Industry and Emissions

Reduced pollution

Smoking chimneys and grey, foamy sewage streams were once symbols of environmental pollution caused by industrial production and energy generation. Legal requirements and a change of mindset among business leaders have led to substantial improvements in so-called stationary emission sources. Of course this also concerns all of us who use heating systems burning oil, gas or other fuels.

....and the difficulties
on the ground

The quality of the air we breathe has improved noticeably - even in close proximity to industrial production - and the "big jump" has called for a Europe-wide River Bathing Day since 2002. Nevertheless more remains to be done, both to secure what has been achieved and to complete the remaining tasks:

• Further reduce greenhouse gases

• Reduce fine particulate and smog relevant emissions

• Identify currently unrecognised pollutants and limit their entry into air, water and soil

• Utilise the potential for improvement without shifting pollution from one environmental medium to another

Fruits higher up in the tree are more difficult to harvest, and conflicts of interest are more likely to arise.

IFEU supports business and politics

To tackle these difficulties on the ground, colleagues at IFEU offer their knowledge to assist affected individuals in fulfilling specific requirements or chart alternative or new methods. Among other requirements, operators of the facilities have to comply with regulations imposed by the facility license and produce emissions reports. New approaches concern the impacts of changes in production, cross-environmental-media evaluation, and other forms of reporting such as product-related environmental profile or modern environmental reports.

We have also produced emissions inventories for state contractors, which include suggestions for harmonising different accounting methods. These emission inventories provide the foundation for uniform reporting and enable changes to be monitored. These help to detect whether and which pollutants require regulation. This kind of work necessitates a good overview of existing data and technical interrelations and development. In addition, we have also offered support in assessing the relevance of and reduction possibilities for specific pollutants.

Material stream models are also useful tools here. They are used for thorough analyses of specific questions, such as:

• How do emissions from a refinery change when the requirement on diesel production is raised?

• How would the emissions of a power plant be affected if waste were coincinerated?

These questions require detailed examinations of substances and their movement within the facilities and into the environment. Our material stream modelling software UMBERTO® offers valuable assistance here.

Main areas of our work

Currently you can find more detailed information on the following areas of our work:

Chemical and Petrochemical Industry

Energy Production

Emissions Inventories

Water Emissions

Waste Co-Incineration

BAT and IPPC

List of Projects "Emissions"

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