Dioxin Emissions in Candidate Countries Kick-off workshop, Latvian report.

Brief history 1999 First estimates of dioxin emissions in the EU financed project POP-cycling Baltic (Pacyna 1999). The estimates were based on default emission factors for different sectors multiplied by reported activities DANCEE (Danish Cooperation for Environment in Eastern Europe) financed project: ‘Survey of anthropogenic sources of dioxins in the Baltic Region’. This report is based on the DANCEE project results.

The inventory. Until now, no measurements of dioxin releases have been carried out in Latvia. For the medium estimates, default process specific emission factors from the toolkit for inventories of dioxins and furans prepared by UNEP Chemicals are applied. The main release route for dioxins is emission to air. The potential direct discharge to the aquatic environments is estimated to be relatively small and consists of mainly discharges with municipal wastewater.

Categorisation The categories that the UNEP toolkit uses are different from the SNAP categorisation used by EMEP/CORINAIR for the reporting of air emissions in Europe: 1) Waste incineration 2) Metal production 3) Power generation and heating 4) Production of mineral products 5) Transport 6) Uncontroled combustion processes 7) Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous sources: Crematoria – only one operating, corpses cremated per year. Factor used – 10 (5-20) μg I-TEQ per cremation. Smoke houses – smoking of meat and other foodstuff. Considered insignificant compared to the volume of wood used in domestic heating. Dry cleaning – it has not been possible to obtain an estimate of the amount of residues generated in Latvia. The amount of residues estimated to be no more than a few tonnes, and the amount of dioxins in the residues considered insignificant. Tobacco smoking – the total number of cigarettes and cigars smoked in Latvia in year 2000 was approximately 2499 t. The total release to air can be estimated at mg I-TEQ per year.

Transport: Total consumption of gasoline in 2000 was t. No statistics about how much was used for 4-stroke engines and how much for 2-stroke engines. Estimated 20% of cars are equipped with catalyst, and all of the gasoline sold was unleaded. Total consumption of diesel fuel in 2000 was t. Heavy fuel oil used for ships in international waters is not included in the inventory.

Production of mineral products: Cement production takes place only in Broceni factory t of cement were produced in 1998 using the so-called “Dry process“, adding used tires and oil products. Lime production – the volume of lime produced in 1998 was tonnes. There is no information on air pollution control obtained in Latvia, therefore a default factor of μg I-TEQ/t was applied. Brick production – numbers of bricks and tiles produced are well known, yet hard to translate to tonnes. Estimated t per year. Glass production – only one factory operating, producing household glass products and bottles.

Waste incineration: Hazardous waste incineration – according to the current legislation incineration of hazardous waste is allowed only in special facilities. At the moment none of such facilities exist in Latvia. According to the information from enterprises, incineration of hazardous waste from production of pharmaceuicals is today taking place in only one factory. Medical waste incineration – based on the study by SWECO & Geo Consultants, about 800 kg hospital waste per bed is generated per year. Of this 20 kg is infectious, 12 kg other hazardous and the rest is regular waste that resembles municipal solid waste. About 20% of infectious or hazardous waste is incinerated in hospital incinerators or boiler houses. Relatively high emission of dioxins due to high content of PVC. No data on actal content of PVC is available.

Metal production: Steel is produced in only one company: Liepajas Metalurgs in Liepaja. Steel is produced from scrap metal mostly imported from Russia. Approximately t of steel is produced per year. Total release to air is roughly estimated at 1.4 ( ) g I-TEQ/year. To reduce uncertainty of the estimate, it is necessary to obtain more detailed information on the production technology and the respective factors.

Power generation and heating: Tpically power plants and boiler houses are years old, constructed during the Soviet Union. Recently, the process of reconstruction was started, substituting, heavy fuel oil by natural gas. Many old fashioned boiler houses still exist that use old fashioned flue gas treatment or none at all. They mainly use coal and heavy fuel oil. Following factors have been applied: –Coal-fired power boilers: 10 μg I-TEQ/TJ of burnt fuel; –Heavy fuel and shale oil-fired power boilers: 2.5 μg I-TEQ/TJ; –Light fuel oil and natural gas-fired power boilers: 0.5 μg I-TEQ/; –Wood and peat-fired power boilers: 50 μg I-TEQ/TJ; –Oil-shale gas, generator gas and biogas boilers: 8 μg I-TEQ/TJ;

Uncontrolled combustion processes: Clean biomass burning – includes forest and moor fires, burning of grassland and burning of agricultural residues in the field. Mostly initiated by dry weather conditions in the summer cases of forest fires registered in Factors used from experience in Lithuania, where 4000 t of wood was destroyed in ha of forest under fire. Uncontrolled waste burning: –domestic waste burning takes place, but the extent of its activity is very uncertain. Domestic waste and garden waste is burned in piles or barrels in backyards or added to fuel in ovens and furnaces. About 45% of all waste ( t) might be burned in backyards, composted, recycled or disposed to small waste dumps. –Open burning of contaminated wood: about 5-15% of scrap wood generated from construction, renovation, and demolition is burned. –Landfil fires: burning of stored waste is prohibited, but some unintentionally occur now and then. Potential emission may be estimated using experience from other countries.

Estimated emissions by sector in grams I-TEQ per year

Conclusion: Measurements of actual emissions needed. No laboratories in Latvia that can make such measurements Where measurements are impossible, more precise emission estimation factors need to be developed.