Division BAT 17 In order to reduce the emissions of noise from pulp and paper manufacturing, BAT is to use a combination of the techniques given below.

United Kingdom

	Technique	Description	Applicability
a	Noise-reduction programme	A noise-reduction programme includes identification of sources and affected areas, calculations and measurements of noise levels in order to rank sources according to noise levels, and identification of the most cost effective combination of techniques, their implementation and monitoring.	Generally applicable.
b	Strategic planning of the location of equipment, units and buildings	Noise levels can be reduced by increasing the distance between the emitter and the receiver and by using buildings as noise screens.	Generally applicable to new plants. In the case of existing plants, the relocation of equipment and production units may be restricted by the lack of space or by excessive costs.
c	Operational and management techniques in buildings containing noisy equipment	This includes: improved inspection and maintenance of equipment to prevent failures closing of doors and windows of covered areas equipment operation by experienced staff avoidance of noisy activities during night-time provisions for noise control during maintenance activities	Generally applicable.
d	Enclosing noisy equipment and units	Enclosure of noisy equipment, such as wood handling, hydraulic units, and compressors in separate structures, such as buildings or soundproofed cabinets, where internal-external lining is made of impact-absorbent material.
e	Use of low-noise equipment and noise-reducers on equipment and ducts.
f	Vibration insulation	Vibration insulation of machinery and decoupled arrangement of noise sources and potentially resonant components.
g	Soundproofing of buildings	This potentially includes use of: sound-absorbing materials in walls and ceilings sound-isolating doors double-glazed windows
h	Noise abatement	Noise propagation can be reduced by inserting barriers between emitters and receivers. Appropriate barriers include protection walls, embankments and buildings. Suitable noise abatement techniques include fitting silencers and attenuators to noisy equipment such as steam releases and dryer vents.	Generally applicable to new plants. In the case of existing plants, the insertion of obstacles may be restricted by the lack of space.
i	Use of larger wood-handling machines to reduce lifting and transport times and noise from logs falling onto log piles or the feed table.		Generally applicable.
j	Improved ways of working, e.g. releasing logs from a lower height onto the log piles or the feed table; immediate feedback of the level of noise for the workers.		Generally applicable.