Division BAT 17: In order to prevent or, where that is not practicable, to reduce the amount of waste being sent for disposal, BAT is to use an appropriate combination of the techniques given below.
United Kingdom
| Technique | Description | Applicability | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Techniques to prevent or reduce the generation of waste | |||
| a. | Addition of inhibitors to distillation systems | Selection (and optimisation of dosage) of polymerisation inhibitors that prevent or reduce the generation of residues (e.g. gums or tars). The optimisation of dosage may need to take into account that it can lead to higher nitrogen and/or sulphur content in the residues which could interfere with their use as a fuel | Generally applicable |
| b. | Minimisation of high-boiling residue formation in distillation systems | Techniques that reduce temperatures and residence times (e.g. packing instead of trays to reduce the pressure drop and thus the temperature; vacuum instead of atmospheric pressure to reduce the temperature) | Only applicable to new distillation units or major plant upgrades |
| Techniques to recover materials for reuse or recycling | |||
| c. | Material recovery (e.g. by distillation, cracking) | Materials (i.e. raw materials, products, and by-products) are recovered from residues by isolation (e.g. distillation) or conversion (e.g. thermal/catalytic cracking, gasification, hydrogenation) | Only applicable where there are available uses for these recovered materials |
| d. | Catalyst and adsorbent regeneration | Regeneration of catalysts and adsorbents, e.g. using thermal or chemical treatment | Applicability may be restricted where regeneration results in significant cross-media effects. |
| Techniques to recover energy | |||
| e. | Use of residues as a fuel | Some organic residues, e.g. tar, can be used as fuels in a combustion unit | Applicability may be restricted by the presence of certain substances in the residues, making them unsuitable to use in a combustion unit and requiring disposal |