Under the stricter regulation, emissions of methylene chloride from production facilities and gas recovery systems may amount to a maximum of 120 tons per installed production line per year, according to official sources. The total emissions from the facility may be a maximum of 720 tons per year. In practice, if Senior builds two production lines as planned during the trial period, the company will be allowed to emit at most 240 tons of methylene chloride per year, a sharp reduction from the previous provisional limit of 900 tons per year regardless of the number of lines.
The trial period applies for two years from when methylene chloride begins to be used in production, which has not yet happened. Enhanced monitoring requirements mandate that emissions must be controlled through mass balance calculations, meaning Senior needs to show where all methylene chloride goes, from when the substance enters the process until it leaves as emissions, product, or waste. The company must also notify the municipal building committee when a new production line is installed.
There is currently a trial in the environmental trial delegation about how much methylene chloride Senior Material Europe should be allowed to emit, initially during a two-year trial period. Eskilstuna municipality must submit its opinions by Monday at the latest. The group Företagare i Eskilstuna has compiled a background document on, among other things, emissions at Senior's factory in Nantong, eastern China and South Korea.
According to Företagare i Eskilstuna, Senior's planned emissions of methylene chloride in Eskilstuna can be reduced by over 99 percent.