Orica today announced the completion of a major environmental improvement project to significantly reduce emissions of ammonium nitrate (AN) particulate from its Kooragang Island manufacturing site in the Hunter Valley.
The project has involved retro-fitting the prill tower1 with an irrigated fibre-bed scrubber2 to capture particles of AN produced during the manufacturing process.
The new, best practice abatement technology reduces AN particulate emissions, including fine particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometres or less, by approximately 95 per cent. The captured emissions are then recirculated in the manufacturing process to produce critical products for the resources and medical industries across Australia.
Orica President Australia Pacific and Sustainability Germán Morales said the project is another example of the company’s commitment to continuous improvement and key to ensuring the sustainability of the Kooragang Island site.
“We understand and share the community’s desire for better air quality in general, and we are proud to play a role in achieving this. From start to finish, we have worked closely with the NSW Environment Protection Authority to ensure the project meets regulatory expectations and delivers optimal outcomes for the community and the environment.”
Designing, fabricating and installing the scrubber was a multi-year, large-scale and highly complex engineering project, with the construction phase alone taking more than 18 months or 115,000 work hours to complete. Around 50 extra jobs were created during the build, which was in addition to the regular 200 plus workforce and the already significant contribution the site makes to the local economy.
Acknowledging the project’s scale and complexity, Mr Morales said:
“Retro-fitting the scrubber to an existing and operating prill tower which stands at around 52 metres high has been technically challenging. Completing this project is a great achievement for the site and a real testament to the expertise of our people.”
In recent years, Orica Kooragang Island has completed a number of important projects aimed at improving the site’s environmental performance and contributing to its long-term reliability and sustainability. They include:
- installing abatement technology on the three nitric acid plants to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 50 per cent
- switching to recycled water, an initiative that saves the Hunter region up to 2.6 billion litres of drinking water a year
- completing a comprehensive program of works to improve the way ammonia is managed, including the installation of three ammonia flaring systems.
In addition, Orica is partnering with clean technology developer MCi Carbon to build a world-first carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) plant ‘Myrtle’ at the Kooragang Island site.