Fugitive emissions are the proportion of industrial emissions which occur through unanticipated or spurious leaks in process systems. They contrast with anticipated emissions, such as the by-products of combustion.
The levels of fugitive emissions should not be underestimated. To put the problem into perspective, a typical European refinery loses between 600 and 10,000 tonnes of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) per year. It is estimated that 72% of this is attributable to plant equipment such as pipe flanges, pumps, valves and vessels.
The consequences of these losses are far reaching. The loss of product is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of total cost of fugitive emissions; there are clean-up costs, loss of production time, labour costs to repair leaks, environmental fines and more.
However, these equipment leaks can be addressed through the application of innovative sealing technology to reduce fugitive emissions to extremely low levels. It is with the specification and supply of such technologies that Beldam Burgmann, as a gaskets and packings market leader, will provide assistance.