New technology at Irving refinery to cut odour, emissions

A new piece of technology at the Irving Oil refinery is expected to reduce odour wafting throughout Saint John while also cutting sulphur dioxide emissions.

The company has started up its new $70 million tail gas unit, which uses a scrubbing process to eliminate sulphur dioxide.

The unit will convert hydrogen sulfide into molten sulphur. The molten is then cooled and the sulphur is stripped from the mixture to be used as fertilizer.

It is anticipated that the new piece of machinery will mean the refinery will release about 33,000 tonnes of sulphur dioxide in 2008, said Jeff MacDonald, the refinery's environment manager. Overall, the facility will be cutting its emissions by about 25 per cent.

"We identified the sulphur units as a major contributor of odour," MacDonald said. "So with reduced sulphur dioxide being produced, we're going to have reduced odour produced also."

The refinery was forced to reduce sulphur emissions to comply with provincial regulations, said David Coon, policy director of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick.

"The Irvings, like other companies, are governed by environmental laws in this province, and they are required to obey them," Coon said. "Sometimes it takes a lot longer than it should to comply with our environmental laws. Sometimes our government doesn't prosecute when they should. But this is progress, albeit all too slow."

The province has a goal of reducing sulphur emissions by 50 per cent by 2010.

The government should now move to limit other damaging emissions coming from the refinery, Coon said.