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Seventh State of the Environment Report – 3.10 Industry

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3.10 INDUSTRY

3.10.1 INTRODUCTION

Plants for the production of material goods, the treatment of waste and for energy conversion are assigned to the industry sector. Due to their size, number and proc-esses, these plants influence the environment via emissions into air and water (waste, noise, vibrations, odour, etc.) and the consumption of resources (e.g. water, energy, raw materials and soil). The effects of these activities on the environment extend far beyond the locations of the industrial plants, both in terms of space and time - for instance, because of lacking efficiency in the use of resources and lack-ing quality and amounts of the manufactured products or treatment of waste.

The permission to operate industrial plants extends to production sites and includes environmental protection and procedural regulations as well as regulations that af-fect the security and health of working people.

The environmental effects of upstream and downstream production stages as well as product quality and the sustained use of the end product are no criteria for the approval of industrial plants, neither in Austrian nor in European law. They are par-tially included in other legislation (spatial planning, waste law) and standards and il-lustrated in life cycle analyses and sustainability studies. Legal regulations on the prevention and reduction of environmental pollution from industrial activities can therefore only be one aspect – albeit an important one – of a sustainability strategy.

3.10.2 ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY TARGETS

Many priority areas and goals of the EU sustainability strategy (see Chapter 1.1) have a bearing on the industry sector. One particular challenge is the decoupling of economic growth from the utilisation of resources and the production of waste. The increased use of renewable energies and the efficient use of energy are measures to counter climate change which affect the industry and energy supply sectors.

The necessity of incorporating environmental concerns into other political agendas (industry, energy, transport etc.) has been acknowledged since the Single Euro-pean Act. Moreover, the 5th Environmental Action Programme of the EU (2179/98/EC) considered this goal paramount for environmental protection. Industry was a selected area of focus of the 5th Environmental Action Programme for long-term and environmentally sound development. The sectoral integration of environ-mental concerns into other areas of politics is being pursued further and a greater degree of target fulfilment is being sought. The 6th Environmental Action Pro-gramme (duration 2001-2010) does not name industry as a key sector; however, measures in the industrial sector are required in order to achieve the goals in the areas of “resource efficiency and waste management“, “climate protection“, “nature


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conservation and biological diversity“, and “more sustainable models of production and consumption“.

At EU level, examples of plant-related regulations are the Directive concerning In-tegrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC Directive 96/61/EC amended through 2003/35/EC), the Directive on the Control of Major Accident Hazards In-volving Dangerous Substances (Seveso-II Directive 96/82/EC amended through 2003/105/EC) and the Directive on the Assessment of the Effects of Certain Public and Private Projects on the Environment (EIA Directive 85/337/EEC amended through 97/11/EC and 2003/35/EC).

The goal of the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive (IPPC Direc-tive) consists of preventing emissions in air, water and soil by waste management based on the best available technologies, or at least of reducing them wherever the above is not possible in order to achieve a high level of protection for the environ-ment as a whole. The conformity of the integrated concept with the polluter pays and precautionary principle (Art. 174 EC Treaty “environmental damage should as a priority be rectified at source“) is expressly emphasised in the considerations of the IPPC Directive.

It must be pointed out that the IPPC Directive demands the adaptation of existing facilities to its requirements by 30 October 2007 at the latest and intends regular in-spection and the updating of approval conditions by the competent authorities. Ac-cording to surveys carried out by Austria's Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, approximately 500 existing plants are cur-rently subject to this directive in Austria.

In Austria (as of June 2003), the IPPC Directive was implemented in the scope of the Industrial Code 1994, the Waste Management Act 2002, the Mineral Materials Act 1999, and the Water Act 1959 as well as in the framework of some Provincial laws. The implementation in the Austrian Clean Air Act for steam boilers 2002 is still pending.

National emission targets are currently stipulated by the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on National Emission Ceilings (NEC-Directive, 2001/81/EC) for sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOX), volatile organic com-pounds (VOC), and ammonia (NH3) (see Chapter 4.2.). At industrial plant level, the Large Combustion Plants Directive (2001/80/EC) (LCP Directive) and the Waste Incineration Directive (2000/76/EC) stipulate the minimum requirements for the op-eration and emissions of specific plants.

The Emission Allowance Trade Directive (2003/87/EC) concerns selected energy-intensive industrial sectors and aims at the cost-effective reduction of greenhouse gases – in the first phase only of CO2 – by trade with emission allowances.

Waste management and energy policy goals are also applicable in industry. A fur-ther important area of environmental policy with ramifications for industrial plants will be the chemicals policy of the EU in the next few years.

In Austria, the Industrial Code 1994, the Clean Air Act for Steam Boilers, the Water Act 1959, the Waste Management Act 2002, the Mineral Materials Act, and the En-vironmental Impact Assessment Act 2000), as well as the ordinances enacted on the basis of these laws, form the legal foundation for environmental protection in the industrial sector. Demands on plants and any established emission standards must be based on the implementation of state-of-the-art technology.


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If ordinances are to be applied to an approval case, the requirements they stipulate must be met (minimum requirements). If no ordinance is applicable, the authorities usually resort to expert opinions, comparable approval cases or pieces of legisla-tion (e.g. TA-Luft [Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control]. Authorities may also stipulate stricter limit values (e.g. for the protection of neighbours or emission control) than those cited in ordinances and pieces of legislation.

Consumption of resources is partially regulated by legislation in the areas of re-gional planning, mining and raw materials extraction, as well as water and energy management. For IPPC plants, the efficient use of resources – especially of energy – and the avoidance of waste are among the approval criteria.

Technologies which improve the consumption of resources or the emission situa-tion and reduce environmental effects are collectively called “environmental tech-nologies“. In March 2002, the report of the “Environmental Technology for Sustain-able Development“ Commission (COM(2002) 122) was published. It put forward the opinion that environmental technology can contribute to sustainable development by advancing environmental protection while at the same time stimulating economic growth. In March 2002, the European Council approved the Commission’s proposal to develop an action plan together with stakeholders to overcome the obstacles preventing the development, introduction and application of environmental tech-nologies.

In the Commission's communication of 28 January 2004 the “Action Plan for Envi-ronmental Technologies in the European Union“ was announced (COM(2004) 38 final). The focal points of the action plan are climate change, soil protection, sus-tainable structures of production and consumption as well as water. These areas are also priorities of the 6th Environmental Action Programme and the 6th Research Framework Programme of the EU. The Action Plan proposes technology platforms to present proposals on, for instance, demonstration and distribution projects. Other proposals concern support and funding instruments as well as the exchange of in-formation on environmental technologies. The Action Plan for Environmental Tech-nologies will be reviewed in 2006 and subsequently every two years.

3.10.3 SITUATION AND TRENDS

This chapter will present the situation and trends in Austria for the industry sector based on environmentally relevant data. To the extent possible, the industry sector shall be defined by means of legal or statistical classification.


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3.10.3.1 Resource consumption and emissions

Energy consumption

Final energy consumption in industry came to a total of 265 PJ (1 petajoule = 1015 J) in 2001 and thus stood at the level of 1998. The share in total Austrian consump-tion declined from 28.5% to 26.4% (see Chapter 3.4.3.1).

others 11% Iron and steel production

23.9%

Wood processing 3%

Chemistry 10%

Mineral processing

10%

Pulp and paper 22%

Buildings 7%

other production processes 8%

Food 6%

Fig. 3.10-1: Final energy consumption by sector in Austria 2001.

Source: Statistik Austria, “Energy Statistics Austria 1970-2001“

By far the most energy-intensive sectors are pig iron and steel production (23.9%) as well as the production of paper and cardboard (21.9%), the “lead position“ often changing in recent years. Due to the slight but steady decline in the “production and processing of glass and the production of goods made of stones and soils“ (9.7%), this sector was outperformed by the “production of chemicals and chemical prod-ucts“ sector (10.5%) in 2001.

The key energy sources in industry are electricity (31.5%) and gas (29.5%), fol-lowed by oil (16.3%), coal (12.2%), and renewable energy (10.6%). The absolute numbers for electricity and renewable energies increased in the past four years while those of oil and coal have remained nearly constant following a slump from 1998 to 1999. With gas, enormous excess consumption (approx. 88 PJ, previously approx. 80 PJ) was reported in 2000 in comparison to 1998, 1999 and 2001.

Water consumption

It can safely be assumed that industry is the major consumer of water in Austria. Al-together, almost two thirds of Austria’s total water demand (incl. cooling water) is accounted for by industry. A general survey of water consumption in industry last took place in 1994 as part of the industrial statistics survey, which collected data from all industrial enterprises.


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Since Austria’s accession to the EU, the statistical survey of water consumption is conducted using a value-oriented approach, i.e. only water consumption from ex-ternal suppliers is surveyed. Self-extracted surface, ground and spring water has not been considered in the consumption surveys since 1995. The share of self-extracted water came to approximately 92.2% of total water consumption in 1994.

The Water Quality Protection Report 2002 contains no new data with regard to wa-ter consumption in industry as the registers stipulated by the Water Framework Di-rective (2000/60/EC) are only now in the process of being developed (see also Chapters 3.3.2 and 4.1.2.2).

Emissions to water

In 2001, the industrial load (indirect and direct discharge) supplied to biological and mechanical waste water treatment facilities came to a total of 510 488 t COD (che-mical oxygen demand) (+ 23.5% compared to 1998). Of this amount, 237 440 t (+ 16.6%), which corresponds to a share of approximately 46.5% of the total COD lo-ad of industry, comes as direct discharge (biological and mechanical waste water treatment plants) (see Chapter 3.3.3.4). The COD load of industries discharging di-rectly into running waters came to 35 401 t (+ 30.6%) (see also Table 3.3-4). There is still a lack of data regarding the waste water components heavy metals, chlorin-ated compounds and persistent organic pollutants (such as complexing agents). An improvement of the data situation is expected with the implementation of the Water Framework Directive.

Air emissions

In contrast to earlier representations, emissions from refineries are now only allo-cated to the power plant sector (SNAP35 01) and no longer to the industry sector (SNAP 03/04). The data was adjusted retroactively (see Table 3.10-1).

0

5.000

10.000

15.000

20.000

25.000

30.000

35.000

40.000

SO2 NOx CO2

SO

2, N

Ox

[t/a

], C

O2 [

1000

t/a

] 1990

1995

2000

2001

Fig. 3.10-2: Emissions from power plants (left) or industry (right) in Austria. In 2001, the share of the total output of power plants came to SNAP 01, 03 and 04 35% with SO2 (sulphur dioxide) and with NOx (nitrogen oxides) and 43% with CO2 (carbon dioxide).

35 SNAP-Code: in Appendix 2 the standard nomenclature used for air polluters according to the UNECE Agreement on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (Federal Legal Gazette No. 158/1983).

