Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)
and Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
 |
|
 |
Sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are produced during combustion
of fuels. They can cause a variety of health and environmental impacts
when they react with other substances in the air. Some groups of
people are particularly sensitive such as people with asthma who
are active outdoors, children, the elderly and people with heart
or lung disease. We use several types of fuel to generate the energy
required to operate our facilities and manufacture our products.
Beginning this year, we are reviewing our processes for collecting
NOx and SO2
from sites and we are reviewing factors and calculations for estimating
the NOx and SO2
generated from the combustion of fuels. This year, we focused our
attention on estimating the NOx and
SO2 created from the combustion of
coal since this generally creates significantly more NOx
and SO2 than the combustion of other
fuels. In 2003, sites converted 25.7 million kilograms of
coal into energy (776,140 gigajoules) for operating manufacturing
facilities and equipment. We estimate that this generated 119,425
kilograms of NOx and 444,316 kilograms
of SO2. These calculations are based
on emission factors obtained from the National Atmospheric Emissions
Inventory (UK national methodology).
For comparison, the coal that generated 119,425 kilograms of NOx
also generated 6.2 million kilograms of GWP in CO2
equivalents. |
