ENVIRONMENT FOCUS

     Contents:

A.      Acts and Rules  for protection of Environment and applicable to Petroleum Industry

B.      Existing Norms  of Liquid effluent for discharge &  Ambient Air Quality Stipulated by CPCB and Applicable to Petroleum Industry  

a.      Standard (MINAS) for Liquid Effluent prior to disposal from Oil Refinery

b.      Standard for Liquid Effluent Discharge  from Oil Drilling and Gas Extraction  Industry.

c.      Standards for emission from Oil Refinery

d.      Stack height limits for Captive thermal power stations

e.      SPM limit for TPS stack

f.      National Ambient Air Quality Standard  

C.      Environment Protection Measures by Oil Refinery 

a.      Water Environment

b.      Source of waste water generation

c.      Characteristics of  waste water

d.      Waste water treatment process in brief

·        Primary treatment process

·        Chemical treatment

·        Biological treatment &

·        Tertiary treatment 

e.    Air Environment:Measures adopted in Oil Refinery for controlling emission

to Air.

f.      Land Environment

g.      Biological Environment

h.     Adoption of Cleaner technology in the Refinery

i.      Energy Conservation Measures at Refinery

D.      Charter of Corporate Responsibility ( CREP) 

E.      Proposed Standard for Treated Liquid Effluent from Refinery 

F.      Auto fuel policy 

·        Road Map for Vehicular Emission Norms for new vehicles:

 A)   Acts & Rules  for protection of Environment & applicable to Petroleum Industry.

 Petroleum Industry needs to comply with the applicable Acts & Rules for protection of environment .The acts have been enacted by Govt.  and the corresponding rules have been framed to give effect to those acts. The acts & rules applicable to Petroleum Industry at a glance are :  

·  The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution)  Act, 1974

·  The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution)  Rules ,1975

·  The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act 1977 & Cess (Amendment ) Act, 2003

·  The Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Rules, 1978 

·  The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1981 amended 1987

· The Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Rules ,1981 amended 1983

·  The Environment (Protection ) Act , 1986

·  The Environment (Protection ) Rules ,1986 amended 2005 

·  Environment (Siting for industrial projects) Rules 1999

·  Declaring coastal stretches as coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) 1991

·  The Hazardous Waste (Management & Handling) Rules,1989 amended 2003

·  The Manufacture, storage and import of hazardous chemicals Rules 1989 amended 2000

·  The Biomedical Waste Rules (Management and Handling) ,1998 amended 2003

·  The Noise pollution ( Regulation & Control ) Rules, 2000 amended 2002

·  The Chemical Accidents (Emergency planning, preparedness & response ) Rules, 1996

·  The Batteries ( Management & Handling ) Rules.2001

·  The Ozone Depleting substances (regulation & Control) Rules 2000

·  The Public Liability and Insurance Act , 1981 amended 1992

·  The Public Liability and Insurance Rules, 1981 amended 1993

·    The National Environment Appellate Authority Act, 1997

·  The National Environment Appellate Authority (Appeal) Rules, 1997   

·        The National Environmental Tribunal  Act. 1995

The details of the Acts & Rules are provided in the publication of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) under the heading “Pollution Control Acts, Rules and Notifications issued there-under” Sept’2001 & also in the website of Min. of Environment & Forests /www.envfor.nic.in/.

B)   Existing norms of Liquid effluent for discharge and Ambient Air

       Quality stipulated by CPCB

·        The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has developed National Standards for Effluents and Emission under the statutory powers of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974 and the Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution Act, 1981. These standards have been approved and notified by the Government of India, Ministry of Environment & Forests, under Section 25 of the Environmental (Protection) Act, 1986

·        Standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants : 

For the purpose of protecting and improving the quality of the environment and preventing and abating environmental pollution, the standards for emission or discharge of environmental pollutants from the industries, operations or processes shall be as specified in (schedule I to IV) of Pollution Control Acts, Rules and Notifications issued by CPCB, September 2001.

·        Some of the important standard for treated effluent are given below for details of these standards notification of CPCB to be referred.

  View of Oil Refinery

a)    Standards (MINAS) for liquid effluent from Oil Refinery prior to disposal*

*(These standards are under revision by CPCB)

b)    Guidelines for Disposal of Solid Waste, Drill Cutting and Drilling Fluids for Offshore and Onshore Drilling Operation-

   1. Disposal of Drill Cutting and Drilling Fluids for On-shore Installations: 

(a) Drill Cuttings (DC) originating from on-shore or locations close to shore line and separated from Water Base Mud (WBM) should be properly washed and unusable drilling fluids (DF) such as WBM, Oil Base Mud (OBM), Synthetic Base Mud (SBM) should be disposed off in a well designed pit lined with impervious liner located off-site or on-site. The disposal pit should be provided additionally with leachate collection system.