0 2.000 4.000 6.000 8.000

10.000 12.000 14.000 16.000 18.000

SO2 NOx CO2

SO

2, N

Ox [

t/a]

, CO

2 [

1000

t/a

] 1990 1995 2000 2001


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2001/1990 SOx NOx CO2 2001/1998 SOx NOx CO2

PP 58% 87% 112% PP 106% 127% 114%

Industry 54% 77% 102% Industry 74% 87% 95%

Tab. 3.10.-1: Comparison of air emissions in 2001 from power plants (PP) and industry in Austria with reference to the base years 1990 and 1998.

With regard to the base year 1990 (international agreement targets for CO2 and SOx for reducing emissions relate to this, see Chapter 4.2.2), SOx emissions (see Chapter 4.2.3.5) were nearly halved in the power plant and industry sectors. Since 1998, emissions in industry have been reduced by another fourth though they in-creased in the power plant sector. Emission standards demanded the desulphurisa-tion (and/or fuel conversion) and the dedusting of waste gas, and heavy metal emissions were also reduced in doing so. A reduction was also noted with other pollutants (NOx, NMVOC (non-methane volatile organic carbons) and CO), espe-cially at the beginning of the 1990s. Between 1995 and 2001, only slight decreases, and with some air emissions even a stagnation, has been observed (see also Chapter 4.2.3.3).

For energy and transformation industries, the air pollutants SO2 and NOx were considerably reduced between 1990 and 1998. Ever since, the trend has reversed again and NOx levels in particular have risen.

Among the most important emitters of NOx in the manufacturing sector in Austria are the cement and pulp and paper industries as well as iron and steel production (see also Chapter 4.2.3.2).

In 2001, industry’s CO2 emissions were somewhat above the level of 1990. In par-ticular, the major sources of CO2 are energy-intensive sectors such as iron and steel production, petroleum refining, cement production, and the production of pa-per and pulp.

Annual dioxin and furan emissions in Austria (see Chapter 4.2.3.10) were esti-mated to total approx. 52.3 g I-TE/a36. Industry accounts for a share of some 33%37. Dioxins and furans may occur in metal production and metal working, sinter plants, waste incineration, and the co-incineration of waste.

The most important producers of heavy metal emission are waste incineration plants, co-incineration plants, the metal industry and metal production as well as processing. A detailed overview can be found in Chapter 4.2.3.9.

36 Based on an estimate for 1994; changes are only of negligible dimensions at present. I-TE states the international toxicity equivalents of all various individual substances with reference to 2,3,7,8-TCDD.

37 A considerable share of dioxin emissions is associated with small furnaces in households as well as incineration plants in the agriculture and forest sector. A reduction of these emissions is attainable with the use of “clean fuels“, such as untreated wood, oil or gas and with the use of modern furnace technologies.


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Waste accumulation and disposal in industry

The Federal Waste Management Plan 2001 (FWMP) comprises information on in-dustrial hazardous and non-hazardous waste (classified by waste type numbers in accordance with the Austrian standard ÖNORM 2100), the material volumes of the RWMP (UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 2001a), the Waste Data Network, environmental statements, the waste management concepts of the companies, industry concepts and studies on the state of the art are. The amount of hazardous industrial waste is well documented due to the obligation to report (Survey by the Waste Data Net-work) (see Chapter 3.11.3). For the most part, only estimates are available on the occurrence of non-hazardous waste and the amounts of hazardous and non-hazardous waste used in business operations.

A major share of hazardous waste (altogether approx. 1 million tons) is of mineral origin (e.g. 166 000 t slag and ash from waste incineration plants and 25 000 t of dust, ash and dross from various melting processes). The other major share is comprised of soils with oil and other substances totalling 300 000 t of the total ac-cumulation of hazardous waste materials. Requests for the declassification of haz-ardous waste of mineral origin are frequently approved.

Additional waste materials in the industrial sector are non-hazardous waste of min-eral origin (4.1 mio. t), waste wood (3.8 mio. t) and waste from water treatment, waste water treatment and water utilisation (550 000 t sewage sludge/30% dry sub-stance from industry). Examples of internal industrial material recovery and the treatment of waste materials are: the use of waste wood in the particle and fibre board as well as paper and pulp industry, the use of aluminium scrap and produc-tion residuals in the production of secondary aluminium, the extensive external or internal treatment of waste from the iron and steel industry, as well as the use of beet soil and carbonation sludge from the food and luxury goods industry as fertiliz-ers. Waste is currently co-incinerated in industrial plants of the paper and pulp in-dustry (wood waste, paper fibre sludge, sewage sludge), in the wood-processing industry and sawing industry (wood waste) as well as in the cement industry (waste oil and solvents, paper fibre waste materials, waste tyres, plastic waste) (see Chap-ter 3.10.3.5).

3.10.3.2 State of the art and analysis of measures for selected pollutants and industrial sectors

The best available techniques (BAT in Austria: the state of the art) are described at the European level in the BAT Reference Documents (BREFs). By means of infor-mation exchange between Member States and industry when drawing up the BAT Reference Documents, the integrated approach in accordance with the IPPC Direc-tive will be specified at a technical level while environmental protection throughout Europe will be brought to the most harmonised and highest level possible. Envi-ronmental technologies and their costs play a decisive role in the realisation of BAT.

While the BAT Reference Documents do not stipulate the application of any emis-sion standards or compulsory technologies, they should be consulted by the au-thorities as information sources for the approval of plants. Experience has shown that the BAT Reference Documents are becoming increasingly important in plant approvals, in the adaptation of contaminated facilities under the purview of the IPPC Directive and also with regard to all issues connected to the state of the art.


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For instance, the specialist section of the TA-Luft (Germany), newly published in 2002, is based on the completed BAT Reference.

To support the exchange of information in accordance with Art.16 (2) of the IPPC Directive on the “Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control“, studies on the state of the art have been developed and published by the Umweltbundesamt since 1996. These studies describe production technologies utilised in the respective Austrian plants together with the necessary raw materials or material used and the pollutant emissions which result from it, including the accumulated waste materials. Based on this, technologies for the reduction of emissions as well as the treatment of waste are illustrated. The most up-to-date studies focus on fertilisers, inorganic acids, thermal power stations, and waste incineration plants.

The air pollutants particulate matter (including PM10) SOx, NOx and Hg (mercury) are now an investigative priority due to the high loads, the legally stipulated reduc-tion goals for SOx und NOx and the material properties (especially Hg and airborne dust). Reduction technologies are illustrated in pertinent studies (see Chapter 4.2.3).

At present (December 2003), 14 BAT Reference Documents have formally been adopted by the European Commission while another one has been completed and is waiting for approval by the European Commission. In order to set off shortcom-ings in documents which already exist or which are being developed, an additional “horizontal“ (trans-sectoral) BAT Reference Document entitled “Energy Efficiency“ will be published.

In an evaluation stage at the sectoral level, measures defined as the best available technologies and the obtainable emission and consumption values obtained through them were compared with the state of the art in Austria by the Umwelt-bundesamt (UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 2001c; 2002a; 2002b and 2002c). This evaluation has produced the following results:

Paper and pulp industry

Since 2001, all pulp plants in Austria have been fitted with a multilevel sewage treatment plant for the reduction of the biological oxygen demand (BOD) so that the total BOD5 emissions from this sector now lie within the BAT range. COD emis-sions lie in the upper BAT range or slightly above this in many plants. Since chlorine dioxide is used for bleaching in just one plant (all other plants produce chlorine-free bleached pulp), the AOX values (adsorbable organic halogens) lie under the BAT levels.

With regard to air emissions, there are considerable variations between individual businesses within the branch. The NOx emissions are generally higher than those with values obtainable by BAT, while dust and SO2 emissions are only seldom higher than the BAT standards.

Waste and production residues are for the most part incinerated in the company’s own fluidised boilers (62% in 2001), while 29% (2001) was delivered to the cement and brick industries and some 8% disposed of in landfills.


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Glass production

For the evaluation of the BAT Reference Document on “Glass Production“, data from seven glass plants (of altogether 11 in Austria) was available to the Umwelt-bundesamt. Air emission levels of the pollutants particulate matter, SO2, NOx, and heavy metals from these seven plants are below the BAT standard, with the excep-tion of the NOx emissions from gas-fired melting ends. Pollution of discharged waste water lies significantly under the BAT standards. Of two plants, which pro-vided no material, it is known that no reduction measures for air emissions have been taken so far.

Cement production

The BAT Reference Document on “Cement Production“ contains BAT standards for dust, SOx and NOx, the BAT range having been extended for NOx from 200-500 mg/Nm³ via so-called split views (upward: 500-800 mg/Nm³ or downward: 100-200 mg/Nm³; attainable by the installation of a catalytic converter). In 1999, the mean emissions of Austrian cement plants were at 649 mg/Nm³, thus above the general BAT range, while the mean SO2 and particulate matter emission concentra-tions were below the BAT standards. Currently, waste is increasingly being used in all rotary furnaces of the cement industry thus widening the range of waste types used.

Ferrous metal processing

The BAT Reference Document on ferrous metal processing examines the three sub-sectors of hot- and cold-forming, continuous hot dip coating and batch galvani-sation. In all sectors, BAT values were determined for the major pollutants, even though there is no consensus on these values in all areas of the TWG (Technical Working Group). For furnace facilities in which combustion air is warmed, no BAT value for NOx emissions has been established. A comparison of emissions from Austrian warm- and cold-rolling mills with the BAT values demonstrates that the emission levels of these plants are lower or at least within the range of BAT values. The emissions of an Austrian wire-drawing factory lie under the BAT values or at the lower end of the stated BAT range.

Production of iron and steel

BAT values for air pollutants are only stated for the parameters dust, (sinter plant, blast furnace, iron-ore pre-treatment and secondary dusting with converters, elec-tric furnaces/foundries), SO2, (sinter plant), NOx (blast furnace), and dioxins and fu-rans (sinter plant, electric furnaces/foundries). Time references (daily mean values) are given only for the BAT values regarding dust emissions from electrical arc fur-naces. In the pertinent Austrian ordinances, far more pollutants (e.g. HF (hydro-fluorides) and HCl (hydrochlorides) for all the above-mentioned plants, cyanide for the blast furnaces and CO (carbon monoxide), TOC (total organic carbon) and heavy metals for all the above mentioned plants, with the exception of the sinter plant) are limited (as half-hourly mean value (HMV) or daily mean value (DMV)).

If equal time references are taken as the basis, the Austrian limit values lie either at the ceiling of the BAT values (dust, SO2 and dioxins and furans for sinter plants), or


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in part considerably above them (blast furnaces (dust, NOX) and pig iron pre-processing and secondary dedusting of converters (dust) as well as for electric fur-naces/foundries (dust)). In many cases the limit values are higher than in the Ger-man Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control (TA Luft, Joint Ministerial Circular 2002).

