The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) conducted an overall inspection of 55 factory offices over 3 years from 2017 to 2020, in order to improve process safety, environmental protection, and energy management in FPG Mailiao Park. During the summary meeting convened at the MOEA in 2021, MOEA Minister Mei-Hua Wang highly approved of FPG's efforts in EHS management, and looked forward to FPG holding a results presentation to share results with the industry.
The "FPG Mailiao Park Overall Inspection Results Presentation" was held in Mailiao Industrial Complex on November 9, 2021, and was hosted by Chairperson Bao-Lang Chen of Formosa Petrochemical Corporation. Distinguished guests included MOEA Deputy Minister Wen-Sheng Tseng and Yunlin County Deputy Magistrate Shu-Ya Hsieh. The results presentation was held in the international conference hall, and was live streamed in conference room 201 and the conference room of the technical training center. A total of 191 people attended the meeting. The event was live streamed on FPG's Facebook fan page and Youtube for petrochemical companies that were invited but could not be at the event, and the video was browsed over 3,000 times within 2 days. Key points of the results presentation are summarized below.
Chairman gives a welcome speech
Chairperson Chen first thanked the competent authority, experts and scholars, and members of the petrochemical industry for participating in the results presentation. He also hoped to share and engage in exchanges with everyone through the results presentation, key points are summarized below:
The president gave instructions to place labor safety and environment protection first and the company second. FPG will continue to dedicate its efforts in labor safety and environmental protection.
FPG has spared no effort in the promotion of process safety and management of environmental protection and energy, in which labor safety requires efforts in two aspects – people and equipment. People may be negligent, so the supervisor must properly manage operations to make it hard for employees to get hurt. Equipment requires understanding issues in advance to make improvements and prevent injuries. FPG would rather spend over NT$60 million to improve its equipment than see any employee get hurt at work.
VIP gives a welcome speech
MOEA Deputy Minister Tseng recognized FPG's significant improvement in process safety, environmental protection, and energy management, tracking and improvements in response to recommendations proposed by inspectors, , and constant verification of goal attainment in each baseline indicator, which other companies should learn from. Furthermore, he hoped that the results presentation will expand the results of the overall inspection, that Taiwan's petrochemical industry will gain a new appearance in the post-pandemic era, and allow different sectors to understand and recognize the efforts and value of Taiwan's petrochemical industry.
Yunlin County Deputy Magistrate Hsieh recognized the excellent results of the overall inspection, which was conducted at such a large scale and took considerable manpower of FPG, and hoped that FPG will apply its precious first-hand experience to industrial parks in Yunlin County. Deputy Magistrate Hsieh also mentioned that Yunlin County is promoting sustainable agriculture, health industry, and paradigm for green economic development, and hopes that everyone will share resources and dedicate efforts to show their determination to achieve Yunlin County's sustainable development.
Overall Inspection method of factories in Mailiao Industrial Complex and the promotion of experience sharing
Deputy Director Chih-Ching Yang of the IDB first reported the methodology of the overall inspection, and explained how performance indicator management was used to conduct the overall inspection of Mailiao Park. The IDB hopes that experience sharing during the results presentation will allow petrochemical companies to learn from each other, and that representatives of petrochemical companies present at the event will refer to the contents of the overall inspection and select suitable methods to strengthen their factory safety management. This will guide the upgrade of the petrochemical industry, create a new positive image of the industry, and create a safe and sustainable future.
During the presentation, Professor Ming-Hsiao Tsai, a member of the overall inspection committee, gave a report on the overall inspection and recognition for FPG's efforts in process safety. The determination of FPG's senior management, implementation of SOP, high stability of mechanical integrity (MI) management, high level of participation by all employees, and outstanding safety culture are all areas that the petrochemical industry should learn from. He also looked forward to representatives at the event sharing experiences and learning from each other, so as to expand the results of the overall inspection.
Achievement sharing on Process Safety, Environmental Management and Energy Management of Mailiao Industrial Complex
The EHS Center shared FPG's results in process safety, environmental protection management, and energy management, and reported on FPG's management measures and results.
1. Process Safety
Strengthened the organization, emphasized PSM personnel training, established RBMI operations to ensure the MI of plants, carried out process pipeline rectification to prevent leakage, and applied AI in labor safety management to prevent accidents from occurring.
With regard to implementation results, the number of leakages at Mailiao Industrial Complex each month has gradually declined over the years, and was 60 cases/month in January to September 2021, which is an improvement compared with the past. Furthermore, according to statistics of the Ministry of Labor, the disabling injury frequency rate, severity of disabling injuries, and comprehensive injury index of Mailiao Industrial Complex was better than the average of the domestic manufacturing industry in the past 5 years.
2. Environmental Management
In the reduction of waste gas emission, we implemented indoor coal silo and closed conveyor belts to prevent coal dust from spreading; we used advanced air pollution control and treatment equipment to reduce the emission of pollutants. In response to the misunderstanding that the white smoke from chimneys causes environmental pollution, we added MGGH and wet electrostatic precipitator to eliminate the white smoke; recycled process waste gas to reduce the volume of waste gas processed by the flare tower; implemented equipment component leakage management and mobile pollution source control.
For wastewater recycling and reduction, we installed cooling water and process wastewater recycling facilities and implemented secondary water reclamation measures. Furthermore, Mailiao Park is also actively implementing waste recycling, using fly ash to make concrete, using sludge from flue gas desulfurization to make red bricks, and mixing waste rock wool into low strength concrete to increase the percentage of recycling.
As for implementation results, Mailiao Park reduced waste gas by 95.8%, reduced wastewater by 28.4%, and reduced waste by 4.7% from 2007 to 2020.
3. Energy Management
In the promotion of energy conservation, emission reduction, and circular economy, raw materials, water resources, energy, and waste across plants and companies are recycled and reused. We also develop and produce green products to help consumers reduce carbon emissions. Furthermore, we are also promoting waste plastic recycling and reuse, energy transition, and process CO2 recycling and reuse on the consumer end. We will also apply AI to improve the results of energy conservation and emission reduction in the near future.
In terms of implementation results, we have achieved better reduction results with respect to raw materials, water resources, energy, and waste.
The SHE Case Studies of Mailiao Industrial Complex
The EHS Center, public pipeline management division, and four major companies reported six cases, including prevention of combustible dust explosion, Mailiao Park public pipeline safety management, pipeline safety AI image automatic recognition system, process CO2 emission reduction and recycling and reuse, adjustment of treatment process at wastewater treatment plant to reduce energy consumption by reducing air flow, waste gas reduction from sulfuric acid storage tank of alkylation unit, and improvement of circular resource reuse, providing methods that other petrochemical companies can reference and learn from.
Achievement exhibition of Mailiao Industrial Complex
A visit was arranged after the presentation ended, including a tour of the Sixth Naphtha Cracker, which allowed attendees to fully understand how Mailiao Park started from a place where the water ends and the wind begins, and developed into an ecological industrial park that stretches 8 km to the north and south and 4 km to the east and west. Furthermore, FPG was recognized for its energy conservation, emission reduction, and circular economy results at Kaohsiung Exhibition Center in December 2020. The results presentation once again showed the contents of the exhibition with dedicated personnel to provide explanations. Participants went on a guided tour of the environment monitoring center, and saw the real-time air quality monitoring and eight lines of defense, real-time monitoring and management of effluent from the ecological laboratory, and introduction to the EcoPort certification obtained by Mailiao Port and underwater ecology, which allowed them to understand FPG's efforts in energy conservation, carbon reduction, circular economy ,and environmental protection.
Conclusion
The results presentation fully showed the active management measures taken by FPG for process safety, environmental protection management, and energy management, and gained recognition from MOEA Deputy Minister Tseng and Yunlin County Deputy Magistrate Hsieh. The event was streamed online to expand participation, and has a positive impact on FPG's image. In the future, we will continue to uphold the spirit to strive for excellence, and direct our efforts in ESG according to international practices to achieve the goal of sustainable operation.
(FPG, Nov 9, 2021)