Polimeros

EUROPEAN COMMISSION

Reference Document on Best Available Techniques in the Production of

Polymers
August 2007

This document is one of a series of foreseen documents as below (at the time of writing, not all documents have been finalised):
Reference Document on Best Available Techniques . . . Large Combustion Plants Mineral Oil and Gas Refineries Production of Iron and Steel FerrousMetals Processing Industry Non Ferrous Metals Industries Smitheries and Foundries Industry Surface Treatment of Metals and Plastics Cement and Lime Manufacturing Industries Glass Manufacturing Industry Ceramic Manufacturing Industry Large Volume Organic Chemical Industry Manufacture of Organic Fine Chemicals Production of Polymers Chlor – Alkali Manufacturing Industry Large Volume InorganicChemicals - Ammonia, Acids and Fertilisers Industries Large Volume Inorganic Chemicals - Solid and Others industry Production of Speciality Inorganic Chemicals Common Waste Water and Waste Gas Treatment/Management Systems in the Chemical Sector Waste Treatments Industries Waste Incineration Management of Tailings and Waste-Rock in Mining Activities Pulp and Paper Industry Textiles Industry Tanning ofHides and Skins Slaughterhouses and Animals By-products Industries Food, Drink and Milk Industries Intensive Rearing of Poultry and Pigs Surface Treatment Using Organic Solvents Industrial Cooling Systems Emissions from Storage Reference Document . . . General Principles of Monitoring Economics and Cross-Media Effects Energy Efficiency Techniques MON ECM ENE Code LCP REF I&S FMP NFM SF STM CL GLS CERLVOC OFC POL CAK LVIC-AAF LVIC-S SIC CWW WT WI MTWR PP TXT TAN SA FDM ILF STS CV ESB

Electronic versions of draft and finalised documents are publically available and can be downloaded from http://eippcb.jrc.es.

Executive Summary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1) Introduction The BAT (Best Available Techniques) Reference Document (BREF) entitled “Best Available Techniques for the Production ofPolymers” (POL) reflects an information exchange carried out under Article 16(2) of Council Directive 96/61/EC (IPPC Directive). This executive summary describes the main findings, a summary of the principal BAT conclusions and the associated emission and consumption levels. It should be read in conjunction with the preface, which explains this document’s objectives; how it is intended to be used andlegal terms. It can be read and understood as a standalone document but, as a summary, it does not present all the complexities of this full document. It is therefore not intended as a substitute for this full document as a tool in BAT decision making. 2) Scope of this document This document focuses on the main products of the European polymer industry both in production figures and inenvironmental impact, mainly produced in dedicated installations for the production of one specific polymer. The list of products covered is not conclusive but includes polyolefins, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, unsaturated polyesters, emulsion polymerised styrene butadiene rubbers, solution polymerised rubbers containing butadiene, polyamides, polyethylene terephthalate fibres and viscose fibres. Forpolymer production installations, no specific threshold was established in drawing a borderline between IPPC installations and non IPPC installations as this is not foreseen in the IPPC Directive. 3) The sector and environmental issues Polymer companies produce a variety of basic products, which range from commodities to high added-value materials and are produced in both batch and continuousprocesses covering installations with a capacity of some 10000 tonnes per year up to some 300000 tonnes per year. The basic polymers are sold to processing companies, serving an immense range of end-user markets. The chemistry of polymer production consists of three basic reaction types, polymerisation, polycondensation and polyaddition, thus the number of operations/processes used remains reasonably...