Design aspects of the impervious waste disposal pit; capping of disposal pit should be informed by the oil industry to State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) at the time of obtaining consent.

(b) Use of diesel base mud is prohibited. Only WBM should be used for on-shore oil drilling operations.

(c) In case of any problem due to geological formation for drilling, low toxicity OBM having aromatic content< 1% should be used. If the operators intend to use such OBM to mitigate specific whole problem/ SBM it should be intimated to Ministry of Environment and Forests/State Pollution Control Board.

(d) The chemical additives used for the preparation of DF should have low toxicity i.e. 96 hr LC50 > 30,000 mg/l as per mysid toxicity or toxicity test conducted on locally available sensitive sea species. The chemicals used (mainly organic constituents) should be biodegradable.

(e) DC separated from OBM after washing should have oil content at < 10 gm/kg for disposal into disposal pit.

(f) The waste pit after it is filled up shall be covered with impervious liner, over which, a thick layer of native soil with proper top slope is provided.

(g) Low toxicity OBM should be made available at installation during drilling operation.

(h) Drilling wastewater including DC wash water should be collected in the disposal pit evaporated or treated and should comply with the notified standards for on-shore disposal.

(i) Barite used in preparation of DF shall not contain Hg> 1 mg/kg & Cd> 3mg/kg.

(j) Total material acquired for preparation of drill site must be restored after completion of drilling operation leaving no waste material at site. SPCB should be informed about the restoration work.

(k) In case, environmentally acceptable methods for disposal of drill waste such as (a) injection to a formation through casing annuals, if conditions allow (b) land farming at suitable location (c) bio-remediation (d) incineration or (e) solidification can be considered, in such cases oil industry is required to submit proposal to Ministry of Environment and Forests/State Pollution Control Board (MoEF/SPCB) for approval.

   2. Disposal of Drill Cutting and Drilling Fluids for Off-shore Installations: 

(a) Use of diesel base mud is prohibited. Only WBM is permitted for offshore drilling. If the operator intend to use low toxicity OBM or SBM to mitigate specific hole problems in the formation, it should be intimated to MoEF/SPCB. The low toxicity OBM should have aromatic content< 1%.

(b) The toxicity of chemical additives used in the DF (WBM or OBM or SBM) should be biodegradable (mainly organic constituents) and should have toxicity of 96 hr LC 50 Value > 30,000 mg /l as per mysid toxicity or toxicity test conducted on locally available sensitive sea species.

(c) Hexavalent chromium compound should not be used in DF. Alternative chemical in place of chrome lignosulfonate should be used in DF. In case, chrome compound is used, the DF/ DC should not be disposed offshore.

(d) Bulk discharge of DF in offshore is prohibited except in emergency situations.

(e) WBM/OBM /SBM should be recycled to a maximum extent. Unusable portion of OBM should not be discharged into sea and shall be brought to on-shore for treatment & disposal in an impervious waste disposal pit.

(f) Thoroughly washed DC separated from WBM/SBM & unusable portion of WBM/SBM having toxicity of 96 hr LC50 > 30,000 mg/l shall be discharged off-shore into sea intermittently, at an average rate of 50 bbl/hr/well from a platform so as to have proper dilution & dispersion without any adverse impact on marine environment.

(g) Drill cutting of any composition should not be discharged in sensitive areas notified by the Ministry of Environment and Forests.

(h) In case of specific hole problem, use of OBM will be restricted with zero discharge of DC. Zero discharge would include re-injection of the DC into a suitable formation or to bring to shore for proper disposal. In such a case, use of OBM for re-injection should be recorded and made available to the regulatory agency. Such low toxic OBM having aromatic content < 1% should be made available at the installation.

(i) In case, DC is associated with high oil content from hydrocarbon bearing formation, then disposal of DC should not have oil content > 10 gm/kg.

(j) The DC wash water should be treated to confirm limits notified under EPA, before disposal into Sea. The treated effluent should be monitored regularly.

(k) Discharge of DC from the installation located within 5 km away from shore should ensure that there is no adverse impact on marine Eco-system and on the shore. If, adverse impact is observed, then the industries have to bring the DC on-shore for disposal in an impervious waste disposal pit.

(l) If any, environmental friendly technology emerges for substitution of DF and disposal technology, it may be brought to the notice of MoEF and regulatory agencies. If the operator desires to adopt such environment friendly technology a prior approval from Ministry of Environment and Forests is required.

(m) Barite used in preparation of DF shall not contain Hg> 1 mg/kg & Cd> 3 mg/kg.

