Yunlin County Rated Excellent for Air Quality for Two Consecutive Years, and Coorganizes Environmental Protection Forum with FPG
Yunlin County Government has been actively working with different sectors in recent years to create a suitable living environment in Yunlin County, and its results have been recognized by the Executive Yuan Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) with an excellence rating for air quality in 2021 and 2022. For citizens to understand the air quality of Yunlin County, the county government invited experts from industry, government, and academia to attend the FPG Air Pollution Reduction and Environmental Sustainability Forum in Mailiao Park on July 20. The forum was hosted by Magistrate Li-Shan Chang and President Sang-Chi Lin of the Administration Department of Formosa Plastics Group. Over 250 people attended the event, including Stephen Shen, former minister of the EPA, Meng-Yu Tsai, Director of EPA Department of Air Quality, Ken-Hui Chang, Vice President of National Yunlin University of Science & Technology, Chuen-Jinn Tsai, Chair Professor at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and representatives of government agencies. Elected representatives that attended the event include Deputy Speaker Chun-Hao Su of Yunlin County Council and members Shen Lin, Chien-Hung Lin, and Hui-Lan Wu, and Director-General Chun-Chieh Hsu of Mailiao Farmers' Association. The event was also live streamed on Youtube and FPG's Facebook fan page.
Before the forum started, Yunlin County Magistrate Li-Shan Chang and President Sang-Chi Lin of the Administration Department of Formosa Plastics Group signed the "Carbon Neutrality, Green Energy Technology, and Sustainable Environment" declaration in front of Stephen Shen, former minister of the EPA, and Meng-Yu Tsai, Director of EPA Department of Air Quality, planning energy-saving measures, such as the reduction of process energy consumption and energy and resource integration to create a circular economy, and developing towards a zero waste park to achieve net zero emission by 2050.
The "Excellent" rating of Yunlin County's air quality is the result of the collective efforts of the country government, 4th River Management Office, Industrial Park Service Center, and companies under jurisdiction
Magistrate Li-Shan Chang said that there were two main reasons Yunlin County was rated "Excellent" in air quality by the EPA for two consecutive years, one is its overall air quality improvement measures, the other is the reduction of river dust raising. This was made possible by supervision from the central government, guidance from academia, and cooperation from industry. As for dust, aside from the 4th River Management Office and Environmental Protection Bureau, she also thanked FPG for covering the electricity fee of spraying water. With regard to overall air quality improvement, industrial parks under its jurisdiction all cooperated with the county government by using clean fuel. FPG invested NT$122.7 billion in environmental protection facilities in the Sixth Naphtha Cracker and cooperated with the competent authority, which the industry should learn from. In the future, she hopes that industry, government, and academia will continue to dedicate their efforts to air quality improvement.
Energy conservation and carbon reduction is a path that all companies must go through to achieve sustainable development, we hope that the county government will continue to provide its support and encouragement
President Sang-Chi Lin of the Administration Department of Formosa Plastics Group thanked Yunlin County Government for its recognition of FPG's efforts in reduction. FPG began promoting the five S and no leakage in 1993, and established an energy conservation and emission reduction organization in 2006. The president of FPG served as the convener and personally led the chairpersons of the four main companies to conduct reviews once every two months. The top-down approach achieved significant reduction in all energy conservation indicators, and greenhouse gas emissions decreased 15.7% compared to 2007. In the future, FPG will continue to direct its efforts to energy conservation and carbon reduction to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, corresponding to the highest guiding principle set forth by the president of FPG: "We are the greatest beneficiary of promoting energy conservation, emission reduction, and circular economy, which will create tangible and intangible benefits through the reduction of raw materials, energy use, product safety, and environmental protection by employees and community residents. This will indirectly benefit society and the prosperity of nearby communities. Energy conservation and carbon reduction is a path that all companies must go through to achieve sustainable development." We hope that the EPA and county government will continue to give us their support and encouragement.
Admiration for Yunlin County Government and FPG's declaration to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050
Stephen Shen, former minister of the EPA, said that after the Conference of the Parties last year, net zero emissions has become a trending topic worldwide, and countries have set the goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. After Yunlin County Government and FPG signed the Carbon Neutrality, Green Energy Technology, and Sustainable Environment Declaration, they outlined a path to achieve carbon neutrality in hopes that collaboration and efforts of industry, government, and academia will be able to achieve this goal.
Recognition of FPG's efforts in environmental protection
Director Meng-Yu Tsai of EPA Department of Air Quality said that based on PM2.5 monitoring results of Yunlin County, the lowest values before 2021 was 26-27 μg/m3, but this year the average between January and June was 18.8 μg/m3, showing continued improvement. It is apparent that Yunlin County has dedicated great effort to maintaining its air quality. The health risk indicator of FPG's Sixth Naphtha Cracker was 10-5, which is only a tenth of other petrochemical industrial parks in Taiwan at 10-4. This shows that FPG has dedicated great effort to air pollution control. Further efforts to develop more advanced carbon fixation technology and hydrogen technology require the collective efforts of industry, government, and academia to make the environment better.
