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IMPLEMENTATION OF BEST AVAILABLE TECHNIQUES IN RUSSIA: PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT PRINCIPLES

Tatiana Guseva

Abstract

Best Available Techniques (BAT) have been used as the instrument of the industrial emissions minimisation and environmental modernisation of industry since the 90s. Researchers and practitioners believe that the most advanced methods of the BAT assessment have been developed and implemented under the European Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) and Industrial Emissions Directives. BATs in the European Union are defined and revised through an official framework: the Sevilla Process. It sets a step-by-step procedure of information exchange among stakeholders supported by data analysis and expert judgements. In the Russian Federation, BATs are established through a similar process involving experts, regulators, industry as well as non-governmental organisations, universities and research centres. When BATs and BAT-associated emission (BAT-AEL) and performance levels (BAT-EPL) are defined and systematised in the Reference Documents on Best Available Techniques (BREF), regulatees need to assess their performance and to make sure that the installations are compliant with the officially established BATs. Therefore, two groups of BAT assessment methods are distinguished. They differ in scope (industrial sector or installation level), area of application (national, sectoral or installation) and objectives. Regulators and practitioners look for methods that are applicable at industrial sector level with a qualitative or quantitative approach, or at installation level in order to assess and compare performances or to find the most appropriate technique in a given situation. In Russia, BAT assessment objectives at the industrial sector level include: (1) analysis of sector-related performance and emission levels; (2) comparison of candidate BATs and BAT-AELs; (3) determination of sectoral BATs and BAT-AELs and establishing legally bind requirements. All application areas include adaptation of the internationally approved methodologies and development of the national approaches (including those specific for the new IPPC areas not covered by the European BREFs). At the installation level, BAT assessment objectives comprise (1) performance comparison between the installation and BATs; (2) applicable technique(s) selection; and (3) performance evaluation according to local conditions. At both levels, multi-criteria decision-making process has to be applied. At the installation level, performance comparison with BATs is required to determine whether significant improvements are necessary or can wait. In order to quantify the performances of BAT, energy, material flows and environmental aspects have to be analysed. The success of the selection of techniques through multi-criteria decision-making depends on the choice of criteria and their weighting made by a group of BAT experts. Consideration of local conditions for application at installation level is important in selecting ways to apply or discard BATs determined at national scale.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgem2019/5.1/s20.047

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