The emission values for dust lie within the BAT range at the sinter plant in Linz. Since the installation of a fabric filter (2002) at the sinter plant in the Donawitz steel plant, values have been attained that are considerably below the BAT range.

BAT values for waste water emissions at sinter plants (based on equal time refer-ences) are considerably lower than the Austrian limit values (the exceptions are Hg (considerably higher limit value) and Cd (Cadmium; identical value). Moreover, the limit values will apply to both sinter plants (which are both old plants) only from 28 November 2005 on. However, emissions of Austrian plants, including ammonia (NH3), already lie considerably beneath the national standard and generally under the BAT range as well.

In general, only a small amount of data from Austrian plants is available or publica-tion of data is not authorised by the businesses.

Non-ferrous metal processing

In Austria, this BAT Reference Document relates to the production of secondary aluminium, secondary lead, secondary copper, refractory metals, and iron alloys.

In the BAT Reference Document BAT associated emission values are given for the air pollutants dust, Ctot, HCl, HF, SO2, NO2, and dioxin as well as for heavy metals (the latter only for the production of iron alloys and refractory metals), in which all are lower than the Austrian limit values.

In the case of dust, SO2 and NO2, the air emission values of the four analysed sec-ondary aluminium producers in Austria lie far below the respective BAT values. With one exception, the standard measures for dioxin also lie within the BAT range. For HCl, HF, Ctot an irregular pattern emerges.

With the exception of SO2, the measured air emission values of secondary lead works lie under the BAT values.

To a large extent, secondary copper works obtain values under the BAT range in the case of the available measurement data. Publication of the values was not ap-proved.

The air emission values of an Austrian iron alloy producer measured for dust and nickel (Ni) lie under the BAT values. Other values are not stated.

For waste water emissions from Austrian plants, only occasional data is available so that a general comparison with the BAT values is not possible.


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Emission estimate for SOx and NOx in key sectors

In the framework of the Directive on National Emission Ceilings for Certain Atmos-pheric Pollutants (NEC Directive), Austria needs to fulfil an ambitious reduction tar-get for SO2 und NOx (see Chapter 4.2.3). In two studies (UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 2003b and 2003), the current status of NOx and SOx emissions in Austrian industry was calculated and an emission forecast was made for 2010 based on the WIFO energy forecast (Energy Scenarios 2020). While observing the NEC target for SOx

is possible without having to take new measures (forecast value 38 kt with a target value of 39 kt), the implementation of additional drastic reduction measures is nec-essary to ensure compliance with the NOx target (103 kt).

For the power and heating plant sectors > 50 MW, refinery and cement industry, detailed data on emission, measures for reducing emissions and their costs were reported.

3.10.3.3 Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) in industry

For 20 industrial projects environmental impact statements (EIS) were submitted from 2000 through December 2003 and 10 plants were approved according to the EIA law. In general, the number is growing (number of EIA reviews in the years 1996-2000 in industry: 5). In most cases, a simplified EIA procedure is to be under-taken due to threshold amounts and location (see Chapter 3.5.4.1).


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Plan EIA sub-mitted to BMLFUW

Status

Development of thermal waste processing plant in Wels 03/00 Pos. ruling 29 April 2002

District heating plant Linz Mitte 08/00 Hearing 24 April 2001 Pos. ruling 21 September 2001 Appeal ruling US 7 January 2002

Thermal residual waste treatment plant Arnoldstein 03/01

Pos. ruling 16 October 2001 Appeal ruling US 21 March 2002 Administrative Court grievance

Production line 'Morecoat-Paper Machine 5' Bruck/Mur 04/01 Pos. ruling 24 July 2001

Mechanical-biological waste-treatment plant Frohnleiten 09/01 Positive ruling

5 April 2002

Wind park Scharndorf 01/02 Pos. ruling 26 November 2002

Wind park Neudorf 03/03 Pos. ruling 30 July 2003 Enlargement: Wind park in Neu-siedl/See and Weiden/See 03/03 Pos. ruling 13 August 2003

Wind park Gols 04/03 Pos. ruling 30 July 2003

Wietersdorfer & Peggauer cement plants: thermal processing of haz-ardous waste, expansion of ca-pacity, capacity expansion for thermal processing of non-hazardous waste and capacity ex-pansion of cement production

06/03 Pos. ruling 15 December 2003

Wind park Kittsee 09/03 Pos. ruling 23 December 2003

Wind park Parndorf 09/03 Pos. ruling 17 December 2003 Diabas digging “Tagbau21, Schö-nangerl“ Saalfelden 06/03 EIS

Hearing 20/21 January 2004 Waste and waste oil treatment plant Krems 04/02 EIS

Recycling plant St. Pantaleon 05/02 EIS Wind park Petronell-Carnuntum 09/02 EIS

Thermal treatment plant Pfaffenau 07/03 EIS

Project “Linz 2010“ voestalpine steel 11/02 EIS

Recycling landfill Mistelbach 09/03 EIS

Wind park Kreuzstetten 09/03 EIS

Tab. 3.10-2: Environmental Impact Assessments in Industry.

3.10.3.4 Environmental Statement in accordance with the EMAS Regulation (Environmental Management Audit Scheme) in industry

With the entry into force of the EMAS Regulation (761/2001/EC) and the Environ-ment Management Law (Federal Legal Gazette No. 96/2001), service providers, in


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addition to industrial enterprises, can take advantage of EMAS certification. This led to a peak of 370 registered enterprises in March 2002. Since then total registrations have declined (as of August 2003: 301). Due to the loss of freely accessible envi-ronmental statements in accordance with EMAS, the degree of public information on environmental concerns has also decreased. The Umweltbundesamt is in charge of the registration, administration and upkeep of the register.

The declining trend can be partly attributed to the reduction of funds. After the ex-haustion of first-registration funding of Österreichische Kommunalkredit (ÖKK) in December 1999, there is now the option to have specific measures (theoretically also the development of an EMAS system) funded by up to 20% by the ÖKK. In several federal provinces (Vienna, Lower Austria, Carinthia, Vorarlberg) a (partial) refund for consulting costs can be applied for.

In Austria, there are currently about 123 EMAS-certified companies which belong to the industry sector (NACE Code, IPPC Directive, Emission Trade Directive, VOC Directive) 73 companies from this sector had to be removed from the EMAS Regis-ter. The coding according to NACE does not take into account threshold amounts of the IPPC Directive.

3.10.3.5 Waste incineration and co-incineration in industrial plants

On 28 December 2000, the Waste Incineration Directive 2000/76/EC (WID) of the European Parliament and Council on the incineration of waste entered into force. This directive is to end the legal fragmentation which exists in the area of waste in-cineration by merging existing directives specifically with regard to municipal waste (Directive 89/369/EEC and Directive 89/429/EEC) and hazardous waste (Directive 94/67/EC).

In Austria, the Waste Incineration Ordinance (Federal Legal Gazette II No. 389/2002) entered into force on 1 November 2002. The Waste Incineration Direc-tive was thereby implemented and the harmonisation of legal regulations at the na-tional level continued. The Austrian Waste Incineration Ordinance regulates the thermal treatment of hazardous as well as non-hazardous waste and applies only to mono- and co-incineration plants. An extensive description of the Austrian mono-incineration plants, which also contains statements for the efficient use of converted energy, was published in 2002 (BMLFUW & UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 2002a). A brief illustration can be found in Chapter 3.11.3.3.

Compared to the existing regulations, the new waste incineration ordinance stipu-lates some stricter emission standards for several air pollutants (e.g. dust, NOx and Corg.). Also new is the stipulation for the continuous measurement of mercury in flue gas from incineration and co-incineration plants.

The co-incineration of waste in industrial plants currently takes place particularly in rotary furnaces of the cement industry, in fluidised boilers of the paper and pulp industry as well as in the wood processing and sawing industries and in power plants.

Reasons for waste utilisation are to harness the energy content of the waste (and thus a certain substitution of fuels depending on the thermal value) and economic considerations, as revenues can be generated from the co-incineration of waste.


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Under certain circumstances, a percentage of incinerated biomass and waste may be classified as renewable energy sources whereby higher revenues from the sale of electricity can be attained.

With the co-incineration of waste, problems caused by corrosion, compliance with emission standards and the existing possibilities of using solid residues from incin-eration must be attended to by the plant operator.

Based on the Landfill Ordinance, which prohibits the depositing of untreated sew-age sludge starting in 2004, additional capacities for the pre-treatment and disposal of sewage sludge must be created.

A report by the Umweltbundesamt (UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 2003a) provides an overview of the occurrence of sewage sludge and the disposal and recovery prac-tices currently in use in Austria while illustrating the situation of incineration and co-incineration in waste incineration plants, thermal power plants and industrial furnace facilities.

In terms of environmental protection, the emissions of volatile heavy metals (espe-cially mercury) and dioxins/furans are particularly problematic in the co-incineration of waste since, for the most part, the co-incineration plants are not equipped with the appropriate separation facilities. In many cases, the concentration of pollutants in flue gas is kept low only through dilution. Because of the frequent high volumes of flue gas, the emitted loads may significantly increase even if there is only a neg-ligible increase in the concentrations of pollutants in flue gas. The pollutant loads emitted or stored within products can be significant while still complying with emis-sion limit values and standards (see Chapter 3.11.3).

In a ruling from the 13th of February 2003 (case C-228/00 and C-458/00), the Euro-pean Court of Justice (ECJ) decided that the incineration of waste in cement plants is energy processing. However, the waste has to replace other materials so that natural resources are conserved. Furthermore, it is necessary to verify whether the main objective of such a measure is the production of energy. A plant qualifies as a processing plant if a most of the waste is used and if most of the energy produced is recovered and utilised.

In its reasons for the ruling, the ECJ explained that, at present, the Waste Frame-work Directive of the EU (75/442/EEC) does not name any further plant-related cri-teria for waste recovery. A review of the Waste Framework Directive is currently underway.

In future, it will be important for industrial plants, which now are increasingly allowed to process waste, to principally comply with the same strict emission standards as waste incineration plants. At the same time, a broad recovery concept, which opens up a back door for waste to end up in plants with a low environmental standard, must be prevented throughout the EU.

3.10.3.6 Carbon dioxide emissions from industrial plants and preparations for emission trading

With the Emission Allowance Trading Directive of the EU (2003/87/EC) a commu-nity regulation for direct emissions of all greenhouse gases falling under the Kyoto Protocol from the sources stated in Appendix I of the Emission Allowance Trading


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Directive has been introduced. The emission trading system will enter into force on 1 January 2005. The first phase of emission trading will be 2005-2007 when only carbon dioxide emissions will be included.

