Environics was commissioned to conduct a feasibility study on the implementation of a toxic release inventory (TRI) in Egypt, with a pilot test in the petroleum refinement sector, which was new to Egypt. The project entailed the preparation of TRI and conducting environmental audits for the seven refineries affiliated to the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC), namely Assiut, Mostorod, Amereya, Alexandria, Tanta, Suez and El-Nasr refineries.
Environics carried out the following activities to develop the TRI for each refinery:
– Site visits and data collection using prepared questionnaires
– Environmental audits, which involved process descriptions; assessments of the environmental statuses; identification of the efforts towards pollution prevention, and the possible available techniques and measures for maintaining cleaner production and pollution minimization
These activities resulted in recommending cleaner production priorities for each facility, and the preparation of a final report.
The final report presented the TRI estimation techniques for the facilities and provided a database for releases of potentially harmful chemicals, including information on the nature and quantity of these releases into air, water, and land.
The TRI estimation tools employed in this assignment included a software, published emissions factors, stoichiometric emission factors, and mass transfer equations. Mathematical modeling was also employed to estimate the distribution of released pollutants in terms of ground level concentrations.
The output TRI data proved to be valuable to the public, the authorities, and the industry, in the following respects:
– Providing the public with information on releases of toxic chemicals
– Serving the authorities with a tool for risk identification, since TRI data, in conjunction with other information, can be used to determine potential exposure to toxic chemicals
– Assisting the industry in having an overview of the release of toxic chemicals; identifying and reducing the costs associated with the toxic chemicals in their wastes; defining possible areas of pollution prevention; setting pollution reduction targets, and measuring and documenting the progress towards these targets
Environics also prepared training material for the refineries’ environmental departments including auditing, release inventories, and other relevant modules.