Waterbased cleaning of mixing vessels 2. Environmental Regulation
As noted in the introduction, March 1999 Directive 1999/13/EG of the European Commission was promulgated. This addresses limitation of emissions of volatile organic compounds arising due to certain activities and in specific plants when organic solvents are used. The VOC Directive will be implemented in national legislation before 30 March 2001. Danish legislation Granting of a permit to operate a plant for the manufacture of paints and coatings in Denmark is currently regulated essentially by the following guidelines, laws and ordinances:
Subject to their amendment in connection with implementation of Directive 1999/13/EG, these ordinances and guidelines will continue to apply in national legislation. The VOC Directive The VOC Directive affects in particular small and medium-sized plants, for which up to now national legislation does not require the installation of post-production clean-up equipment, or which have been operating at or below the limits of VOC standards and threshold values due to their product ranges and quantities. The paint and coatings industry, that is the manufacturers of coating substances, clear varnishes, printing inks and adhesives, are, according to Appendix I of the VOC Directive, affected if they use more than 100 t/a of solvents. These enterprises are now confronted with the challenging tasks of:
2.2 VOC limits and threshold valuesAccording to the Danish legislation the limits and threshold values in Table 2.1 apply. Table 2.1
Additionally, enterprises in the paint and coatings industry as well as manufacturers of coating materials, clear lacquers, printing inks and adhesives using more than 100 t/a solvent must, according to the new VOC Directive and after the transition limits stipulated in this have elapsed, comply as a minimum with the threshold values and limits for solvents as shown in Table 2.2. Table 2.2 Threshold values and limits for solvents in accordance with Directive 1999/13/EG, Appendix II A. The regulation means that each company shall fulfill the limits for exhaust gases and diffuse emissions or the total emission limit (then the limit for exhaust gases can be exceeded.)
It may be assumed that more stringent limit or threshold values arising from the specific situation at the site or from any other officially imposed conditions will continue to apply. 2.3 Implementation of the VOC DirectiveKey components of the VOC Directive Apart from the above threshold and limit values, key components of the VOC Directive are:
The key concerns faced by enterprises in the paint and coating industry emanating from the VOC Directive, and the resulting measures, are summarized in Figure 2.1.
Figure 2.1
1 For plants with production capacity exceeding 3000 tons per year 2 Compiled under the previous regulation. |