COSMO OIL | Sustainability Report 2006 | Environmental Aspect : Pollutants and Waste Management

Policy

Our refineries discharge exhaust gases controlled by the Air Pollution Control Law and wastewater controlled by Water Pollution Control Law chemical substances specified in the PRTR law. The Cosmo Oil Group aims to control them appropriately and reduce environmental impacts. When we install large equipment or conduct large scale engineering work, we conduct environmental impact assessments.
Concerning industrial waste, we set our targets to reduce the waste generated, and reduce and recycle excess sludge.

Management of Air, Water, and Chemical Substances

Prevention of Air Pollution

At our refineries, we use fuels having low sulfur and nitrogen content and have introduced flue gas desulfurization and denitrification equipment, and electrostatic precipitators so as to reduce the generation of air pollutants. We have also installed a floating roof tank and introduced equipment collecting the hydrocarbons that evaporate when petroleum products are shipped in order to reduce the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC).

graph : Sulfur Oxide(SOx) Emissions(at the four refineries)

graph : Nitrogen Oxide(NOx) Emissions(at the four refineries)

graph : Emissions of Hazardous Air Pollution Substance (at the four refineries)

Prevention of Water Pollution

Seawater or industrial water is used in the oil refining process at our refineries. As oil content, odorants substances (such as ammonia or hydrogen sulfide), suspended matter, and organic matter may mix with wastewater that was used in the cleaning process in refining, we endeavor to prevent water contamination by appropriately treating the wastewater with the introduction of sour water treatment units, oil-water separation units, coagulation sedimentation unit (to extract suspended matter), and activated sludge process unit.

graph : Discharge of Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD) (at the four refineries)

Management of Chemical Substances

Chemical substances used in our oil refineries include benzene and toluene in petroleum products and cobalt in catalysts used in the refining process.
We reported the amount of releases and transfers of these chemical substances for fiscal 2005 to the government in accordance with the PRTR Law.

Fiscal 2005 Release and Transfer of Substances Subject to the PRTR Law (at the four refineries)

Substances Subject to the PRTR Law	Amount released				Amount transferred	Total Transfer Amount
Substances Subject to the PRTR Law	Air	Water	Soil	Total	Amount transferred	Total Transfer Amount
Ethyl Benzene (kg/year)	1,510	0	0	1,510	0	1,510
Xylene (kg/year)	6,350	0	0	6,350	0	6,350
1,3,5-trimethyl Benzene (kg/year)	2.5	0	0	2.5	0	2.5
Toluene (kg/year)	25,100	0	0	25,100	0	25,100
Nickel compounds (kg/year)	0	0	0	0	15,230	15,230
Benzene (kg/year)	5,850	0	0	5,850	0	5,850
Zinc compounds (kg/year)	0	6,000	0	6,000	0	6,000
Dioxin (mg-TEQ/year)	0	0	0	0	0	0

Note1: In addition to the above, more than 1,000 kg/year of 2-aminoethanol, cobalt and its compounds, molybdenum and its compounds, cresol, cyclohexylamine, 1,2-dichloroethane, tetrachloroethylene, nonylphenol, and hydrazine are handled, but all of their release and transfer are 0 kg/year.
Note2: The above data includes figures for the Yokkaichi Kasumi power station.

Management of Pollutants

Dioxin Emission Control

Strict controls are in place at our refineries that have waste incineration facilities, and we comply with relevant regulations.

Maintenance and Control of PCB (Polychlorinated Biphenyl)

PCB was used as an insulator for electric appliances in the past, but now due to its toxicity it is neither manufactured nor used. Equipment containing PCB used in refineries or service stations in the past is managed in an appropriate manner in a quarantined environment, and the maintenance status is reported to the government annually according to the law.
We are obliged to make all the equipment harmless by the year 2016, so in order to achieve it at the soonest, we already registered all the equipment to the external agencies to treat them in FY2005.

Challenge to achieve zero industrial waste

Reducing industrial waste at refineries

In FY2005, refineries started dehydrating and incinerating sludge, which is to be used as a raw material for cement production, and also started recycling plastic and wood waste into solid fuels. These activities resulted in 340 tons of total landfill at the four refineries in FY2005, which corresponds to the landfill rate of 0.8%. This rate was well below the target of 1% specified in the Consolidated Medium-Term Environmental Plan.

graph : Trend in Industrial waste (at the four refineries)

Flow of Industrial waste at the four refineries

graph : Fiscal 2005 Breakdown of Industrial Waste Generation (at the four refineries)

graph : Fiscal 2005 Breakdown of Recycled Portion of Industrial Waste (at the four refineries)

graph : Fiscal 2005 Breakdown of Landfill Portion of Industrial Waste (at the four refineries)

Reducing excess sludge

Excess sludge discharged from wastewater treatment facilities commands a top share of industrial waste in Japan. At our refineries, about 56% of industrial waste is sludge, so its treatment is very important.
We have been researching(Note1) technologies for reducing excess sludge generated at our refineries, and have reduced a large part of it at the Chiba and Sakaide Refineries.

Note1: The research was carried out as a project supported by the Japan Petroleum Energy Center.

Measures against asbestos

In FY2005, we checked whether asbestos was used in buildings at our service stations and refineries that the Cosmo Oil Group either owns or rents. As a result, we found 16 places where sprayed asbestos was exposed. We will remove them completely by the end of FY2006.
In addition to the sprayed form, asbestos is contained in building materials including slates, or in heat insulators installed in manufacturing equipment. We think that no asbestine powder is emitted from them in normal use because they are molded products, but we will replace them with asbestos-free materials at the time of repairs.
For other asbestos-bearing products, we take measures according to the applicable laws.