Benzene and benzo(a)pyrene emissions monitoring and reduction in the vicinity of coke ovens: European state of the art and advancements. Executive Summary

Monitoring of benzene and B(a)P concentrations in the air in the vicinity of a French coke plant, conducted respectively since 2011 and 2013, has revealed levels in excess of the regulatory air quality monitoring limits. In the context of its stated mandate and at the request of the competent authority, INERIS conducted, between 2015 and 2016, a survey of the control of emissions from European coke plants and monitoring of pollutants in the surrounding environment, based on the bibliography and on feedback from similar facilities in France and Europe. The purpose of the study was to collect information for facilities using processes that were more or less comparable to those of the installation in question, relative to the levels of benzene and B(a)P emissions at the point of emission and in the environment, as well as the elements of the related processes, including reduction measures. It also facilitated a survey of the limits imposed for this analysis, for example in terms of differences regarding the methods of quantifying emissions and the existence of monitoring of discharges and the environment. The objective in the end was to put the information that was the subject of a detailed analysis into perspective with regard to the situation in place for the French installation that was the subject of elevated levels (referred to as the reference installation hereafter in this report)