Guidance on the Solvent Emissions Regulations 2004

 

Introduction

The Solvent Emissions (England and Wales) Regulations 2004, SI 107, has been introduced to further limit the emissions of volatile organic compounds due to the use of organic solvents in certain activities and installations.

The Solvent Emissions (England and Wales) Regulations 2004 (the “SED Regulations) came into force on 20 January 2004 and give effect to European Directive 1999/13/EC, commonly referred to as The Solvent Emissions Directive (the “SED”).

This brief guide is only an introduction and is not a substitute for reading the SED Regulations and the SED which can be accessed using the following link:

• The SED 

The Directive was largely transposed into UK legislation by Directions issued to the Environment Agency and to Local Authorities in March 2002, under the existing Environmental Protection Act 1990 (the “EPA”) and Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2000 (the “PPC Regulations), requiring regulators to include the requirements of the SED into authorisations and permits. The SED has now been incorporated into the new Environmental Permitting Regulations 2007.
 

The Solvent Emissions Directive

The SED activities listed in Annex I of the Directive (a summary list is provided below) must be regulated by permit. The permit must deliver certain requirements:

There are two main compliance options:

• Meeting a VOC emission concentration limit and fugitive emission limits and submitting annual or continuous monitoring results depending on the size of emissions (limit values in SED Annex IIA); or
• Using a solvent reduction approach to achieve the results that would be obtained from meeting a mass emission limit (“reduction scheme”). This approach is not to be employed where certain risk phrase compounds are used (methodology in SED Annex IIB).

In some cases (notably the coatings manufacturing and pharmaceuticals sectors) there is also the option of meeting a mass emission limit (total emission limit value).
 

Summary List of Activities Covered by the SED Annex 1

• Adhesive Coating
• Coating Activity
• Coil Coating
• Dry Cleaning
• Footwear Manufacture
• Manufacturing of Coating Preparations, Varnishes, Inks and Adhesives
• Manufacturing of Pharmaceutical Products
• Printing
• Rubber Conversion
• Surface Cleaning
• Vegetable Oil and Animal Fat Extraction and Vegetable Oil Refining Activities
• Vehicle Refinishing
• Winding Wire Coating
• Wood Impregnation
• Wood and Plastic Lamination

Additional requirements of the SED are:

• A Solvent Management Plan (guidance in SED Annex III) must also be produced;
• All new activities must now comply with the SED requirements before starting operation;
• All existing activities must comply with the requirements by 31 October 2007, except:
  • an operator must notify the regulator by 31 October 2005 if it is intended to use a reduction scheme;
  • the reduction scheme involves calculating an annual reference limit and a target emission. The target emission x 1.5 must be complied with by 31 October 2005, and the target emission without a multiplication factor by 31 October 2007;
  • where a reduction scheme is not being used, any VOC abatement equipment installed after 1 April 2001 must comply with the emission concentration limits;
  • where substances/preparations used contain VOC and the nature/amount of the VOC means that they have a risk phrase R45, 46, 49, 60 and 61 (carcinogens, mutagens, and substances toxic to reproduction), the operator must in the shortest possible time work towards substituting the substance/preparation concerned so that the risk phrase(s) no longer applies (“substitution”). For discharges of these compounds and of halogenated compounds involving risk phrase R40, there are also emission limit values (if mass flows are above certain figures
  • where an operator opts to comply with limit values and complies with either 50mg C/Nm3 (if using an incinerator as abatement) or 150 mg C/Nm3 (if using any other sort of abatement), compliance with the Annex IIA limit values is deferred until 1 April 2013 if the total emissions of the whole installation do not exceed what would have resulted had Annex IIA been fully complied with.

All substantial changes must have the substantially changed part of the activity treated as a new activity, but there is a waiver if the total emissions of the whole installation do not exceed what would have resulted had the substantially changed part been treated as a new installation.

The SED defines words such as VOC, organic compound, installation, existing installation, preparation, substance, coating, and consumption.

 

The SED Regulations

The SED Regulations give effect to the SED, including those outlined above. Please note the timescales by which actions must be taken.

The Regulations extend the controls to the sectors not hitherto regulated under the 1990 or 2000 legislation. The additional sectors are listed below:

Sector	Consumption Threshold (tonnes)
Dry Cleaning	-
Vehicle refinishing	0.5 - 1
Vehicle coating in the course of manufacture	0.5 - 5
Coating not in the course of manufacture	more than 5
Surface cleaning using certain specified compounds	more than 1
Surface cleaning not using certain specified compounds	more than 2
Rubber conversion not using carbon black	more than 15
Formulation and finishing of pharmaceuticals	more than 50
Purification of animal or vegetable oil or fat where the activity is incidental to the cooking for human consumption	more than 10
Purification of fats and vegetable oils derived from seeds, vegetable matter and/or animal matter	more than 10
Timber treatment treating less than 1000m3 with solvent	more than 25

Note: arising from a confusion in the paragraphing in the SED, the SED Regulations currently provide that the 5-tonne threshold applies to the coating of trailers. The threshold should, in fact, be 0.5 tonnes as for vehicle coating, and the Regulations will be corrected at the next opportunity.
 

Timescales for Action and Implementation

All new and existing installations should now be compliant with the requirements of the SED.
 

Contact Details

For further information or help in relation to the SED Regulations contact