Government agencies, experts and scholars, and industry share the results of promoting environmental sustainability
Next are the topics of the forum. Government agencies and experts and scholars shared their air quality control strategies, as well as practical issues in industries, such as air pollution reduction, energy conservation and carbon reduction, and waste reduction. In the morning session, Yunlin County Environmental Protection Bureau, National Yunlin University of Science & Technology, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, and EHS Center of the Administration Department shared control results, strategies, technologies, actual monitoring situation, and analysis:
(I)Yunlin air quality improvement results:
Yunlin County Environmental Protection Bureau shared the key to improving the air quality in Yunlin and receiving the "Excellent" rating for air quality. It collaborated with the 4th River Management Office for controlling dust raised by Zhuoshui River, reducing the number of dust raising event-days by 90%, and increasing the use of clean fuel in boilers in the county to 90%, which reduced carbon emissions by 23,500 metric tons per year.
(II)Air quality improvement plans and recommendations:
Vice President Ken-Hui Chang of National Yunlin University of Science & Technology utilized his air pollution control expertise to provide the strategies and methods of advanced countries around the world, and recommended formulating key control points based on the characteristics of Yunlin County's air quality.
(III)Air pollution control and control technologies:
Chuen-Jinn Tsai at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University shared VOCs and nitrogen oxide control strategies, and described improvements made together with Long De Plant of Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corporation and Linkou Power Plant of Taiwan Power Company.
(IV)Air quality monitoring and management measures of Mailiao Park and nearby areas:
The EHS Center focused on monitoring results of areas near Mailiao Park, and described the results of using the monitoring data to require the factory to find the source and make improvements.
During the afternoon session, FPG and Dairen Chemical Corp. of the Chang Chun Group shared their implementation results in air pollution control, energy conservation and carbon reduction, waste reduction, and environmental sustainability, providing reference for various sectors to improve environmental quality:
(I)Measures taken by Mai-Liao Power to improve air pollution control:
The co-generation boiler and power plant in Mailiao Park was built using the best available control technology, and shared that it will invest another NT$1.7 billion to further improve control efficiency and eliminate steam exhaust.
(II)Waste reduction results of PTA plant through wastewater anaerobic treatment:
The wastewater treatment plant of the PTA plant of Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corporation is able to meet strict environmental standards on discharge. In the current stage, it effectively improved wastewater treatment efficiency, and reduced waste sludge and energy consumption by operations. It shared the addition of a biogas boiler to recycle biogas from the anaerobic system to generate steam.
(III)Construction of Mailiao Industrial Port with EcoPorts certification:
FPG shared how Mailiao Industrial Port obtained the EcoPorts certification for the first time in 2018, the second time in 2020, and the third time in July 2022. It is the first industrial port to obtain the certification in Taiwan and Asia. In the future, FPG will continue to promote the EcoPorts certification for green, ecological, and sustainable development.
(IV)Elastic fiber recycling and reuse for waste reduction:
Upholding FPG's spirit of ESG and circular economy and to resolve issues that downstream vendors have with handling waste yarn, Formosa Plastics Corporation implemented a waste yarn recycling and reuse project, and collaborated with customers in recycling yarn to make fabric, achieving sustainable use of resources, process waste reduction, and recycling and reuse.
(V)Ethylene glycol plant CO2 reduction report:
Nan Ya Plastics Corporation's ethylene glycol plant implemented a plan to reduce direct and indirect CO2 emissions, which reduced carbon emissions by 468,000 metric tons/year (approximately 1,212x the carbon absorption of Da'an Forest Park) between 2007 and 2021, and shared the methods of key facilities.
(VI)Sharing of experience with removing nitrogen oxide from exhaust in discharge pipe using ozone denitrification method:
The Chang Chun Group aims to comply with future regulatory requirements, and conducted a study on installing nitrogen oxide removal equipment, so that it can formulate a plan and decide on the method for reducing the concentration of nitrogen oxide emissions.
After lively discussions during the forum, we will uphold the concept of "placing equal emphasis on environmental protection and economic development," and continue to dedicate our efforts to find a balance between industrial development and the environment and ecology. In 2021, we declared the goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and actively carried out ESG work. In the future, we will continue to work with Yunlin County Government to achieve co-existence, co-survival, and mutual prosperity, and will fulfill our corporate social responsibility by creating a better living environment in Yunlin.
(FPG, Jul 21, 2022)