At the start of 2019, the new Filago site in Italy commenced operations. Brenntag invested extensively in environmental protection for the development. Since the location had previously been used for industrial purposes, a comprehensive soil and groundwater inspection was first conducted. The low level of contamination identified as part of this was subsequently remedied.
We removed all the existing underground installations and replaced them with a contemporary, new design. As a result, there are two completely separate waste water systems for rain water and industrial waste water. All of the areas where operations occur have been made water tight and fitted with new retention systems. The retention basins have been built to withstand earthquakes, as have the shelfsystems. The same applies to existing buildings on the premises which remain in use and have therefore been enhanced accordingly.
The tank facilities are monitored during operationsby a multi-stage control system. For example, the storage tanks are fitted with fill level displays for continuous and redundant measurement. These have integrated automatic shutdown functions to prevent inadvertent overfilling. All these measures are in place to prevent product releases or to intercept them immediately on site.
However, if an uncontrolled release does occur, it is fed into an emergency storage basin via the waste water system. The exhaust air from the tank facilities and filling lines is extracted and fed through suitable purification facilities (scrubbers) to ensure that the air meets the required quality standards when it is released.
Energy efficiency was also taken into consideration when the new site was fitted out: all of the interior and exterior lighting is LED-based. Compared to similar neon tube technology, energy consumption is 50% less, and annual CO2 emissionsare at least 42 tonnes lower.
