The BREF entitled ‘Refining of Mineral Oil and Gas’ forms part of a series presenting the results of an exchange of information between EU Member States, the industries concerned, non-governmental organisations promoting environmental protection, and the Commission, to draw up, review, and where necessary, update BAT reference documents as required by Article 13(1) of the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU).

 

This document is published by the European Commission pursuant to Article 13(6) of the Directive. This BREF for the refining of mineral oil and gas covers certain industrial activities specified in Section 1.2 of Annex I to Directive 2010/75/EU, namely the energy industries of the refining of mineral oil and gas sector.

 

In particular, this document covers the following refineries processes and activities:

 

- Alkylation
- Base oil production
- Bitumen production
- Catalytic cracking
- Catalytic reforming
- Coking - Cooling
- Desalting
- Combustion of refinery fuels for energy production
- Etherification
- Gas separation
- Hydrogen consuming processes
- Hydrogen production
- Isomerisation
- Natural gas plants
- Polymerisation
- Primary distillation
- Product treatments
- Storage and handling of refinery materials
- Visbreaking and other thermal conversions
- Waste gas treatment
- Waste water treatment
- Waste management.

 

Important issues for the implementation of Directive 2010/75/EU in the refining of mineral oil and gas sector are the emissions to air of volatile organic substances, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, hydrofluoric acid, ammonia, carbon monoxide, dioxins and furans, and dust; emissions to water of oils, benzene, suspended solids, COD, nitrogen, metals (lead, cadmium, nickel, mercury); energy efficiency; and the prevention of emissions to soil and groundwater.

 

The BREF document contains seven chapters.

 

Chapters 1 and 2 provide general information on the refining of mineral oil and gas industry and on the industrial processes and techniques used within this sector.
Chapter 3 provides data and information concerning the environmental performance of installations in terms of current emissions, consumption of raw materials, water and energy, and generation of waste.
Chapter 4 describes the techniques to prevent or reduce emissions from installations in the sector.
In Chapter 5 the BAT conclusions, as defined in Article 3(12) of the Directive, are presented for the refining of mineral oil and gas industry.
Chapters 6 and 7 are dedicated to emerging techniques as well as to concluding remarks and recommendations for future work in the sector, respectively.