The premises of companies operating in Kralupy n. Vlt. represent a large complex comprising plenty of industrial and transportation noises produced not only by the biggest companies doing business in that complex - i.e. KAUÈUK and ÈESKÁ RAFINÉRSKÁ but also other companies like LINDE TECHNOPLYN, K-PROTOS, UNIPETROL - Doprava, and dozens of other smaller external, mostly maintenance companies. Identification of individual sources of noise and their contributions to the overall noise is not feasible since it is a result of a lot of other impacts of activities taking place in that locality, not necessarily associated with operations of industrial companies in the complex. It is mostly road, railroad, and air transportation.

With a goal to contribute to decreasing of the current noise levels around the premises of industrial companies in Kralupy n. Vlt. in order to comply with the highest allowable equivalent acoustic pressure levels at neighboring residential areas of Kralupy nad Vltavou and in the neighboring town of Veltrusy, in 2003 the management of Kauèuk, Inc. approved its important document titled “Framework plan on decreasing of noise levels at Kauèuk, Inc.” as a voluntary activity leading towards reduction of potential consequences of its impacts on its surroundings.

It is a set of long-term measures whose specific individual steps are continuously perfected in coordination with a professional competent noise expert and they are based on specific situations at individual production sites of the company. Dipl. Eng. Pavel Topinka, manager of the Company Management Systems Department of Kauèuk says: “Due to the character of the noise produced at the premises, we strive to deal with the current situation in a comprehensive manner and if possible, also in cooperation with all the important subjects operating on the premises. Based on our plan of decreasing of noise levels, our company took its first noise limitation measure at the Integral unit which purifies waste gases produced by the foamable polystyrene production. That project was designed by a specialized company focused on noise limitation. The specified measure rested in silencing of the unit’s fan and exhausts of pneumatic regulation which used to produce a characteristic noise pulsing background. The initial level at the compressor was more than 80 dB and it was successfully decreased by 10 dB. The noise level at the pneumatic regulation was decreased by more than 20 dB”, said and further mentioned that another very important step taken with a goal to reduce both noise levels and air pollution was the decommissioning of the polymerization section of the ABS production facility at the end of the year 2003.

Not only our company has a program on reducing noise pollution at the premises - last year, the Èeská rafinérská Company significantly reduced noise levels at its Izomerace /Isomerization/ production facility and a similar measure was taken by the Linde Technoplyn Company at its cooling towers. This year’s main activity of Kauèuk is focused on reduction of noise produced by compressors (so called series 200 and 300) at the polystyrene plastics production facility. As a result of that, that source of noise will be significantly reduced as well. The set of measures on reducing noise levels is a long-term project which will gradually affect all the company’s production facilities via their reconstructions and modernizations.