CCR Refinery: Environmental Policy and Atmospheric-emissions Management
| Date: 14/10/2020
Through its environmental policy, CCR Refinery is committed to, among other things:
- Identifying, assessing and monitoring its environmental impacts.
- Complying with applicable regulatory requirements.
- Measuring its impact continuously.
- Tracking its actual environmental performance.
As a result, over the last few years, CCR has improved its environmental performance and compliance:
- Modernization and automation of the selenium production process to comply with the Metropolitan Montreal Conmmunity’s (MMC) new regulations for process-water effluent.
- 55% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions since 1990.
Photo (right): Sealing the burners and casting launder in the furnace 8 sector (2015).
CCR Refinery is also committed to significant reductions of its atmospheric emissions affecting the neighbouring industrial and residential sectors in Montreal-East.
A vast action plan representing investments in excess of $30M has been carried out in the Refinery’s three main production sectors: the electro-refining sector, the spent anodes re-heating furnace, and the precious metals sector.
This action plan included, among other things:
- Capturing fugitive emissions at the source:
- At the casting spoons.
- At the casting wheel.
- At the casting launder.
- Constructing a pilot plant.
- Constructing a new dust collector enhanced to process the fugitive emissions.
- Reducing emissions from the holding furnace.
- Reconfiguring roof ventilation.
Photo (right): Starting up the new dust collector DEP0001 in the furnace 8 sector (2018).
These new measures have significantly reduced the refinery’s atmospheric emissions of arsenic by 82%, copper by 80%, nickel by 62%, and lead by 51%. Total particulate matter emissions were also reduced by 25% during this period.
The following graph depicts the reduction of CCR Refinery’s arsenic emissions by more than 80%:
Rigorous monitoring will be continued to ensure the compliance of the atmospheric emissions, which involves sampling and modelling atmospheric concentrations of metals and long-term mitigation measures.
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TAGS: CCR , Copper , Environment