Table of Contents

2.B.10.a - Other Chemicals

Short description

In sub-category 2.B.10.a - Other Chemicals, emissions from the production of organic chemicals,sulphuric acid, carbon black, fertilizers and from the chlor-alkali industry are reported. Relevant pollutants are NMVOC, CO, PCDD/F, SOx, NH3, PM2.5, PM10, TSP and Hg.

Table 1: Overview of emission sources covered

Emission sources Pollutants Method AD EF Key Category
Large Volume Organic chemicals NMVOC (PCDD/F only for Ethylene Dichloride) T2 NS CS
Carbon Black CO, SO2, TSP, PM10, PM2.5 T2 NS D, CS
Fertilizers TSP, PM10, PM2.5, NH3 T2 - D, CS
Sulphuric acid SO2 T2 NS CS L
Chlor-alkali industry Hg T3 PS -

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Method(s) applied
D Default
T1 Tier 1 / Simple Methodology *
T2 Tier 2*
T3 Tier 3 / Detailed Methodology *
C CORINAIR
CS Country Specific
M Model
* as described in the EMEP/EEA Emission Inventory Guidebook - 2019, in category chapters.
(source for) Activity Data
NS National Statistics
RS Regional Statistics
IS International Statistics
PS Plant Specific
As Associations, business organisations
Q specific Questionnaires (or surveys)
M Model / Modelled
C Confidential
(source for) Emission Factors
D Default (EMEP Guidebook)
CS Country Specific
PS Plant Specific
M Model / Modelled
C Confidential

Method

Large volume organic chemicals

The annual production volumes for all large volume organic chemicals are extracted from national production statistics by the Federal Statistical Office 1)

These chemicals comprise:

The emission factors for the production of organic chemicals as shown in Tables 2 and 3 are derived from best reference documents for polymers and LVOC mostly for the early years. For later years, plant-specific data on an aggregated level were used.

Table 2: national NMVOC emission factors for producing organic chemicals, in kg/t

Acrylonitrile Ethylbenzene Ethylene Ethylene Dichloride Ethylene Oxide Formaldehyde (Methanal) Methanol Phthalic Anhydride Propene Styrene Vinyl Chloride
1990-1994 5 0.6 5 C 5 5 0.04 5 2.5 0.02 0.2
1995 0.07 0.02 0.4 C 0.06 0.02 0.04 0.2 0.2 0.02 0.2
1996 0.05 0.015 0.3 C 0.045 0.015 0.04 0.15 0.15 0.02 0.15
1997 0.05 0.015 0.3 C 0.045 0.015 0.04 0.15 0.15 0.02 0.15
1998 0.04 0.012 0.25 C 0.04 0.012 0.04 0.12 0.12 0.02 0.12
1999 0.04 0.012 0.25 C 0.04 0.012 0.04 0.12 0.12 0.02 0.12
from 2000 0.035 0.01 0.2 C 0.03 0.01 0.04 0.1 0.1 0.02 0.1

Table 3: national NMVOC emission factors for producing polymers, in kg/t

Polyethylene (PE) Polypropylen (PP) Polystyrene (PS) Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Styrene Copolymeres
Low density (LD) High density (HD)
1990-1994 8 6 8 1 0.25 5
1995 2.2 1 1 0.6 0.25 0.6
1996 1.6 0.75 0.75 0.4 0.25 0.5
1997 1.6 0.75 0.75 0.4 0.25 0.5
1998 1.3 0.6 0.6 0.32 0.25 0.4
1999 1.3 0.6 0.6 0.32 0.25 0.4
from 2000 1.1 0.5 0.5 0.27 0.14 0.3

Carbon Black

The figures for carbon black production in the new German Länder in 1990 were taken from the Statistical Yearbook (Statistisches Jahrbuch) for the Federal Republic of Germany; the figures for 1991 and 1992 were estimated, due to confidentiality requirements. The other data for carbon-black production as of 1990 were obtained from national production statistics1).

From 2005 onwards, Germany uses activity data calculated from the CO2 emissions of the Emission Trading System (ETS), delivered by the German emission trading authority (DEHSt), and the default CO2 emission factor from the IPCC Guidelines 2006 for carbon black production. A comparison of the statistical data and the emission trading data leads to the conclusion, that the statistical data is most probably overestimated.