(n) (n) Oil drilling operators are required to record daily discharge of DC & DF to offshore and also to monitor daily the effluent quality, and submit the compliance report once in every six-month to Ministry of Environment and Forests.";

   (b1) Standards for liquid effluent from onshore facilities (for Marine disposal )\(Refer Standards specified under Schedule –I , page-278 under the Environment Protection Rules 1986 Published by CPCB Sept.’ 2001 )

Onshore Oil exploration

Standards for liquid effluent from onshore facilities

Note: For on-shore discharge of effluents, in addition to the standards prescribed above, proper marine outfall has to be provided to achieve the individual pollutant concentration level in sea water below their toxicity limits as given below, within a distance of 50 metre from the discharge point, in order to protect the marine aquatic life:  

(i)                Oil and gas drilling and processing facilities, situated on land and away from saline water sink, may opt either for disposal of treated water by onshore disposal of by re-injection in abandoned Well, which is allowed only below a depth of 1000 metres from the ground level. In case of re-injection in abandoned well the effluent have to comply only with respect to suspended solids and oil and grease 100 mg/l and 10 mg/l, respectively. For onshore disposal, the permissible limits are given below.

                      (Refer  Standards specified under Schedule –I ,page 325-329 under the Environment Protection Rules 1986 Published by CPCB sept’2001)

                  The permissible limits for onshore discharge are

                       (Refer  Standards specified under Schedule –I ,page 325-329 under

                                    the Environment Protection Rules 1986  Published by CPCB sept’2001)

   (b2) Standards for liquid effluent from Off-shore facilities 

View of Offshore platform 

For off-shore discharge of effluents, the oil content of the treated effluent without dilution shall not exceed 40 mg/l for 95% of the observation and shall never exceed 100 mg/l. Three 8 hourly grab samples are required to be collected daily and the average value of oil and grease content of the three samples shall comply with these standards.  

   (b3) Guidelines  for  Discharge of Gaseous Emission from onshore  

          & off-shore facilities 

1.0   DG Sets  : DG Sets at drill site as well as production station shall conform with the norm notified under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. (Refer Standards specified under Schedule –I ,page 325-329 under the Environment Protection Rules 1986 Published by CPCB sept’2001)

2.0   Elevated / ground flares

(2.1)         Oil and gas drilling and processing facilities, situated on land and away from saline water sink, may opt either for disposal of treated water by onshore disposal of by re-injection in abandoned Well, which is allowed only below a depth of 1000 metres from the ground level. In case of re-injection in abandoned well the effluent have to comply only with respect to suspended solids and oil and grease 100 mg/l and 10 mg/l, respectively. For onshore disposal, the permissible limits are given below.

(2.2)         All flaring shall be done by elevated flares except where  there is any effect on crop production in adjoining areas due  to the flaring. In such  cases, one may adopt ground flaring.

(2.3)         In case of ground flare, to minimize the effects of flaring, the flare pit at Group Gathering Station (GGS) /Oil Collecting Station (OCS) and Group Collection Station (GCS) shall be made of RCC surrounded by a permanent wall (made of refractory brick) of minimum 5 m height, to reduce the radiation and glaring effects in the adjoining areas.

(2.4)         A green belt of 100 m width may be developed around the flare after the refractory wall in case of ground flaring.

(2.5)         If the ground flaring with provision of green belt is not feasible, enclosed ground flare system shall be adopted, and be designed with proper enclosure height, to meet the ground level concentration (GLC) requirement.

(2.6)         In case of elevated flaring, the minimum stack height shall be 30 m. Height of the stack shall be such that the max. GLC never exceeds the prescribed ambient air quality limit

3.0       Burning of effluent in the pits shall not be carried out at any stage.

   (c) Standard for emission from Oil refinery *              

     Standards for Sulphur Dioxide Emission to Air

                       (Refer  Standards specified under Schedule –VI ,page 375 under the Environment Protection Rules 1986  Published by CPCB sept’2001)

     Stack  Height limits for captive Thermal Power Plants 

For a power generation capacity below 200 MW/210 MW the stack

height limit is defined by H= 14(Q)^0.8, where Q is emission rate of

SO2 in kg/hr and H is the Stack height in meters.

     Particulate matter emissions from stack of Thermal Power Plants

For power generation capacity less than 210 MW, the SPM limit in

stack is 350 mg  per normal cubic meter. ( Depending upon the

requirement  of local situation, such as protected area, the State

Pollution Control Boards may  prescribe a limit of 150 milligramme

per normal cubic meter, irrespective of generation capacity of the plant)

                       (Refer  Standards specified under Schedule –I ,page 295and 292 under

                                                   the Environment Protection Rules 1986  Published by CPCB sept’2001)

   (d) National Ambient Air Quality Standards

·        The combined effect of emission or discharge of environment pollutants in an area, from industries, operations & processes shall not exceed the relevant concentration in ambient air as specified against each pollutant in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards given below: