(BAT) Reference Document for the Production of Chlor-alkali ...

Chapter 4
non-standardised) will be related to the nature, scale and complexity of the installation, and the
range of environmental impacts it may have.
Chlor-alkali plants are usually integrated in a larger chemical industry park which often
comprises several companies. An EMS therefore encompasses all production units of a specific
company at a given site or may even cover a whole multi-operator site. An EMS may be part of
a convention which is a contractual document dealing or not with environment, health and safety
risks and which is established between two or more companies operating on the same site [ 123,
Gaucher et al. 2008 ], [ 124, COM 2011 ].
Economics
It is difficult to determine accurately the costs and economic benefits of introducing and
maintaining a good EMS. There are also economic benefits that are the result of using an EMS
and these vary widely from sector to sector.
External costs relating to verification of the system can be estimated from guidance issued by
the International Accreditation Forum [ 121, IAF 2010 ].
Driving forces for implementation
The driving forces for the implementation of an EMS include:
improved environmental performance;
improved insight into the environmental aspects of the company which can be used to
fulfil the environmental requirements of customers, regulatory authorities, banks,
insurance companies or other stakeholders (e.g. people living or working in the vicinity of
the installation);
improved basis for decision-making;
improved motivation of personnel (e.g. managers can have confidence that environmental
impacts are controlled and employees can feel that they are working for an
environmentally responsible company);
additional opportunities for operational cost reduction and product quality improvement;
improved company image;
reduced liability, insurance and non-compliance costs;
voluntary commitment of the respective industry association.
Example plants
In 2010, out of the total of 74 chlor-alkali manufacturing sites in EU-27 and EFTA countries,
14 were accredited according to EMAS and 57 according to ISO 14001. Euro Chlor previously
set the target that by 2010 all of its full member companies (66 sites) should be accredited at
least to ISO 14001 [ 73, Debelle 2011 ].
Reference literature
[ 73, Debelle 2011 ], [ 117, ISO 2010 ], [ 119, DG Environment 2010 ], [ 120, Reg. 1221/
2009 ], [ 122, ISO 2004 ]
WORKING DRAFT IN PROGRESS
4.3.2 Techniques to reduce consumption of raw materials
4.3.2.1 Salt
4.3.2.1.1 Choice of salt type
The different types of salt used in chlor-alkali plants (see Section 2.5.1) all show advantages and
disadvantages in terms of their overall environmental impact. An overview of applied processes
and techniques for the production of sodium and potassium chloride can be found in
[ 66, Ullmann's 2010 ] and [ 12, Ullmann's 2000 ], respectively.
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