One of Oxygen’s many roles in meeting environmental regulations.

Some projects in the SG group have raised some questions about the criticality of the choice of
oxygen generation technology on site and their economic and environmental impacts for the
project and even its viability.
The "Submerged Combustion Melter - SBM" at ISOVER is used for the manufacture of Rockwool
at and has many advantages (for more information: http://combustion-consulting.com/en/SBM-
Furnace/).
Saint-Gobain has chosen oxy-combustion for its SBM projects and the purity of the oxygen used
for the combustion plays an important role in the respect of the environmental regulations,
especially regarding NOx* emissions.
VPSA technology can produce Oxygen at a relatively low purity [from 91% to 94%], while Cryo
plants can provide very high purity >99%.
To reduce the concentration of nitrogen responsible for NOx emissions in combustion, the
concentration of oxygen in the feed air must be increased.
A purity of 92% oxygen (VSA) allows, depending on the region and the country where the project
is located, to be under the emission limits or just at the level. Only a higher concentration
(therefore by cryogenics) allows to be in the total safe side. But this comes with an additional
cost of CAPEX (+30% for requested capacities at Saint-Gobain) for Cryo, less flexibility in
production (very stable production and less shutdowns but does not allow frequent generator
shutdowns).
Cryogenics is also more power consuming. Where 1Nm3 of oxygen requires ~0.39kWh of
electrical energy for a VSA, cryogenics is +20% more electricity intensive.

Being at the limit of the regulation with the VSA technology in this case does not protect you
from the possible evolutions of the regulation and could thus force you to increase the oxygen
concentration to meet the standards. The only way to do this is to blend Oxygen from VSA with
very large volumes of liquid oxygen (almost 50% of the total volume) which will completely cancel
the savings made by a VSA compared to a cryogenic installation.
The choice is therefore subject to technical, economic and environmental constraints, but also
to an appreciation of future regulatory changes.

Below are the BAT-AEL (Best Available Techniques - Associated Emission Levels) for NOx for the
production of Glasswool, Rockwool and flat glass:
*NOx is a generic term for the oxides of nitrogen that have significant effects on the environment and human health.
These include nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), which are mostly produced by the combustion of fossil fuels.

NOx, mainly consisting of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), is among the major pollutants listed under the
Clean Air Act by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and is also rigorously monitored by the EU and China. NOx
undergoes chemical and photochemical reactions in the atmosphere and reacts with volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
in the presence of sunlight to form smog, acid rain and ground level ozone. The effect is significant, particularly in warm
weather, and represents not only an environmental threat, but a considerable health hazard, especially to those with lung
diseases.

The designers of engines, boilers, turbines and incinerators seek to optimise combustion efficiency whilst minimising the
harmful emissions of gases such as NOx. In many cases, this means that products have to be designed to comply with the
local emission regulations, wherever they are sold.