Our commitment as a socially responsible company means that we operate our facilities in a manner that protects people and the environment and preserves our world for future generations.
Operational Excellence. Operational Excellence is Lyondell’s broadly institutionalized and disciplined management system to achieve reliable and measurable performance that enables us to drive continuous improvement in every aspect of our business. This management system includes the Manufacturing Operational Excellence Principles of Safety and Health, Environment, Quality, Reliability, Cost and Efficiency, People, and Community.
Certification. The environmental management system is certified in accordance with ISO 14001 and the voluntary European EMAS (Environmental Management and Audit Scheme). The annual Site Environmental Report is verified by an independent certification agency.
Safety results. Lyondell’s vision on safety is that no body gets injured, regardless of whether they are permanent employees or contractors. We continually involve all employees in our safety programs. Our employees can state with pride that they completed the commissioning and startup operations of this world scale facility without a recordable or lost time accident.
Emissions Reductions. Lyondell’s Maasvlakte plant uses the newest technology for emission control, noise abatement, water treatment and overall waste management. Prevention and reduction of air and water emissions were key design goals for this facility. By the installation of vacuum pumps instead of steam ejectors, wastewater production has been limited to the maximum possible extent. Normal continual flaring of vent streams has been eliminated through vapor balancing of loading operations, combustion of off-gases from storage via a thermal combustor, destruction of energy-containing vent gasses in an offsite utility for heat recovery and catalytic conversion of the remaining vent gasses for final hydrocarbon removal.
Hazardous Waste Minimization. Spent catalysts are regenerated and valuable metals recovered using third parties. Since the startup, the amount of caustic wastewater, which is the largest waste flow, has been reduced significantly. This reduction has been realized by resue and recycling in the biological wastewater treatment system.
Energy Efficiency. The Maasvlakte plant is designed to be the most energy-efficient PO/SM plant ever built. Large-scale use was made of heat recovery and integration, which provides for an extremely efficient energy balance. In addition, energy from residual fuel streams, normally wasted, is recovered off-site.