Commitment to implement sustainable operations and to continue investments in environmental protection remains the focus of KN (AB Klaipėdos Nafta). The company managed to receive the aid of EUR 200 000 for the installation of an air pollutant treatment plant at the Terminal of Klaipėdos Nafta. These funds will be allocated from the Lithuanian Environmental Investment Fund Program.
The new air pollutant treatment plant will treat volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and sulphur-containing compounds collected from the handling of existing petroleum products in the railway overpass.
Purchasing and installation of the necessary equipment will cost about EUR 0.5 million. About EUR 300 thousand will be allocated from the company budget, while the remaining EUR 200 thousand was received by submitting the application to the Environmental Projects Management Agency. The Agency decided to grant the funding to the Project from the funds of the Program of the Lithuanian Environmental Investment Fund. A funding and project supervision agreement will be signed between KN and the Environmental Projects Management Agency in the near future.
“We are confident that investing in the environmental protection is an indicator of a sustainable business, therefore we are consistently investing in environmental measures that support sustainable operations and ensure the highest environmental standards. We are pleased that this direction of our operations is sponsored and supported by the State, which has awarded a significant Grant for the implementation of an important facility at the terminal,” says Darius Šilenskis, Acting CEO of KN.
He notes that the KN consistently implements the Environmental Action Plan adopted at the end of the last year. In addition to the aforementioned VOC vapor collection and treatment equipment on the railways, there are also plans for VOC vapor collection and purification from the tanks of the black petroleum product fleet and from tanks of the new white petroleum product fleet. The plan also provides for the modernization of the Klaipėda Nafta Terminal boiler room and almost double the capacity of the VOC vapor incinerator by modernization the petroleum terminal quays.
It is estimated that by the end of 2021, KN’s investments in the field of environmental protection will reach 8 million euros. EUR 1.74 million of the anticipated amount has already been invested.
All equipment necessary for the modernization of the VOC vapor incinerator has already been purchased and delivered to the Company. A tender for the procurement of the installation works of this equipment will be announced in the near future. If everything will go as planed, the modernization of the VOC vapor incinerator should be completed by the end of this year or at the beginning of 2020.
Implementation of all measures specified in the Environmental Plan will reduce VOC concentration in residential areas adjacent to the company about 36 percent and the concentration of the odour will be reduced by 50 percent. – from the occasionally recorded 1 European odour unit to 0.5-0.3 unit.
The progress of Environmental Action Plan of Klaipėda Oil Terminal is updated every quarter and published on the company's website.
