INDUSTRIAL GASES AND THE ENVIRONMENT
All industrial organizations have a responsibility for managing
the environmental impacts of their activities in a systematic way to control
any risks of harm that their products, processes, services and other
activities may present to employees, the public and the environment
as a whole, and to promote sustainable development.
Whilst the Industrial Gases Industry has fewer obvious environmental
problems to solve than some parts of Industry, part of the EIGA mission
is to promote good environmental practices amongst member companies
and developing codes of good environmental practice and training tools.
EIGA also works with the legislators and standards bodies at a European
level to ensure that environment regulation is proportionate and effective,
as well as helping members with the interpretation.
EIGA has guidance for members on environmental management, environmental
good practices, noise and waste management as well as training packages
for use in member companies.
Environmental Impacts
The main activity of EIGA member companies is the production and distribution
of air gases, nitrogen, oxygen and argon. EIGA companies take the
air and seperate it into its constituent parts.
The process is energy intensive using the air as raw material and,
where gases can not be generated close to the point of use, there is
an impact through distribution by rail or road. The gases can be supplied
through pipelines, which has less impact than road distribution, and
also in gas cylinders that are reusable returnable pressure vessels
with an economic life of more than 20 years
Energy
Air separation is the most energy intensive industrial process. A medium
sized air separation unit can use as much electrical energy as a
large airport complex. As energy represents a significant proportion
of the product costs energy efficiency has always been paramount
for EIGA companies, and the energy required to liquefy a tonne of
product has decreased by 40% over the last 30 years.
Water
The water is used for cooling, with over 90% being recycled
Noise
Plants are designed to minimise the noise impacts of the large machinery
on people and the environment.
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Environmental Solutions
Though our processes do have environmental impacts industrial gases
are also used to improve the environmental performance of our customers.
Such applications include:
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Water treatment
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Waste treatment
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Combustion
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Waste water treatment
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Recovery of solvents, including CFCs
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River remediation
•
Emission measurement and calibration gases
•
Soil remediation
•
Hydrogen as an alternative fuel
•
Hydrogen to improve fuel quality to meet the European Auto oil specifications