At Synthos Dwory 7 spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością S.K.A. (dawniej Synthos Dwory Sp. z o.o.), environmental management is the result of the company’s implementation of a long-term and ongoing policy for reducing environmental impact. The effect of this programme was confirmed as early as 2001 by an accredited external body, when the company’s Environmental Management System was awarded the certificate of conformity with the ISO 14001 standards.

The principal concept underlying environmental management is based on the concentration of effort and resources on preventing pollution from occurring. Only in situations where its rational elimination is unattainable are efforts to minimise the environmental impact by means of recycling or, if all else fails, by neutralisation, then employed. At Synthos S.A., implementing this policy means the acquisition of new technologies, applying environmentally friendly solutions. Where older technological solutions are still in use, we invest in equipment to safeguard the environment. The disposal of emissions which are impossible to eliminate or neutralise at source, such as effluents or specific waste products, is commissioned from external specialist organisations. All pollutants released into the atmosphere are minimised to an extent whereby they do not exceed the acceptable reference values beyond the industrial area and we make every effort to limit even that impact.

Sources of pollution:

Synthos Dwory 7 spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością S.K.A. (dawniej Synthos Dwory Sp. z o.o.) focuses on the manufacture of:

• synthetic rubbers (KER®)and latex
• styrene materials (Owipian®, Owispol®)
• vinyl and copolymer dispersions (Winacet®, Osakryl®)

These products are manufactured at five plants:

• the styrene plant,
• the styrene materials manufacturing plant,
• the polyacetate and copolymer plant,
• the synthetic rubbers and latex manufacturing plant

The basic raw materials employed by the company are ethylbenzene, butadiene and pentane, while the chemical processes are based on polymerisation. The main air pollutants emitted by such a manufacturing profile, i.e. styrene or aliphatic hydrocarbons, are reduced to a significant extent by means of catalytic combustion and other equipment safeguarding the environment. 

The  impact of effluents on the water environment  is dealt with by first subjecting the  wastewater to preliminary treatment by means of traps and neutralisers etc. at the plants themselves. The wastewater is then directed to the Municipal and Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant, where it is treated to attain the standards stipulated by law.

Depending on their nature, waste products are consigned to authorised recipients, with the preferred form of neutralisation being recycling. 

Basic measure of impact between 2002 - 2007

*in the main, the waste comprises debris and steel deriving from work on the dismantling of plants which have been decommissioned. The amount is therefore dependent on the intensity of the work in any given year (in 2007, the level of recycled waste amounted to over 90% in total)

The numerous pro-ecological development projects implemented by the Company since the 1990s provide evidence of its commitment to environmental protection:

In 1994, the Municipal and Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant went into commission. As a result, the company is able to discharge treated wastewater from industrial and municipal sources in the city of Oświęcim and neighbouring communes into the Macocha river and from there, into the Wisła. Construction costs for the treatment plant amounted to PLN 30 million.

In 1997-98, production of trichlorethyl, vinyl acetate, carbide and acetylene at Synthos was discontinued, making the company’s manufacturing processes cleaner and environmentally safer. As the new styrene plant went into service, the existing plant, operating on the basis of old technology, was closed. The co-generation plant providing the city and the company with both electricity and heat was fitted with electro filters with an efficiency level of 99%, leading to a significant reduction in the particulates generated during the combustion process.   

In 1998, two modern installations for the catalytic combustion of gases from two manufacturing plants were installed, a REGENOX at the rubber plant and a KRAKTERM at the Owipian® plant. A marked reduction in the release of styrene and aliphatic hydrocarbons was achieved at a company-wide level as a result.

The company’s most recent eco-friendly activities. A brief history.

• The modernisation and expansion of the co-generation plant (1994)
• The building of the Municipal and Industrial Wastewater Treatment Plant (1994)
• The company’s own water treatment plant goes into service (1996)
• The construction of the new styrene manufacturing plant, producing 100,000 tons per year (1998)
• The modernisation of ethylbenzene storage (1998)
• The elimination of vinyl chloride, chloride, benzene, acetylene, methanol, and vinyl and methyl acetate emissions exceeding the norms (1992-98)
• The OWIPIAN II unit goes into service, complete with a new KRAKTERM catalytic combustion installation (1998)
• A REGENOX catalytic combustion installation for the treatment of gasses released by the convection drying of rubber is installed (1998)
• Construction of a modern block polystyrene manufacturing plant (1999)
• The replacement of the steam purge mufflers at the power plant station begins, with a view to curtailing noise pollution (2000)
• The replacement of the burners at the power plant boilers with low emission burners begins (2000)
• The company is awarded the Environmental Management System certificate of conformity with the ISO 14001 standards (2001)
• The extension of the piezometer network, measuring soil and soil water quality on company land (2002)
• The company is removed from the List of 80, a list of the most environmentally damaging industrial plants in Poland (2002) 
• The company is removed from the HELCOM Hotspot list (2002)
• A paper entitled Flora and Fauna at the Dwory S.A. Chemical Company is produced (2003)
• The management of hazardous substances, i.e. asbestos and PCBs, and controlled substances (depleting the ozone layer) is brought into compliance (2004)
• A new convection dryer for drying rubber at Z-V is installed in the Coagulation Division (2005)
• IPPC Integrated Licences are obtained for 7 plants (2006)
• Authorisation to discharge post-cooling waters and rainwater into the River Wisła, via the  ‘Cascade’ is obtained (January 2007)
• The environmentally harmful chloride manufacturing unit, employing the mercury cell method, is decommissioned (2007)

Currently, the most crucial composite document defining the environmental requirements under which Synthos Dwory S.A. may operate its plants is the IPPC. As early as 2003, work began on preparing the company’s application and Licences for our operations in their entirety were finally obtained in 2006.

The restrictions imposed on the Company’s environmental impact, as set out under the Licences and directly under the relevant legislation, require unceasing control. In addition, the company has determined a number of in-house requirements to be met as regards operations which have an environmental impact, in order to be able to fulfil external requirements. Direct controls are exercised in terms of individual environmental features, covering air and soil pollution and wastewater quality. Tests are carried out in our in-house environmental laboratory on the basis of measurements taken. Waste products are also subjected to a qualitative study, with a view to determining the proper method for dealing with them. In addition, there are permanent emission measurement points in operation on company premises, by means of which the company’s impact on air pollution is controlled.