The aggregated overall CO2 emissions from a data survey of the plants likely to fall under the Emission Allowance Trading Directive with a data status of 17 December 2003 are depicted in figure 3.10-3. In accordance with the Emission Allowance Trading Directive, CO2 emissions from the incineration of biomass with the emission factor zero will be calculated. However, as the Emission Allowance Trading Directive provides no definition of biomass, CO2 emissions from the incin-eration of non-standardised fuels (biomass, waste, secondary fuels, etc.) were sur-veyed separately. The biogenic share was estimated on a preliminarily basis ac-cording to company information and the biogenic emissions were identified sepa-rately.

Fig. 3.10-3: Total CO2 emissions according to a survey for 1998-2001 incl. data update following feedback; (data status incl. update of 17 December 2003).

A rough classification based on “distance to best practise“ essentially as-sessed whether an enterprise lay in the range of the BAT values or typical emis-sions or consumption values stated in the BAT Documents or did not achieve this range (on BAT Documents; see Chapter 3.10.3.2). If an enterprise did not reach the BAT values or the typical emission and consumption values, the reasons for this non-compliance were examined.

The rough classification observes the following framework conditions:

Availability of comparative values: analogous specific parameters for energy use are not given in all BAT Documents.

The overwhelming number of industrial sectors in Austria is not homogenous so that comparisons between sectors are not admissible.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

2001 2000 1999 1998

CO

2 M

io t

/a

CO2 emissions from biomass according to operators’ information)

CO2 emissions (process emissions and fossil fuels)


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Requirements of the BAT Documents can vary. A BAT value imposes higher re-quirements on enterprises than a typical emission or consumption value. Again, comparisons between sectors are not admissible.

Based on enterprises for which comparative values were available, approximately 68-75% of the values referring to total emissions (mean value 1998-2001) were in the BAT value range and corresponded to typical emission and consumption values and the parameters cited in reference literature. The range is based on assump-tions which had to be made because of unclear definitions in the BAT document.

With regard to total emissions, approximately 25-32% of the values did not achieve BAT values and typical emission and consumption values and parameters cited in reference literature. Inquiries were made at these enterprises into the reasons for these deviations. By far the overwhelming number of reasons for the deviations stated by the enterprises is plausible and was rated as “explainable“. The over-whelming share of deviations appeared in sectors for which BAT values are avail-able.

3.10.3.7 Cross-media environmental controls in selected regions

The state of the environment in fourteen selected regions with industrial activity was described on the basis of the available data. This description covered multiple me-dia (air, water and soil) and was based on appropriate installations. The connec-tions between and the temporal development of industrial plant emissions, ambient pollution and the burden on the environment were presented in as detailed a man-ner as possible and – where possible – linked to the plants in question. In addition, existing information deficiencies and any possible need for action were pointed out.

Ten regions had been described already (UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 1992). The key results from the individual sites studied in the most recent surveys are indicated be-low (UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 2004).

In many of the regions studied, the reduction of emissions in air and water led to a verifiable and pronounced improvement of the air quality situation (especially SO2, dust, HCl, BSB and AOX) and a reduced burden on the installations. The data for parameters subject to legal monitoring and reporting obligations are better and more uniform than for other pollutants such as heavy metals, volatile organic com-pounds and persistent organic pollutants. As regards air quality, the necessary monitoring sites are not always available to enable producer-specific assessment. With regard to groundwater, the large-meshed network of monitoring sites required under the Wassergüteerhebungsverordnung (WGEV) [Water Quality Monitoring Ordinance] provides a good overview throughout Austria; however, with the excep-tion of probes to monitor contaminated sites, there are no producer-specific moni-toring sites. Concerning surface bodies of water, the Umweltbundesamt only had WGEV data at its disposal. The purpose of the WGEV monitoring sites is to evalu-ate the quality of groundwater resources and running bodies of water throughout Austria on a regular basis, thus they can provide only limited information on pro-ducer-specific pollution depending on their location. In some cases, plant-owned landfills or contaminated sites near the production facilities themselves make a considerable contribution to pollution. A number of the contaminated sites in ques-tion have been successfully remediated in the past ten years, while some still re-


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quire remediation. Studies on installations in the vicinity of pollution sources are available for some pollutants and regions; however, with the exception of the Spruce Needle Investigation under the Forstverordnung [Ordinance against Forest Growth Damaging Air Contamination], studies over longer periods of time are hardly available. In some regions, the number of available studies on installations is insufficient to allow an evaluation of the pollution situation.

In many cases, the willingness of businesses to make environmental data available and to agree to their publication can be considered high, and only in very few cases does it show a need for improvement. Licensing practices in Austria show regional differences concerning regulated parameters and emission limit values. In some cases, periods of over ten years from the time of notification regarding required measures until their implementation or planned implementation were observed. One conspicuous trend is that most environment protection measures at industrial plants could be attributed directly to laws and ordinances or their implementation deadlines.

Data concerning plant-specific waste can generally be described as good, although waste management concepts are sometimes lacking. Data on the further treatment of significant waste are only available in some cases. The investigation also re-vealed frequent problems regarding compliance with labelling, processing or waste disposal regulations.

Arnoldstein-Gailitz (Carinthia)

In the administrative district of Arnoldstein all manufacturing plants are located in the industrial park EURO NOVA at the banks of the Gailitz River. The plants that play a key role in the cross-media environmental control project are: ABRG (Asamer-Becker Recycling GmbH), BMG Metall und Recycling GmbH, and Chem-son Polymer Additive AG.

BMG Metall und Recycling GmbH is responsible for the majority of gaseous indus-trial emissions at the location. A significant reduction of emissions in SO2, dust and gaseous heavy metals was achieved by converting from primary lead to secondary lead production (concluded in 1993). Proof was provided to evidence a clear reduc-tion of the sulphur content in needles in close correlation with the lowering of sul-phur emissions. The installation of fabric filters also led to a reduction of total dust emissions. As BMG Metall und Recycling GmbH uses increasing amounts of resid-ual plastic (up to 50%) as auxiliary fuel in short rotary furnaces, dioxin emission measurements should be carried out. The SO2 emissions of the short rotary fur-naces could further be decreased by fuel conversion and/or abatement technolo-gies. Soil analyses, air quality and deposition measurements indicate high levels of pollution at the industrial location, above all of lead and cadmium. In the vicinity of the plant, extremely high levels of lead, cadmium, zinc and copper content were de-tected in fir needles, and in some cases were far above the levels typical of unpol-luted areas.

According to information provided by BMG Metall und Recycling GmbH there are no waste water measurements prescribed in the permit. The company’s environ-mental statement provides no information on the components of the waste water, the kind of waste water treatment or the discharge of sewage into the receiving bodies of water. In ABRG’s waste water treatment plant, waste water from the fluid-ised reactor and cesspools from the landfill are treated and directly discharged.


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Analyses of running water quality data resulting from the Water Quality Monitoring Ordinance (WGEV) showed that concentrations of lead, zinc and cadmium in the downstream monitoring station Arnoldstein frequently exceed the limit values ac-cording to the draft Water Quality Standards Ordinance. Moreover, limit values for the parameters copper, nickel, arsenic, and chromium are also exceeded. The in-dustrial location was listed as a contaminated site in the Register of Contaminated Sites. The deposits at the industrial location indicate high heavy metal content and contaminate the local groundwater. From 1994 to 2001, safety and remedial meas-ures were carried out. The establishment of proof for the safety of groundwater, a programme which began in 1996, shall be continued in full.

In 1999, 8 100 t of slag from short rotary furnaces were deposited by BMG, while to the Umweltbundesamt unknown amounts of lead dross and lead ash, dust as well as lead sludge were thermally processed. The 790 t of plastic residues from BMG, which is not considered hazardous waste, was dumped to 50% in 1999. The other half was thermally processed internally. Contaminated non-hazardous iron and steel waste was also thermally processed. At Asamer-Becker Recycling GmbH there is no hazardous waste that needs to be externally disposed of; the waste is mixed, declassified and stored at the facility’s own residual landfill. The most impor-tant hazardous waste at Chemson Polymer Additive AG by quantity (lead sulphate, lead salts, and other non-ferrous metal-containing dusts) is passed on to BMG. The remainder of the hazardous and non-hazardous waste is either thermally or materi-ally utilised off-site or internally recycled.

Brixlegg (Tyrol)

The industrial premises of the Brixlegg plant lie on the right bank of the Inn River in the Brixlegg municipality in Tyrol. Emission-related measures of the Brixlegg plant (fabric filter, regenerative post-combustion plants and spray scrubbers) have led to a reduction of air emissions since 1989 (dust incl. heavy metals, organic pollutants incl. dioxins and SO2). For PCDD/F emissions, an official limit value of 0.9 ng/Nm3 applies for the shaft furnace. The limit value is being observed. An adjustment of the limit value for state-of-the-art PCDD/F emissions (EU BAT Document: 0.1-0.5 ng/Nm3) is recommended. With regard to air quality, the limit values of the Air Qual-ity Protection Act for SO2, PM10 and lead in suspended dust were not exceeded in 2001. Dust precipitation measurements of the regional forestry office of Tyrol showed exceedances of the parameters lead, copper and cadmium. A sulphur con-tent decline in the needles in the Brixlegg area and environs is discernable. The concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, As, and Cd (measurements from 1999-2001) are the heavy metal contents most frequently found in moss in Austria, however, compared to 1990, a considerable reduction of concentrations is expected all in all.

At the end of 2001, the new waste water treatment plant went into operation. Meas-urements in 2003 showed no exceedance of limit values stated in the Abwassere-missionsverordnung [Ordinance on Waste Water Emission (Federal Legal Gazette No. 889/1995)], whose limit values have been effective since the end of December 2001. At the WGEV monitoring stations for running waters (upstream and down-stream), concentrations of copper and nickel exceed the limit value set out by the draft Immissionsverordnung [Water Quality Standards Ordinance] in isolated cases. No exceedances of the threshold value set out by the Groundwater Threshold Value Ordinance, as amended, has been determined at the WGEV groundwater measurement locations.


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35 000 t of hazardous and 1 500 t of non-hazardous waste have been produced at the Brixlegg mining works in 2002. The largest share of non-hazardous waste (fur-nace discharge of metal slags) is internally processed or disposed of. In terms of volume, the major share of hazardous “slags from non-ferrous molten metal“ is in-ternally processed or disposed of. The shaft furnace slags at the Brixlegg mining works are declassified and sold as sand grit. Filter dust from the shaft furnace plant and the converter are externally processed. The filter dust from the anode furnace is used again in the shaft furnace.

