Environment
People's heath and well-being, safety of our operations and respect for the environment are our top priorities.
Industrial operations of a company in the fertiliser industry may cause pollutants that are damaging for the environment if released, essentially in the air and in water.
Significant efforts are made to minimise release of pollutants by adapting manufacturing processes and by installing pollutant control and processing equipment.
Efforts were stepped up over the past few years. We are beginning to implement measures with the objective of obtaining an ISO 14001 type "environment" certification in the near future.
Air
During the granulation process, we use a large quantity of air to dry out granulates. Therefore, fine fertiliser particles fill the air passing through our facilities.
In order to prevent the particles from entering the atmosphere, we use a gas dusting and cleansing system that sprays microscopic water droplets and collects and recycles the dust. Therefore, release of pollutants in the atmosphere is greatly reduced.
Pollutants are permanently monitored in our laboratory, which works in very close partnerships with control authorities.
Water
We use 70% of our water to cool production facilities. Therefore, this water does not come into contact with products. In order to reduce the quantity of underground water used, we have installed in 2004 a recycling circuit for our cooling water, enabling us to cool down and reuse water in a closed circuit.
Unrecycled water primarily comprises of equipment rinsing water and surface flow water of facility areas. That water is transferred to pools where it is purified by decanting and lagooning.
Our nitrogen releases are monitored and analysed 24 hours a day, since nitrogen can be a primary cause of eutrophisation in water systems.
Eutrophisation is a remarkable but natural kind of water system pollution, which occurs when the aquatic environment receives too much nutritive elements that can be absorbed by algae, causing algae proliferation. The main nutrients blamed for this phenomenon are phosphorus (contained in phosphate) and nitrogen (contained in ammonium, nitrate and nitrite).
The eutrophisation index, which takes into account our releases of nitrogen and phosphorous, tends to decrease.
Sorting of refuse
Our refuse, such as packaging, paper and wood, is sorted out selectively and stored in our own containers. Therefore, a significant share of our refuse can be recycled.