Table 4: Emission factors of carbon black in Germany, in kg/t

CO SO2 TSP PM10 PM2.5
1990 4.80 19.16 0.28
1991 4.60 19.01 0.28
1992 4.40 18.50 0.27
1993 4.20 18.00 0.26
1994 4.00 17.50 0.25
1995 3.75 17.00 0.25 0.23 0.12
1996 3.50 16.00 0.25 0.23 0.12
1997 3.25 15.00 0.25 0.23 0.12
1998 3.00 14.00 0.25 0.23 0.12
1999 2.90 13.40 0.25 0.23 0.12
2000 2.80 12.80 0.25 0.23 0.12
2001 2.70 12.54 0.25 0.23 0.12
2002 2.65 12.28 0.25 0.23 0.12
2003 2.60 12.00 0.25 0.23 0.12
2004 2.55 11.70 0.25 0.23 0.12
2005 2.50 11.50 0.25 0.23 0.12
2006 2.50 11.20 0.24 0.22 0.12
2007 2.50 10.90 0.23 0.21 0.11
2008 2.50 10.60 0.22 0.20 0.11
2009 2.50 10.30 0.21 0.19 0.10
from 2010 2.50 10.00 0.20 0.18 0.10

Fertilizer production

The activity data is also extracted from national production statistics by the Federal Statistical Office1) and consists of mono and multicomponent fertilizers.

The emission factors are country specific (Jörß et al. 2006)2) and are presented in the following table.

Table 5: Emission factors of fertilizers in Germany

PM10 PM2.5 TSP
1990 NA NA 1.420376946
1991-1994 NA NA 2
from 1995 0.115938 0.0781395 0.1695

Urea production

The activity data is from the federal statistical office of Germany (GP 2015 31 300). The amount of urea is reported there in t-N. As the emission factor is in kg/t urea, the reported amount of urea in t-N is multiplied with the molar mass of urea and divided with the molar mass of nitric (60.06/14).

AR of urea (in t) = AR of urea (in t-N) * (molar mass of urea)/ (molar mass of N)

The emission factor is 2.5 kg/t urea, which is a T2 EF from the EMEP/EEA Guidebook 2019 3).

Sulphuric acid

The activity data for sulphuric acid production is from the Federal Statistical Office of Germany.

For the SOx EF for sulphuric acid production a survey was made in the year 2019. The producers were directly asked by the association. Based on the data from the producers, new EFs for the years 2017 and 2018 were developed. All emissions were measured by the producers respectively or limit values are specified in the permit decision for the installation. The EF is weighted by the amount of H2SO4 produced. Big producers have more influence on the EF than small producers. The EF is smaller than the Default-EF. This is due to significant process optimizations and technology improvements since 1990.

Chlor-alkali industry

For the mercury (Hg) losses from the Chlor-alkali industry, Germany used the yearly published data from OSPAR 4) on the plant specific production capacity for the AD and the plant specific emissions from the chlor-alkali industry. Because of the BAT (best available technique) conclusion for the Chlor-alkali industry, the production based upon the amalgam process has stopped in 2017. Most production sites switched to membrane technology. However, emissions of Hg are still ocurring, because two production sites still continue to uses the amalgam process for the production of certain alcoholates; not regulated by the BAT conclusions for Chlor-alkali production. Before 2018 these Hg-emissions were reported together with the Hg-emissions from Chlor-alkali production. But the OSPAR convention does not request the Hg-emissions from alcoholate production to be reported, so CEFIC does no longer report these emissions to OSPAR. As from 2018 PRTR data is used to determine mercury emissions belonging to the alcoholate production. Due to a delay of the 2019 PRTR data the 2018 emission value is used also in 2019 and 2020.

Recalculations

For SO2 emissions from sulphuric acid production, and for Hg emissions from chlor-alkali industry, the emissions of the two last years are always actualized. This is because the emissions of the last year are always a prediction, as the final emissions are still not published by the time of reporting.

From Submission 2022 onwards, the SO2 emissions from titanium dioxide production are no longer confidential and are therefore reallocated back to category 2.B.6. Since then, the SO2 emissions reported here are only from the sulphuric acid production. Besides, Germany reports the NH3 and TSP emissions from urea production instead of from nitric fertilizer production based on the Emep/EEA Guidebook method by using statistical data from the federal statistical office.

Otherwise no recalculations of SO2 from the sulphuric acid production, NH3 und TSP from urea production are necessary compared to last year's submission.

For pollutant-specific information on recalculated emission estimates for Base Year and 2021, please see the pollutant specific recalculation tables following chapter 8.1 - Recalculations.

Planned improvements

There are no planned improvements.


1) DESTATIS, Fachserie 4, Reihe 3.1, Produzierendes Gewerbe, Produktion im Produzierenden Gewerbe (“manufacturing industry; production in the manufacturing industry”)
2) Umweltbundesamt, W: Jörß, V. Handke, Emissionen und Maßnahmenanalyse Feinstaub 2000-2020, 31.12.2006, Annex A, chapter A.2.4.8
3) European Environment Agency: EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook 2019, Part B: sectoral guidance chapters, 2.B Chemical industry (Oct 2019): chapter 3.2.2, pp.32, table 3.2.9
4) ODIMS (OSPAR Data & Information Management System); https://odims.ospar.org/en/search/?dataset=chlor_alkali_data