Litvínov, March 28, 2019 – On its production premises in Litvínov refinery and petrochemical group Unipetrol has started using a new technology reducing the vanadium amount in wastewater discharged into the River Bílina. Implementation of this CZK 46 million investment project lasted about one year. After six-month trial, the new technology will be put into full operation on July 1, i.e. at a time when the new and stricter limits on the vanadium content in wastewater set out by the integrated permit of the Ústí Region come into force.
“This investment project aims at meeting the new mass and concentration limits for vanadium discharged into water through effluent purification within the newly installed technology in the central biological treatment plant. In addition to the installation of the new technology, we have also modernised the related technology equipment within maintenance activities so that it can safely and reliably operate at least for the next 15 years. This additional modernisation cost CZK 15 million,” Pavel Sláma, director of the EKO Unipetrol RPA unit, explains, adding: “The facility is now able to safely meet the significantly higher limits specified in the integrated permit of the Ústí Region.”
The wastewater treatment system in Unipetrol’s production plant in Litvínov - Záluží had been built gradually along with the site construction since the 1940s and has always reflected the production needs and binding requirements of applicable legislation. The current requirements emphasise not only volume-related limits, but also water savings through the reuse of treated wastewater. And these requirements have been newly factored in the use of the new technology which fully meets the requirements imposed by applicable environmental legislation.
Unipetrol takes measures designed not only to protect the environment but also to support it. Along with the local fishermen from the North Bohemian Territorial Unit, the company stocks the Bílina with fish twice a year. This activity is pursued in cooperation with the Most Environmental Centre and primary school pupils. In November, thirty children from the primary school in Hostomice released an additional 450 kg of fish into the Bílina, especially breams and roaches. The amount of fish stocked into the Bílina since 2010 is getting close to 6,000 kg. Water quality in the river has significantly improved over the last 30 years and keeps improving. Peregrine falcons, being one of the endangered bird species in Europe regularly raise their young on the chimneys of the chemical site. Unipetrol looks after their nests in cooperation with Alka Wildlife.