staff, time, knowledge of legislation etc.

On the basis of case studies, Michaela and Pavel concluded that following are keys to EMS team members.

·         Environmental and legal knowledge

·         Common sense

·         Managerial skills

·         Organizational background knowledge

·         Administrative skills

·         Communication skills

·         Energy management knowledge 

3.3)    Implementation of ISO-14001: 2004 EMS standards for reverse osmosis desalination plant for the first time in Iran^[11]

Arian Edalat

Desalination 220 (2008) 57–64

            Implementation of ISO-14001: 2004 EMS standards for has been carried out for the first time for reverse osmosis desalination plants in Iran at Noor Vijeh (N.V. Co) water and waste water firm in Tehran. The aim of the project was to inline the company’s approach to friendly environmental activities.  Initially PDCA was used to identify the aspects affecting the environment and then probabilities of loss are anticipated through numerical methods. These aspects are evaluated through their interaction with release to water, emission to air, land contamination, waste management, energy used and raw materials.

            Author says that reverse osmosis plants have proved to be harmful to environment. With the industrial growth due to the shortage of water specialty in arid areas, the environmental situation look to be detoriating even further decent professional conduct require a special attention to this potential hazard to the environment and actions must be taken almost immediately. This is the reason N.V. Co has been devoting some of its resources to the matter which is presented here. 

            The treatment and distribution of portable desalinated water accompanies BWRO desalination plant in the city of Qom.  Treatment of portable water SWRO in Assaluyeh;

               

To implement standard system core elements were constructed which are as follows;

1.    Environmental policy, its targets and programs.

2.    Practical methods for EMS processes.

3.    Executive manuals for implementing special activities

4.    Table and indexes for environmental aspects of each plant. 

The different environmental impacts are shown in table 1

Identification of aspects which arises from emergency conditions is conducted through following procedure;

·         Identify emergency conditions, arising from the natural disasters like storms, earthquakes etc.

·         Identify emergency conditions arising from human errors. 

            After finding the environmental aspects they should be the solved the 1^st step is to determine “likelihood factor obtained by multiplying the degree of frequency of exposures to probability of loss”. The well factor is “Max severity loss” multiplication of the “likelihood factor” to “maximum severity loss” produce aspect impact grade. Then this grade is multiplied by the homogenized factor, I.e. 0.9, 0.8, 1 to reduce the error. Then this becomes the final “aspect grade” and provides the basis to measure the environmental priorities of a company.

            The aspect identification and evaluation, done on the city of Qom is as follows. The aspects were in following areas;

·         Sanitary waste water,

·         Waste water resulting from membrane cleaning operation,

·         Plant’s reject stream,

·         Water network leaks,

·         Use of large quantities of HCl.

With the environmental threats, the company should plan which were simple, practical and economic action.

Emergency conditions anticipated in Qom were earth quakes, fires and contamination of water reservoirs. During the training, careful instructions should be given to the personal further more complicated drilling processes should be planned carefully. Training should include the concept of ISO-14001: 2004, its internal audit, laboratory operations, fire extinguishing equipment operations.

The important environmental aspects those were identified in Assaluyeh;

1.    Sanitary waste water

2.    RO concentrate stream

3.    Disposal of chemical packing

4.    Corrosion of equipment due to heat and humidity

Potential harms caused by RO alarms specialists and activists to take necessary actions to remedy this situation.

N.V. Co is the first firm to take step in this direction, Implementing ISO-14001: 2004.

Chapter 04

Conclusions and Recommendations

4.1)    Conclusions

On the basis of case study, the following results could be concluded;

—  The requirement of ISO-14001 standard help an organization in improving their environmental performance and reduce overall impacts

—  Upgrading technology is one of the most important areas for industry

—  EMS influenced firms’ economy through increased productivity and reduced losses

—  In order to achieve drastic reduction in emissions, more fundamental changes in process are required

—  It is essential for the sustainability of an organization to keep itself up to date in respect of technology, and this could be achieved through EMS implementation.

—  Losses in the processes are reduced due to efficient process equipments and process itself

—  Recycling and wastes’ treatment not only reduces the harmful impacts of the industries over the environment but also adds to the economy of the organization in positive sense

—  EMS implementation enhances safe working environment, which in turns makes the workers working at a particular site to be worry free and work with maximum of their capabilities and efficiencies

—  EMS certification also improves the organizations’ reputation among the public so its products become more valuable and demanding which adds to the economy and sustainability of the organization.

—  Emergency preparedness resulting due to EMS implementation helps an organization to cope with any unusual or unexpected threats and warnings

—  ISO-14001 certification is considered useful tool in;

1)    Meeting environmental requirements

2)    Technology up-gradation

3)    Increased profitability

4.2)    Recommendations
4.2-1)        Maintenance and technology up gradation

We recommend the industrialist for time to time maintenance of the plant and the process equipments. This is necessary for an efficient process which would result in complete conversion of SO₃ to pyro-sulphuric acid (H₂S₂O₇) and thus emissions to the environment will be reduced. More over the industry should adopt newer technology when needed. This is necessary not only for the sustainability of the industry but for the quality production as well.

4.2-2)        Energy loss reduction:

The industrialist is also recommended to reduce the energy losses with in the plant. The main loss is caused by the evolution of high temperature steam. These losses could be reduced by treatment of the steam before sending it to atmosphere, for example the steam produced in the sulphuric acid plant could be utilized for the pre-heating of the raw material in SSP section. This would not only reduce the energy and fuel requirements to a greater extent but will also be helpful to cope with safe environmental needs.

4.2-3)        Improved scrubbing system

The industry should install a new and updated version of scrubbing system. The cyclonic scrubbing system which the industry is being using is very much older and is not much effective as well. For this reason, dust could not be sufficiently separated from the exiting gases and causes the raw material loss and environmental pollution side by side. Although industry has got a poor system of scrubbing, still tons of raw materials are recovered daily, but still most of the raw material is goes out along with the emerging gas. It would probably be a good idea if they replace the cyclonic system of scrubbers with electrostatic precipitator.

4.2-4)        Extra treatment plants

Treatment plants should be installed for the treatment of waste water being produced by the industry. This is essential for the safer environment and will also help many of the useful products to be got recycled.

4.2-5)        Emergency preparedness

Emergency preparedness is also one of the most important recommendations that we suggest for the industry. The industry should enhance the safer and clean storage of the raw sulphur. The industry should also be equipped to cope with any emergency produced with in the plant, i.e.

·         There should be fire fighting equipment and fire fighting personal.

·         The industry should have its own safety section.

·         The workers working within the plant should be kept aware of any kind of trouble that they could face within the plant.