Donawitz (Styria)

Donawitz is a part of the city of Leoben and lies in the inner Alpine village of Tallage at the mouth of Vordernbergerbach brook at the Mur River. The four major enter-prises located there are voestalpine Stahl Donawitz GmbH, voestalpine Schienen GmbH, voestalpine Austria Draht GmbH-Walzwerk Donawitz, and Donawitz Energy Park. Voestalpine Stahl Donawitz GmbH undertook various measures to reduce emissions based on the legal regulations in effect since June 2002 (Federal Legal Gazette II 1997/160 and Federal Legal Gazette II 1997/163). The remodelling of the compact steel plant gave rise to more efficient energy use. The existing exhaust air treatment plants were also updated and fabric filters were installed at the sinter plant. With the measures implemented at the steel plant, SO2, CO2, dust and heavy metal emissions at the entire location were reduced. While in terms of air pollution, a decline in the pollutant concentration (dust, CO, SO2, NOx, Pb and Cd) is discern-able, air quality limit values were partially exceeded (2001: Exceedance of the Limit Value for Dust Deposition). Compared to nationwide Austria values, increased am-bient air quality levels for dust precipitation, CO and dioxin were detected in the vi-cinity of the plant. Increased NOX transport was measured in the city area. Since 1999, the annual mean values have been considerably below the average of the 1990s. By reducing the tolerance margin for NO2 by 2012, the air quality limit values may be exceeded even when emission values in the Donawitz region remain un-changed. In the analyses of the parameters sulphur, PCB, PCDD/F and heavy metals in fir needles during the period 1985-2001 in the vicinity of the plant, Dona-witz measured increased values in contrast to unpolluted areas. For sulphur and heavy metals, this is the most highly polluted area of Austria. In the district of Leoben, the reduction of sulphur, iron, lead, cadmium, and zinc content in needles from 1995 to 2001 is a positive development. The high mercury content in moss and fir needles is extremely problematic. Moreover, there is an alarming release of heavy metals (chromium, lead and cadmium) from slag dumps through dust devel-opment.

Waste water values prior to discharge into receiving water bodies are below the li-mit value according to the discharge ruling. In the course of the last 10 years no major changes have been effected with the mechanical waste waster treatment plant. Measures are planned to reduce heavy metal inputs and carbon load in order to comply with the Ordinance on Waste Water Emission for the iron and metallurgic industry, which shall also apply to contaminated plants as of 2005. At the WGEV downstream river monitoring station in Leoben, concentrations of the parameters cadmium, zinc, copper and lead exceed the limit values set out by the draft Ordi-nance on Waste Water Emission. The spring waters located below the landfill show a considerable increase in total mineralisation. At several sources, there are raised levels of the parameters ammonium, nitrite, sulphate, COD, lead, chromium, alu-


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minium, barium, and slightly volatile CFCs in individual cases. Although measures to secure the landfill began in 1990, there is massive impairment of the spring wa-ter below the dump due to the dump's heavy metal load. The WGEV groundwater monitoring stations determined that individual thresholds were exceeded with zinc, iron, chloroform and trichlorethylene in the area of the industrial location. Almost all of the hazardous waste (2001/02: 35 500 t) from voestalpine Stahl Do-nawitz GmbH consisted of “dust, ashes and dross from other melting processes“, which were deposited in the company’s own landfill. The total non-hazardous waste amounted to 314 000 t in 2001, two thirds of which consisted of “converter slag“. This is partially treated for the recovery of iron. Hazardous waste from voestalpine Schienen GmbH (2001/02 a total of 265 t, mainly composed of synthetic coolants and lubricants as well as oil sludge) is externally disposed of. In 2001/02 35 000 t of non-hazardous waste accumulated (over 70% of this was scrap). 8 000 t of forging scales are reused in the sinter plant at voestalpine Stahl Donawitz GmbH as iron carriers. An analysis for the possible use of forging scales in the cement industry is underway. At voestalpine Austria Draht, 1 692 t of hazardous waste (mainly acids, acid mixtures, inorganics), 55 t of non-hazardous waste, and 24 200 t of contami-nated materials (of these 21 350 t of scrap reused in blast furnaces and e-furnaces) were generated in 2000/01.

Lend (Salzburg)

Lend is situated at the estuary of the Gasteiner Ache in the Salzach River. The ma-jor share of industrial emissions at the Lend location is caused by Aluminium Lend GmbH & Co KG. Through the closure of the electrolysis operation in 1992 and the conversion to pure secondary aluminium production, emissions were considerably reduced. Due to the switch from light fuel oil to natural gas and liquefied gas and the improved incineration technologies in the furnaces, SO2, NOx, dust, CO, and CO2 emissions declined from 1998 to 2001. Clean gas values at Aluminium Lend GmbH & Co KG (plant 2) for HCl, HF, dioxins and CO lie under the officially stipu-lated limit values. One shortcoming is that emission concentrations measured for dust, SO2, NOx, org. C, and CO2 have not been made available to the Umwelt-bundesamt. Waste gases from the furnaces in Plant 3, where only polished scrap is used, are channelled via a common chimney without taking measures to reduce emission. No current measures and official values on Plant 3 have been made a-vailable to the Umweltbundesamt. Air pollution measurements for SO2, NOx, dust precipitation, lead and cadmium did not show any exceedance of statutory limit val-ues. Since the closure of the electrolysis plant in 1992, no fluoride pollution has been determined in needles. Nor have measurements revealed any exceedance of the limit values for sulphur (needle analysis) in the Lend region.

Since the end of December 2001, the limit values of the Ordinance on Waste Wa-ter Emission (Federal Legal Gazette No. 889/1995) have to be met. Waste water emissions as well as official values have not been made available to the Umwelt-bundesamt. Concentrations of cadmium, lead, chromium, copper, nickel, and zinc at the WEGV downstream stations for running waters lie partially above the limit values set out by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emission. The WGEV groundwater monitoring stations are not located in the impact range of the industrial location.

Significant waste from the secondary melting house at Lend are non-hazardous dross (1 460 t/a) and furnace discharge (70 t/a) as well as hazardous waste from


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filter dust (8 t/a) and oil-water mixtures (50 t/a). The furnace discharge and filter dusts are disposed of by a disposal company. The dross is sold to the metal indus-try and processed into aluminium there.

Ranshofen (Upper Austria)

Ranshofen is the southern part of the city of Braunau am Inn. The following produc-tion companies of the Austria Metall Aktiengesellschaft (AMAG) are located at Ranshofen: Aluminium Casting GmbH, Aluminium Rolling GmbH, Aluminium Ex-trusion GmbH, and the spun off Austria Alu-Guss GmbH. Air emissions at the Ran-shofen location have been considerably reduced not least because of the closure of the electrolysis plant in 1992. Furthermore, measures taken to reduce emissions in compliance with state-of-the-art technology (post-combustion in the closed well fur-nace, bag filter system with sorbalit dosing, dry absorption by means of bicarbonate and activated carbon) have reduced dust, org. C, dioxins, and acidic gases. The concentration of organic C in the tilting rotary furnace at Aluminium Casting GmbH is markedly high; according to the company, plans are to subject emission to post-combustion to reduce this value. Dioxin values of the closed well furnace are far be-low the officially stipulated value. From 1998 to 2001, the emission factors of C, NOx, dust, HF, and Cl increased two to fourfold at the industrial systems operating at the location. In terms of air pollution limit values, legal stipulations were ob-served. For heavy metals and PM10, however, no air pollution values are available. Exceedances of fluoride limit values in the needles clearly declined and only occur in isolated cases. An increased input of aluminium-containing dust in needles was detected. However, there is neither a legally prescribed emission standard for alu-minium nor are aluminium emissions measured. With heavy metals, slightly raised levels of lead and cadmium were ascertained. In soil analyses, significantly increas-ing PAH contents were found near the plant. Fluoride content in the soil in the area of Ranshofen has also increased. Several monitoring stations also give reason to suspect increased concentrations of lead pollution.

In waste water emissions, there was an increase in chloride, phosphate and con-centrations of hydrocarbons in waste water in the period from 1998 to 2001. Emis-sion values for heavy metals have not been presented to the Umweltbundesamt. The WGEV survey of water quality at the downstream monitoring station showed partial exceedances of concentrations in iron and zinc beyond the limit values set out by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emission. Since measures to secure the company landfill began in 1990, a strong reduction in pollution (by several de-cimal powers) has been achieved in local groundwater. The groundwater quality in the stream of contaminated deposits was generally re-established in 2001.

In terms of volume, the most significant hazardous waste at the AMAG plants are salt slag (35 000 t from Aluminium Casting GmbH), dross and filter dust (1 300 t). These are passed on to foreign waste treatment companies. A share of the filter dust from the waste gas treatment in the rotary furnace is used internally as an ad-ditive in the pre-filter for the treatment of exhaust air. The rest is externally disposed of. The largest amount of non-hazardous waste (9 250 t) is dross which is sold after treatment.


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Treibach-Althofen (Carinthia)

Treibach-Althofen is situated in the district of St. Veit an der Glan at the northern end of Krappfeld field at the Gurk River in the river basin of the Drau River. Trei-bacher Industry AG (TREIBACHER) and its joint venture Aktivsauerstoff GmbH are located there. Thanks to extensive remediation measures at TREIBACHER from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, a decrease of air pollutants (e.g. dust, heavy me-tals, NH3) was achieved in air emissions. In July 2003, a flue gas desulphurisation plant was put into operation at the nickel smelting plant to reduce the plant's SOx and HCl emissions. The major dust sources are the vanadium oxide systems and the iron alloys. A majority of diffuse dust emissions manages to escape through roof lanterns. In terms of volume, the most significant heavy metal emissions are vanadium, molybdenum, tungsten, chromium, and nickel in decreasing order. Other significant emissions are fluoride and borax. Air quality measurements reflect this fact. However, the Air Quality Protection Act does not limit any heavy metal emis-sions except lead and cadmium, which did not exceed any air quality standards. No air quality measurements were made for molybdenum, tungsten, SOx and NOx. The reduction of pollutant loads is also reflected in the objects they affect. In the period 1985-2002, the parameter of heavy metals, S, and Cl were reduced in needles and moss (exceptions: Co and Cu in moss). However, the comparison with unpolluted areas shows considerably increased levels of vanadium, molybdenum, chromium, and nickel in moss and needles.

From 1997 to 2001, emissions from the waste water treatment plant have quadru-pled the annual loads of ammonia, while the share of molybdenum has grown sev-enfold. In 2002, an enhanced ammonia strip was put into operation in order to comply with the stricter NH4 limit values effective since April 2001. Current meas-urements have not been made available to the Umweltbundesamt. With waste wa-ter components, the borax content increased by one third, while nickel and TOC content decreased considerably. In 2001/2002, concentrations of borax and am-monium in the Gurk River were significantly higher at the WGEV downstream moni-toring station than at the upstream monitoring station and in part exceeded the limit values set out by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions. Copper, chro-mium and nickel concentrations also partially exceeded the limit value according to the draft Water Quality Standards Ordinance between 1991 and 2000, both at the upstream and downstream monitoring station. The groundwater downstream of the landfill shows increased values in electrical conductivity, chloride, sulphate, sodium, borax, chromium and sometimes molybdenum and vanadium. By measures to se-cure the landfill, the contents of chloride and sulphate in groundwater were lowered. One shortcoming is that vanadium, molybdenum and tungsten, which have in-creased values in landfill cesspools and in eluates, have not been analysed in groundwater in porous media. A programme extension to establish proof of ecol-ogically sound groundwater and the establishment of additional monitoring stations are recommended. At the WGEV groundwater monitoring stations, chromium and boron exceed the threshold values set by the Groundwater Threshold Value Ordi-nance. A link between the pollution with the Rosswiese landfill is self-evident.

