Let's talk about tomorrow - Sustainability Report 2021

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and the rest of the organic matter are bound on carbonbased
adsorbents. Other pollutants such as hydrogen
chloride (HCl) or sulphur oxide and its compounds (SOx)
are bound by adding reagents and then filtered out.
Nitrogen oxides (NOx) are removed from the waste gases
by adding ammonia or ammonium compounds. The
released ammonia reacts with the NOx in the waste gas
to form environmentally neutral components (nitrogen
and water). This means that none of the harmful substances
that are separated out of the flue gas stream
enter the biosphere, which would cause the output to
have a negative environmental impact. What is more,
the remaining emitted pollutant loads – such as heavy
metals and organic hydrocarbons – are lower than
those put in in the form of substitute fuels. None of the
remaining pollutant loads have a harmful effect on
the biosphere in the plants’ emission zones.
pure phosphorus. This means we will be able to substitute
some 1,100 ton nes of raw phosphorus each year
with our Helmstedt operations in the future. We have
already signed a cooperation agreement with Seraplant
GmbH for the further processing of the raw phosphorus.
Seraplant operates one of the first industrial production
facilities to make straight and complex fertilisers containing
phosphate based on sewage sludge ash.
With this partnership, we are working to convert sewage
sludge into fertiliser long before phosphorus recovery
becomes mandatory in 2029. In this way, we are making
a valuable early contribution to environmental and resource
conservation in Germany. We have already been
granted permission to build additional plants in Delfzijl,
Stavenhagen and Magdeburg. Accordingly, we started
constructing facilities in Stavenhagen and Magdeburg
in October 2021. The licensing procedure is still under
way for another project in Stapelfeld.
Emissions
We check whether the emissions from thermal recovery
conform with the law by conducting continuous measurements
and permanent self-monitoring. To do this, we
use measuring technology certified by the German Technical
Inspection Agency (TÜV) and the German Environment
Agency (UBA), which is inspected and calibrated by
external experts at predetermined intervals. By closely
monitoring flue gas cleaning and the values determined,
we are able to safely comply with the statutory requirements.
We conduct special training to raise our employees’
awareness of safe compliance with limits.
Against this backdrop, we completed a technical inspection
in 2021 to prepare for the revision of the 17th Ordinance
on the Implementation of the Federal Immission
Control Act planned for 2023. The revision is expected to
entail a further reduction in emissions of harmful substances
and tighter limits. We are prepared for the changes
and will make a further reduction in emissions by our
plant fleet.
Thermal recovery uses high temperatures which complet
ely destroy organic pollutants in waste. The resulting
emissions contain carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide,
hydrogen chloride and nitrogen oxides, ammonia, heavy
metals, mercury and unburnt hydrocarbons. We are
working on reducing these harmful substances as far as
possible using various processes. For instance, some
heavy metals are transferred to the flue gas so that they