It is apparent that the European Commission is not in a position to harmonise emission legislation across the European Union, at least for the foreseeable future. Instead, Member States themselves have introduced a number of pieces of legislation and regulations as appropriate. Although some of these regulations are related, a variety of interpretations are in place. Consequently, acceptable emission levels vary across the EU!
Of course a large amount of the emissions to atmosphere is represented by those anticipated from the industrial process, under the control of the plant operator. However, a proportion of industrial emissions occurs through unanticipated or spurious leaks in process systems. These equipment leaks are usually referred to as fugitive emissions, and in this area the sealing industry is playing a vital role, through the development and application of innovative sealing technology appropriate to low or zero emission requirements.
The ESA Fugitive Emissions Working Group has investigated the array of legislation and regulations covering fugitive emissions, which is in place throughout the major markets across the European Union. For example, the fugitive emissions regulations for a selection of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) indicates some consistency but also some wide discrepancy (click on the image for an enlarged view):
A similar situation exists for volatile inorganic compounds (click on the image for an enlarged view):
Note that each EU Member State varies from being the "best" to the "worst"; no one single country is always the lowest or always the highest.
Although this list is not comprehensive, it provides some interesting comparisons:
| Volatile Organics (VOC's) - a selection | |||||||
| D | E | F | I | NL | UK | ||
| Acetic acid | C2H4O2 | 100 | 0.83 | 150 | 150 | 25 | |
| Acetone | C3H6O | 150 | 80 | 150 | 600 | 1780 | |
| Carbon disulphide | CS2 | 100 | 2 | 150 | 150 | 60 | 5 |
| Chloroform | CHCl3 | 20 | 8 | 20 | 20 | 5 | |
| Dichloromethane | CH2Cl2 | 150 | 58.3 | 20 | 350 | ||
| Ethylamine | C2H7N | 20 | 20 | 9 | 10 | ||
| Ethene | C2H4 | 150 | 140 | 150 | 5 | ||
| Formaldehyde | CH2O | 20 | 20 | 1.5 | 5 | ||
| Methane | CH4 | 150 | 140 | 150 | |||
| Methyl acetate | C3H6O2 | 100 | 20 | 610 | |||
| Pyridine | C5H5N | 20 | 20 | ||||
| Styrene | C8H8 | 100 | 140 | 150 | 215 | ||
| Tetrahydrofuran | C4H8O | 100 | 150 | 300 | |||
| Toluene | C7H8 | 100 | 140 | 150 | 300 | 150 | |
| Volatile Inorganics - a selection | |||||||
| D | E | F | I | NL | UK | ||
| Chlorine | Cl2 | 5 | 230 | 5 | 3 | 10 | |
| Hydrogen chloride | HCl | 30 | 460 | 5 | 7 | 10 | |
| Hydrogen cyanide | HCN | 1 | 5 | 11 | 2 | ||
| Hydrogen sulphide | H2S | 1 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 5 |
| Phosgene | COCl2 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 0.4 | 1 | |
| Nitric acid | HNO3 | 500 | 5 | 5 | |||
| Sulphur trioxide | SO3 | 500 | 5 | 5 | |||
All units in mg/m3 (note that this is a measure of concentration in the ambient air and not a measure of leakage)
Information provided for guidance only. The ESA does not warrant, either expressly or by implication, the accuracy or completeness of the information, nor does the ESA assume any liability resulting from the reliance upon any detail contained herein. The list does not attempt to address compliance requirements of regulations specific to a particular industrial facility. Please consult your appropriate local, regional, state, national or federal authorities for precise compliance issues and definitive details of emission limits from any particular source.
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