Since August 1993, some 70 000 t of non-hazardous company waste, such as slag, furnace discharge and sludge have been deposited at the company's own landfill. In 2001, out of approx. 575 t of externally disposed hazardous waste, 430 t were accounted for by the category “filter dust, non-ferrous metal-containing“ and the rest was primarily “barium salts“. Out of approx. 550 t of externally disposed non-hazardous waste, some two thirds are “building rubble and/or fire debris“ and ap-


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prox. one third “household waste and commercial waste resembling household waste“.

St. Pölten (Lower Austria)

The leading industrial emitter in St. Pölten, especially with regard to odour-intensive sulphuric compounds, is Glanzstoff Austria GmbH. Its plant premises are located north of the city centre on the Traisen River. Since 1998 H2S and CS2 emissions from Glanzstoff Austria GmbH have dropped by some 80% through waste gas treatment plants. Since 2003 the ambient concentrations of H2S, CS2 and SO2 have been measured with new instruments. The results showed that the maximum daily mean values and the maximum half-hour mean value of CS2 were above the WHO guide values.In 2001, the SO2 limit values of the Air Quality Protection Act were not exceeded in St. Pölten; however, air pollution is very high compared with the rest of Austria.

With regard to waste water emissions, the values of the biological waste water and recycling plants were below the prescribed limit values in 2002. The quality data surveyed in the scope of WGEV in Traisen, showed higher sulphate and sodium concentrations at the upstream monitoring station than at the downstream monitor-ing station. Particularly sulphate concentrations frequently exceeded the limit value set by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions. Because of leachate at the company landfill there was (locally restricted) impairment of groundwater from in-creased mineralization, heavy metals, organic parts, and sulphuric compounds. The company landfill has now been cleared and disposed of. The collection of proof for groundwater safety has not yet been concluded.

At Glanzstoff Austria GmbH, 71 t of hazardous waste accumulated in 2001, both “alkali and alkali mixes“ with “use-specific additives“ and “salts, nitrate and nitrate-containing“ representing the key pollutants. Sludge from waste water treatment (2 300 t) was declassified in 2001 and, along with 400 t of waste from regenerated cellulose fibre production, accounts for a major share of the overall 3 110 t of non-hazardous waste.

Linz (Upper Austria)

The relevant industrial operations are voestalpine Stahl Linz GmbH, Agrolinz Mel-amin International GmbH (AMI), and DSM Fine Chemicals Austria Nfg GmbH & Co. KG. The industrial zone of the city of Linz borders both the Traun and Danube riv-ers.

The package of measures which has been implemented since 1985 in large-scale industry based in Linz led to a considerable reduction of dust, NOx and SO2 emis-sions, especially at the beginning of the 1990s. The reasons for the significant re-duction of NOx emissions are remediation measures with regard to chemicals, par-ticularly in the production of potassium nitrate and measures in the power plant and hot rolling mill areas at voestalpine Stahl Linz GmbH. Since 1996, there has again been an increase in NOx emissions, which is most likely to be attributed to in-creased production at voestalpine Stahl Linz GmbH. Since 1990, significant dust reduction measures at voestalpine Stahl Linz GmbH have applied to the sinter plant, coking plant and the steel plant and, in terms of chemicals, to the production of urea, ammonium-nitrate and fertilisers. Altogether, dust emissions in the chemi-


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cals area were reduced by 75% in the period 1990-2002. As a result of the fuel conversion and remediation measures in the coking and sulphuric acid facilities, SO2 emissions declined by more than 60% from 1990-1992. A marked increase has been perceptible since 1993. Large-scale industry at the location is a significant source of greenhouse gases in Austria. A considerable share of industrial CO2 emissions in Austria originates at voestalpine Stahl GmbH. N2O emissions from the production of ammonium-nitrate at AMI GmbH have been greatly reduced since the autumn of 2003 with the first worldwide large-scale technical plant for the combined reduction of N2O und NOx. Measurements of total suspended particulates (TSP), PM10, SO2 and CO show that large scale industry has a considerable impact on air pollution levels in the Linz area. Altogether, however, a considerable decline in air pollution concentrations consisting of suspended particulates, H2S and NO2 as well as of heavy metals and organic pollutants has been recorded since 1990. Ex-ceedance of the limit values according to the Air Quality Protection Act has been recorded mainly for total suspended particulates and PM10. With regard to NO2, exceedances of air pollution limit values are to be expected in the years to come due to decreasing tolerance margins. Bio-indication with higher plants exhibits sig-nificantly increased effect-oriented air pollution with individual heavy metals (lead and mercury) and with dioxins, PAHs and PCBs in the vicinity of the industry. Apart from large-scale industry, non-industrial activities contribute to the pollution found in the Linz area with individual heavy metals and organic pollutants.

Regarding the waste water situation, remediation measures have led to a reduction of pollutants (voestalpine Stahl, among others: ammonia, oil and cinder, hydrocar-bons; Agrolinz, among others: Total N, total P; DSM Fine Chemicals among others, AOX). At the WGEV downstream running water monitoring station, exceedances of the limit values set by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions were re-corded for dichlorobenzene in the early 1990s. In the course of contaminated site remediation, analyses undertaken since 1996 show local pollution of groundwater by slightly volatile chlorinated hydrocarbons, PAH, aromatic hydrocarbons, halo-genated benzenes, and phenols. Measurements at the WGEV groundwater moni-toring stations in the southern Linzer Feld have shown no exceedances of threshold values in the last five years. The causes, type, extent, and distributions of the pol-lutants connected with contaminated sites cannot be clearly assessed due to lack-ing analytical results. Extensive remediation measures have not been carried out so far. There is ample knowledge only of increased sulphate levels in groundwater in the vicinity of the gypsum landfill and of groundwater pollution through PAH in the vicinity of the coking plant. Recommendations have been made regarding an inte-grated information-collection programme for the chemical park and coking plant, a concept for the remediation of underground contamination, a location information system, and an improvement of measures for securing proof of safety for the dis-charge of pumped groundwater.

The largest portion of hazardous waste produced by voestalpine Stahl Linz GmbH is LD dust (2001: 48 000 t of 50 000 t total). With LD dust, external disposal has been replaced by the recovery of recyclables in recent years. Out of the 47 600 t of non-hazardous waste in 2001, metal debris (12 560 t) and sludge from ironworks (23 800 t) make up the largest share. In general, some 40% of the waste was de-posited in the company’s own landfill in 2000/01 (mainly sludge from ironworks and metal debris), 50% was externally disposed of (40% hazardous LD dust, 10% non-hazardous waste), while 10% was processed internally in blast furnaces. At AMI 1 800 t of hazardous waste (main share “other contaminated soils“ and “construc-


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tion debris with harmful contaminants“) and 2 700 t of non-hazardous waste (main share “building debris or “leakage from the landfill“) were accumulated in 2001. The 6 500 t of hazardous waste (halogen-free and halogenic solvent mixtures, ammonia solvent, manufacturing waste from pesticide production) from DSM Fine Chemicals were partially incinerated in 2000/01 and partially recycled or thermally processed. A large share of the 730 t of non-hazardous waste was recycled in 2001.

Schwechat (Lower Austria)

Important emission sources at the industrial location in the Danube river basin of Schwechat are the plants of OMV Raffinerie and Borealis. In terms of emissions, relevant air pollutants on site are NOx, SO2, dust and VOC.

NOx emissions at the refinery dropped from 1991 to 2000 by 30%, but have shown an upward trend (+ 12%) again since 2000. The installation of an SCR plant suc-cessfully reduced emissions drastically. SO2 emissions at the refinery are showing an upward trend. A clear improvement in the separating processes of the Well-mann Lord Plant (currently 90%) would therefore be recommendable. The dust e-missions from this refinery mainly originated from the FCC plant and Heating Plant 2. At the moment, these emissions amount to about 120 tonnes per year. One defi-ciency is the fact that no emission data are available on the heavy metals Ni and V relevant for the liquid fuels used at this facility. According to an external expert re-port based on VDI 2440 and VDI 3479, the refinery's NMVOC emissions came to 543 tonnes in 2001. Additional appropriate methods of measuring NMVOCs are currently being tested.

At Borealis, VOC emissions in the year 2000 were reduced to one third of the 1996 value by means of appropriate measures (recovery of ethylenes, construction of thermal waste gas incineration plant and a new polypropylene production plant). The VOC-emissions of Borealis were said to be 518 t for the year 2000.

In terms of air pollution, the currently prescribed legal limit values for the parame-ters SO2, suspended particulates, PM10, NOx, and CO are being observed. The re-finery’s influence on SO2 pollution can be ascertained. An influence of both compa-nies on PM10 pollution is not apparent. Expectations are that continuous meas-urement would reveal an exceedance of the Air Quality Protection Act limit value. Under the impact of the OMV refinery, the (comparatively high) background con-centrations of volatile hydrocarbons are likely to increase by a factor of 2. The VOC pollution level caused by Borealis is assumed to be higher by a factor of 3 or 4 than the level of the Schwechat area. Concentrations of lead, cadmium, nickel, and ar-senic lie below the respective limit values or threshold proposals and correspond to background ozone levels and the values of Vienna's city centre. Concentrations of Ni, V and Mo are likely to be influenced by the plants. For the Schwechat location, heavy metal and PM10 measurement campaigns from February 2002 to April 2003 were also only tentatively representative in terms of time and place. Concentrations of the elements vanadium, nickel, molybdenum, and arsenic are above the Austrian mean heavy metals values in moss. Except for arsenic, OMV Raffinerie can be considered the polluter.

Waste water at both facilities is pre-treated depending on the degree of pollution and released into the respective receiving bodies of water (Zieglerwasser and Da-nube) or to the Waste Water Association (AWV) of Schwechat. The waste water streams to AWV Schwechat contain high concentrations of the parameters ben-


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zene and BTEX (OMV) respectively ammonium, COD and BOD (Borealis). No in-formation has been made available to the Umweltbundesamt on the extent of break-down of this and other pollutants in the ARA region. WGEV quality data taken at the downstream monitoring station in 1993/1994 for the parameter EDTA shows that the limit value set by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions was exceeded. No statement can be made on the source of the pollution and the current load situation. Remediation measures carried out by OMV Raffinerie in con-taminated sites began in 1987. A shortcoming is that, under unfavourable hydro-logical conditions, the operation of the hydraulic barrier to prevent mineral oil con-tamination in groundwater cannot achieve any sufficient blockage. The industry-related groundwater quality data assessed as part of WGEV are lower than the groundwater threshold value.

