Estate Service Asset - PDO

Petroleum Development Oman
Estate Services Asset
Environmental Assessment
2002 Review and Update
DGs are operated very infrequently and only during grid failures. The incinerator for
clinical waste is operated for a total of 6 hours monthly (on an average of once a
week for few hours). The only areas provided with vents are the kitchens attached to
the restaurants. From these vents, air laden with odours generated from the kitchens is
released into the outside atmosphere.
With respect to the area sources of air emissions, the only significant sources are the
STPs, which may release odours into the atmosphere, if adequate aerobic conditions
are not maintained. Since such conditions rarely exist, air emissions from area sources
are considered insignificant.
With respect to the mobile air emission sources, construction equipment are not
significant sources of air emissions since no major construction activities are carried
by estate services asset. However, if any renovations or temporary construction takes
place in the asset area, the air emissions should be considered.
The emissions from the passenger and transportation vehicles may be considered
significant within the areas serviced by the estate services. Even though not many
vehicles are used by the estate services staff or the contractor staff, a large number of
vehicles enter and leave the MAF industrial area to visit the several departments of
PDO. However, the roads within the areas serviced by estate services are not
accessible to general public.
4.2.2 Emissions from Incinerator
Emissions from the incinerator stack, though intermittent are somewhat significant
due to the potential for the release of extremely toxic gases from thermal degradation
of clinical wastes, which include waste cotton, soiled bandages and used disposal
syringes and needles. The quantity of clinical waste is however quite small (200
kg/month) and the incinerator is operated only once a month for about 6 hours. The
high temperature incinerator is fuelled by kerosene and ignited electronically. It has a
design capacity of about 200 kg load. It consists of a primary chamber, which is
heated to 425 o C and a secondary chamber, which heated to 925 o C. A strong air
blower is provided to circulate the gases between the primary and secondary
chambers. The incineration process is initiated by igniting the secondary chamber
burner and allowing it to reach its operational temperature. The air blower and
primary chamber automatically begin operating 1 hour later and the waste is
continually incinerated for 3 hours. The secondary burner remains active for one more
hour to complete the incineration cycle. The incinerator is allowed to cool and once
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Oman’s Environmental Consultancy
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