Process Emissions to the Air

Emission to the air, be it from the polymer production and/or the spinning process, is strictly controlled by European and national legislation, and laid down in the environmental permit. Depending on the permit, online and regular emission-to-air measurements have to be made and reported to the authorities.

The polymerisation process is described by the Best Available Techniques (BAT), which are compiled in a BREF (BAT-Reference) document, which is in turn part of the European IPPC-regulation (European Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control). These BREF documents are state of the art regarding emission prevention and control, resulting in European man-made fibre production facilities being amongst the cleanest in the world.

The discussion of climate change has made greenhouse gas emissions the primary focus of sustainability assessments. Where MMF producers generate their own heat and electricity, it is likely (depending on the volume) that they fall under the European Emission Trading System, which restricts the CO2 emission on a yearly basis. Also because of economical reasons, MMF has set severe targets to reduce energy consumption and consequently CO2 emission.

 For more specific information and actions made, we refer to the websites of our members.