In 2003, the OMV refinery's waste volume (including the oil storage facility) was 5 668 tonnes for hazardous waste and 1 787 tonnes for non-hazardous waste. The bulk of non-hazardous waste in 2003 consisted of faeces and bitumen/asphalt. About 40% of the hazardous waste consisted of sludge from cleaning crude oil tanks. This sludge has to be removed and disposed of in the course of tank inspec-tions. The amount of sludge per tank can be as much as 2 000 tonnes, thus it influ-ences the overall amount of waste considerably. Other hazardous waste materials which make substantial contributions to overall waste volume are REA ash (1 501 tonnes), contaminated soil (1 267 tonnes), soil polluted by oil and crude oil (598 tonnes) and catalysts (386 tonnes). The waste is usually disposed of by OMV’s general waste disposal contractor. The OMV refinery has its own disposal site. At Borealis, 1 080 t of hazardous and 787 t of non-hazardous waste accumulated in 2001. According to company statements, 52% of the waste is thermally processed, 28% is disposed of in landfills and approximately 10% is recycled. The rest of the waste is chemically treated before being subjected to thermal processing.

Pöls (Styria)

The town of Pöls is situated in the district of Judenburg, on the Pöls River in the area of the Mur River basin. The most important industrial polluter at the location is Zellstoff Pöls AG, whose most significant emissions to air are NOx, SO2, dust, car-bon monoxide, and VOC. Odour-intensive, diffuse emission sources are collected and serve as combustion air in black liquor tanks, and in the process the VOC and reduced sulphur compounds are destroyed. In general, the loads emitted in the ob-servation period from 1996-2001 have declined. Air quality measurements in 2001 revealed no exceedances of the limit values set by the Air Quality Protection Act.

Thanks to the company’s own biological treatment plant, which has existed since 1990, both the COD content as well as “filterable substances“ were lowered despite production increases. As soon as the new bleaches were used as of 1995, AOX pollution decreased substantially. Due to the pulp bleaches based on chlorine diox-ide, however, the AOX amounts emitted are still significant. Quality data assessed at the downstream running water monitoring station in the scope of WGEV show a decline of AOX pollution since 1993. However, with reference to the limit value set out by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions, the AOX concentrations are still highly elevated (82 exceedances with 84 measurements). Furthermore, in the years 1992-2001, exceedances of the DOC limit value set out by the draft Ordi-nance on Waste Water Emissions were determined at the downstream running wa-ter monitoring station. For AOX, no threshold value has been set by the Groundwa-


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ter Threshold Value Ordinance and no limit value by the Drinking Water Ordinance. The observed reduction of AOX concentrations correlates with statements by Zellstoff Pöls on a reduction of AOX emissions due to optimisations with ECF (ele-mental chlorine free) bleaches.

Apart from lime sludge, which occurs only when the recovery furnace breaks down, the most significant amounts of hazardous waste are used oils, oil sludge, as well as solid operating material contaminated with fats and oil (2001 altogether approx. 44 t). In terms of volume, the most significant portions of the 33 000 t of non-hazardous waste are residual waste from chemical recovery in pulp production (approx. 20 000 t) and sludges from waste water treatment (altogether approx. 11 000 t). The residuals from chemical recovery go in part to the fertilizer industry while the remainder is disposed of. Sludge from waste water treatment is passed on to the cement and brick industry. The entire mass of bark and sawdust (approx. 100 000 t/a) is thermally processed or used in the chipboard industry.

Hallein (Salzburg)

Hallein is situated approx. 15 km south of the provincial capital in the basin of the Salzach River and is the second largest city and the major business hub of the Fe-deral Province of Salzburg. In terms of emissions, the most significant plants are those of MDF Hallein GmbH & Co KG and M-real Hallein AG. The furnaces of both companies, which are biomass-fired systems, chiefly emit SO2, NOx, CO, and dust. The production plants of both companies are equipped with modern emission-reducing technologies (MDF: SNCR in the boiler, a combined waste-water and ex-haust-air decontamination process after the drier; M-real: electro-filter and waste-gas desulphurisation by means of the black liquor-incineration system; decoupled from district heating since October 2002); pollutant emissions are correspondingly low and have declined in recent years. There are no emission-related exceedances of limit values attributable to industrial activities.

Despite significant production increases, the waste water emissions of the company M-real were substantially reduced in the past ten years by applying chlorine-free bleaches, introducing a chemical cycle (black liquor incineration) and by building a biological treatment plant in 1999-2001. With the construction of the biological sys-tem of the treatment plant, the Salzach River achieved permanent Water Quality II. WGEV running water data shows that the parameter phenol-index (rep. as phenol) at the downstream monitoring station exceeded the limit value of the Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions by 0.005 mg/l once in 1992 (0.006 mg/l), 1999 (0.009 mg/l) and 2000 (0.015 mg/l). For the parameter copper, concentrations above the limit value set by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions were determined at both the downstream as well as upstream monitoring stations.

Production waste at MDF Hallein GmbH & Co. KG, sanding dust and dewatered sludge from the activated process are incinerated together with bark in the biomass furnace resulting in the accumulation of ash and dust. The major share of the 200 t of externally disposed hazardous waste which accumulated at M-real in 2000 con-sists of flue ash and particles, crude oil-contaminated soil and waste oils. Sawdust, sludge from waste water treatment and residues from pulp production make up the major share of non-hazardous waste totalling 38 500 t. According to the company, approximately 77% of the resulting waste is materially processed, 19% is thermally processed, and just 2% of each is deposited in landfills or composted. In 2004, a


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fluidization facility for the processing of wood waste and sludge will be put in opera-tion.

Lenzing (Upper Austria)

The Lenzing AG Company, which is situated on the Ager River, is located at the Lenzing site. Pulp and viscose fibre production as well as non-integrated paper production are considered the relevant industrial activities for the location.

Air pollutants emitted in large quantities are SO2 and CS2 as well as dust and NOx. With regard to SO2 and H2S emissions, a distinct downward trend can be observed in the reporting period 1990-2001, which is exclusively attributable to technological measures. In contrast, CS2 emissions remained generally constant. NOx emissions increased from 1990 to 1998 by about 55% but have declined slightly since. Dust emissions declined by 70% between 1990 and 1997, but have shown a slight up-ward trend since then, too. Dominant air pollutants are the sulphuric compounds SO2 and H2S; the plant at Lenzing AG being identified as the dominant polluter. The relevant limit value set out by the Air Quality Protection Act was observed in 2001 with regard to the pollutant SO2. Long-term pollution has declined considerably since the early 1990s in Lenzing. With the pollutant H2S, there were repeated ex-ceedances of the limit value for the maximum half-hour mean value (HHMV) of the Upper Austrian Clean Air Ordinance (34 times in Lenzing and 3 times in Vöckla-bruck) and the daily mean value was exceeded twice in Lenzing in 2001. The long-term mean value (annual mean value) of H2S concentration in accordance with the Upper Austrian Clean Air Ordinance was observed in both Lenzing and Vöckla-bruck. As regards sulphur contents in needles, a steady downward trend has also been observed since the 1980s. With PM10 and NOx there were no exceedances of limit values; their load lies in a range observable in small cities in the outer Alpine region. No correlation between the development of the respective emissions and the progression of air pollution can be ascertained. It is a drawback that the con-centration of emission-relevant pollutant CS2 has not been determined for air pollu-tion.

Thanks to numerous process engineering measures (e.g. incineration of OPE waste waters and conversion to chlorine-free bleach 1991) and the commissioning of the second stage of its own waste water treatment plant, waste water emissions of the industrial location lie under the legally stipulated limit values and under the corresponding BAT values. Water quality information as provided by WGEV re-vealed that the concentrations of sulphate at the Dürnau downstream monitoring station have regularly exceeded the limit value set out by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions since 1992. Further developments in landfill technology led to a further reduction in underground seepage water. No indications of significant underground pollution through contaminants are known for the company location. At a WGEV groundwater monitoring station in the vicinity of the paper and pulp plant, high concentrations of sodium and sulphate were determined. The groundwa-ter threshold value for sodium is frequently exceeded. No groundwater threshold value is available for sulphate. In recent years, a decline in the concentrations has occurred.

In 2001, lead accumulators represented approximately two thirds of the total a-mount (approx. 17 t) of hazardous waste at Lenzing AG. The 36 000 t of non-hazardous waste consist almost entirely of declassified ashes and slags. Wood re-


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sidue and sludge are recycled through internal thermal processing. Waste from the fluidised boiler of residue processing in Lenzing is partially disposed of in landfills (e.g. declassified bed-ashes and pre-duster ash) and partially placed in under-ground storage (for eco- and fabric filter ashes and neutralisation sludge). Gypsum and scrap are used for external material processing.

Brückl (Carinthia)

The Donau Chemie AG Brückl plant lies south of the town of Brückl an der Gurk. In addition to chlorine-alkali electrolysis, chlorine liquefaction, hydrochloric acid pro-duction, the production of iron chloride, hypochlorite, acetylene, and the recycling of pickling acid are also carried out at the location. Thanks to the conversion of chlo-rine-alkali electrolysis in 1999 from an amalgamate process to the mercury-free membrane process, there was an improvement in the environmental situation at the location with regard to mercury. HCl emissions in low concentrations occur in the hydrochloric acid synthesis furnaces and the iron chloride plant. Clear exceedances of chloride content limit values in fir needles were determined in earlier measure-ments. In recent years, this situation has improved, however, so that slight ex-ceedances of chloride content in fir needles have been measured only in isolated cases in the vicinity of Donau Chemie AG. Two ambient pollution measurement campaigns from 1996-1997 and 2001 for the parameter mercury were considerably below the WHO standard and below the detection limit, respectively.

