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Water withdrawal
Considering the same set of reporting companies as previous years, at a group level we achieved a further reduction in total water withdrawals. Compared to our baseline year 2008 the amount of water withdrawn decreased by nearly 35% as a combined effect of a decrease in production due to turnarounds, a change in the product slate, minor technological improvements and the outsourcing of the Slovnaft Thermal Power Plant to CEZ-MOL joint venture company in 2009.
As a result of INA and IES consolidation, the total volume of water withdrawals in MOL Group increased by 68%. Compared to 2009, the volume of wastewater recycled and reused also increased by 25% and reached 2.7% of total water withdrawals. At the Sisak Refinery (INA, CRO) we plan several technological developments aimed at achieving a 17% reduction of water withdrawals in the near future. In Mantova Refinery (IES, IT) a study was prepared on water consumption reduction.
In our petrochemical plants we reduced water withdrawals by 6.5%(compared to the baseline year 2008) and raised the ratio of recycled wastewater by half. Based on water technology improvements planned in TVK, a saving of 0.6 million m3/y water can be achieved from 2011.
Total water withdrawals by source (th m3)
Water discharge
Compared to 2009, the total discharge volume and the amount of contaminants such as total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH), chemical and biological oxygen demand (COD, BOD) and suspended solids (SS) increased due to data consolidation (TPH 69%, COD 32%, BOD 50%, SS 16%). Without incorporating data from INA and IES our performance was stable with no significant changes in the amount of emitted contaminants.
In line with the Water Framework Directive, our focus has shifted from the physical and chemical quality of water to its biological quality. We utilise Whole Effluent Assessment (WEA) methodology, comprising ecotoxicity, persistence and bioaccumulation tests in the Hungarian and the Slovakian refineries to assess the ecological impacts of final refinery effluents. We found that the persistent organic content of effluents has a strong potential to accumulate and make the discharged wastewater moderately ecotoxic. Our ecological impacts on the aquatic environment can be reduced by recycling and reuse of the final effluents.
At the Zala Refinery the capacity of the waste water treatment unit was improved by 100%, allowing us to reduce the COD of discharged water. In order to manage the COD level we connected our system to the public sewage system, so final cleaning is carried out in the waste water treatment unit of the town.