The waste water emission values of 2002 lie below the ordinance and permit val-ues. Analyses of WGEV running water quality data showed that the limit value for mercury set out by the draft Ordinance on Waste Water Emissions was exceeded at the downstream monitoring station at Reisdorf in 1999, 2000 and 2002. The pa-rameter hexachlorobutadiene was measured from the end of 1991 to the end of 1992. At the downstream monitoring station, concentrations of 0.85 µg/l to 5.3 µg/l were measured (limit value set by the draft Water Quality Standards Ordinance: 0.1 µg/l). The largest CHC contamination in Austria is located in an area covering 8 000 m2 on the premises of Donau Chemie AG. Since 1989, however, several air stripping operations have been undertaken. Since 1995, a groundwater treatment plant has been in operation. CHC amounts of some 1 000 t have been deposited in the company's former landfill “Kalkdeponie I/II“ at Donau Chemie, which has cau-sed massive contamination of groundwater. Since August 1995, an air stripping system with two extraction gauges has been in operation. Due to significant im-pairment of the groundwater by enormous amounts of CHC, an increase in the ca-pacity of the groundwater remediation plant in the plant premises is recommended. Groundwater remediation should also be expanded to the groundwater outflow a-rea. In the WGEV groundwater monitoring network, trichlorethylene has been de-tected in elevated concentrations since 2002 at a WGEV monitoring station located at the industry site (for this parameter, however there is no threshold value avail-able). For the parameter “tetrachlorethylene and trichlorethylene“, however, ex-ceedances of the limit values according to the Drinking Water Ordinance were measured.

The largest portion of hazardous waste (total: 500 t) at Donau Chemie AG Brückl are “miscellaneous sludges from precipitation and dissolving processes with prod-uct-specific additives“ resulting from the production of iron (III) chloride with 490 t). The largest portion of non-hazardous waste (barium sulphate sludge: 210 t of about 400 t in 2001) comes from the treatment of brine. The company processes waste


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from other companies, e.g. cinder and unalloyed iron waste, and used pickling agents from metalworking operations.

Lobau oil storage facility (Vienna)

The Lobau oil storage facility is situated in the eastern suburbs of Vienna, directly on the left bank of the Danube. The site covers an area of about 1.7 km2, with so-me 0.3 km2 in the form of a peninsula between the new branch of the Danube (Neue Donau) and the oil harbour. The site is surrounded by the new branch of the Danube, the oil harbour and the Lobau nature reserve.

The site comprises the oil storage facilities of OMV (OMV central storage facility, OMV Turmöl; surface area: 1.08 km2, storage capacity: 1.64 million m3), Shell, Es-so (Fernwärme Wien GmbH [Vienna District Heating]) and Avanti (currently not in operation). The site is a trade centre for mineral oil products. Crude oil as well as partly and fully processed products (such as gasoline, diesel and gas oils) are tra-ded and temporarily stored at the site. 19 pipelines above and below the Danube transport semi-processed products from the refinery to the Lobau storage facility, from where they are distributed. Regular or long-term ambient pollution monitoring data concerning hydrocarbons are not available, although the emissions of hydro-carbons at the site can be estimated at several hundred tonnes per year. According to OMV, one of the steps taken in the last few years to reduce NMVOCs was the installation of hydraulic oil recovery systems for loading equipment (commercial ve-hicles, railway cars and ships).

The waste water emissions data communicated to the Umweltbundesamt for 2002 are below the values in the permits. There is a monitoring site for running water at the Danube downstream from the Schwechat refinery site. Therefore possible am-bient pollution of the Danube by the storage facility was not analysed.

The Lobau storage facility is listed in the Austrian Register of Contaminated Sites. In the vicinity of the storage facility, there is widespread hydrocarbon pollution of the soil and groundwater. The groundwater protection area around the “Untere Lobau“ water works, which is responsible for a significant part of Vienna’s water supply, is at a distance of about 1 km from the oil storage facility. The remediation of the con-taminated site around the storage facility was planned from 1992 to 1997. The par-tial enclosure of the storage facility by means of incapsulation and the installation of a row of wells to provide a hydraulic barrier were identified as the best options. These measures prevent further pollutants from the storage facility from reaching the groundwater and the oil harbour. These measures have been implemented sin-ce autumn 2002.

3.10.4 SUMMARY ASSESSMENT AND OUTLOOK

European and Austrian law delineate and regulate the “industry“ sector. “Industry“ is also outlined in the statistical evaluation of business activities and by assessing emissions, waste and the consumption of resources. In industrial environmental protection, there are currently many reporting obligations resulting from environ-mental law which are incompatible with the system of economic statistics. These


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incompatibilities make statements, based on correlations between the data col-lected, difficult in various ways. A challenge for the future will be to reflect the legal measures regarding NEC and greenhouse gases in the air emission inventory, while preserving the consistency between statistically collected energy and eco-nomic data.

State-of-the-art technology, the basis of any emission reduction, is constantly be-ing developed. A specification is provided at EU level in the BAT Reference Docu-ments already published pursuant to Art. 16, Sect. 2 of the IPPC Directive and in Germany in the new Technical Instructions on Air Quality Control (TA Luft 2002). In Austria an adjustment of emission standards was undertaken for instance in the Waste Incineration Ordinance. Amendments to the Clean Air Act for Steam Boilers and the Clean Air Ordinance are still pending. Several sector-related ordinances pursuant to § 82 of the Industrial Code are also to be amended, particularly with regard to the emission standards for the air pollutants NOx, dust and dioxin/furan. Future emis-sion standards should be selected such that they reflect the state of the art for the next 5-10 years following the expiry of the transitional period (IPPC adjustment deadline, 30 October 2007).

As national emission ceilings for NOx, SOx, VOC (volatile organic compounds), and NH3 as well as local exceedances of ambient pollution limit values have been de-fined, especially for NOx and dust, additional emission reduction measures have become necessary. A tendency to use fabric filters in cement plants, for instance, in sinter plants and in the metalworking industry has been observed. Particularly with NOx, the achievement of the established emission ceilings will require a multiplicity of measures and, if necessary, also legally binding regulations for the implementa-tion of state-of-the-art technology. The options for efficient NOx removal (DeNOx) from exhaust gases in the areas of industry and energy have not been exhausted. The potentials for reduction exist particularly in the cement industry and power sta-tions, including power stations in industrial plants. Especially for plants in which waste is co-incinerated, limit values in line with state-of-the-art technology should be stipulated for all emissions – including NOx. According to the regulations cur-rently in place, a moderate reduction of the NOx limit value is not to be expected un-til 2007-2009. The technical potential of 100-200 mg NOx/Nm3 is currently being utilised with the help of legal provisions only in major power stations and mono-incineration plants.

Greenhouse gas emissions and their reductions are gaining increasing signifi-cance. For particularly energy-intensive industrial sectors, including power plants, allowances for the emission of CO2 will be required starting in 2005. CO2 emissions will be reduced cost-effectively by a trading system; the first trading period will be in 2005-2007. In preparation for emission trading with CO2, the companies concerned and their CO2 emissions were surveyed. As of April 2004, a national allocation plan is to be drafted by the BMLFUW and submitted to the EU Commission for approval.

The effectiveness of the National Emission Ceilings and CO2 emission trading in-struments will be reviewed in the future especially on the basis of the air emission inventory. In order to facilitate the necessary increase in precision and better depic-tion of the measures affected in the inventory, current surveys of economic, energy and emission data as well as increased transparency in the integration of these da-ta will be necessary.


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Regarding waste water emissions from industrial plants, an improvement in the data situation is anticipated from the establishment of the European Pollutant E-mission Register (EPER) (http://www.eper.cec.eu.int/eper), especially for emissions of heavy metals and chlorinated as well as persistent organic compounds. By im-plementation of the waste water emission ordinances, an improvement in the situa-tion at those industrial locations is expected whose waste water treatment systems do not correspond to the state of the art.

The efficient use of energy is required for plants subject to the IPPC regime to re-ceive an authorisation. This will also reduce CO2 emissions. Apart from the purely technological measures organisational measures will be able to increase energy ef-ficiency. The latter – such as the use of electricity, waste heat, and high- and low-pressure steam – can often only be applied if a suitable customer is willing to coop-erate.

Co-incineration of waste in industrial plants is a frequently used option and the range of waste eligible for this process is also on the rise. Capacities of waste in-cineration plants are also being expanded. The reason for this is the Landfill Ordi-nance, which prohibits waste with a TOC content of over 5 weight percent without previous treatment, and the increasing amount of sewage sludge (particularly the enlargement of the Vienna sewage treatment plant).

With regard to the extended range of waste co-incinerated in industrial plants in re-cent years, the share of household rubbish/residual waste merits particular men-tion. It must be pointed out that the analysis of these types of waste is expensive for input control, to some extent extremely difficult and flawed with major uncertainties (UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 2001b), and that compliance with emission standards by co-incineration plants does not prevent an increase of mass flow into the environ-ment (UMWELTBUNDESAMT, 2003a). Waste, particularly mixed waste, should therefore be incinerated only in plants, the equipment (for the reduction of air and water emissions and the further treatment and disposal of waste) of which is similar to the state-of-the-art technology of a modern waste incineration plant (BMLFUW, 2002b). The necessary use of technologies to reduce emissions of dust and heavy metals, persistent organic compounds and nitric oxide emissions should be particu-larly emphasised.

The idea of substituting primary fuels with waste (coal, oil and gas) in individual plants is not target-oriented in terms of resource preservation and environmental protection. The substitution of primary fuels needs to be quantified in an overall na-tional and European perspective and be evaluated in consideration of emission be-haviour and the resulting emission loads.

The design of the integrated, cross-media approach begun in the BAT Reference Documents currently leaves a lot of room for manoeuvre in the implementation, that is, important information is often missing, e.g. on the efficient use of energy or on individual BAT-specific technologies, media and pollutants. The inconsistency be-tween costs for environmental technologies and benefit for the environment could not be consensually solved in all cases. For individual pollutants (dioxins), binding emission standards are already being considered at the Commission level for all of Europe. The BAT Reference Documents have only just been produced in several sectors; others will be revised starting in 2004. In parallel, the Commission will in-vestigate the implementation of the IPPC Directive and the BAT Reference Docu-ments.

http://www.eper.cec.eu.int/eper


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3.10.5 RECOMMENDATIONS

Consistent implementation of state-of-the-art technology, particularly with regard to the restriction of emissions of particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, mercury, and other heavy metals, dioxins and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocar-bons) in laws and ordinances as well as in the course of plant authorisations.

Full use of the potential of available environmental technologies in the case of par-ticulate matter (5-10 mg/Nm3) and NOx (100-200 mg/Nm3 by means of catalyst technology) in order to achieve the ambient pollution protection goals and in the case of NOx in order to meet NEC goals.

Efficient use of energy through technological and organisational measures for the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Forcing of waste incineration only in plants which reflect the state of the art for a modern waste incineration plant with regard to the reduction of emissions.

Determination of more precise criteria for “recovery“ on a European level, incor-porating energy efficiency and emission standards of “recovery plants“.

Emission monitoring and reporting obligations as the basis for documentation on the use of state-of-the-art technology and conformity with permits.

Continual emission measurement of particulate matter, SOx, NOx and CO in IPPC plants; in justified cases also for VOC and mercury.

Improvement of the data situation as regards use of resources, particularly of water, raw materials and auxiliaries.

Improvement of the transparency of the allocation of energy data to energy sources and classification.

Improvement of the data situation in the case of heavy metal emissions and VOC emissions to air and water from industrial plants.