The Grangemouth area has a number of sites regulated by SEPA. Further details on each one, with a note of the site licence number, the activity that is carried out and any relevant notes is available below. The latest compliance results for each site licence be seen on our Compliance Assessment Scheme pages, you can search with the licence number provided. 

Large industrial sites

What regulations apply?

CalaChem Ltd, Petroineos Manufacturing Scotland Limited, INEOS Chemicals Grangemouth Ltd, Fujifilm Imaging Colourants Ltd, Syngenta Ltd and INEOS Forties Pipeline System (FPS) Ltd are all regulated under a combination of the following:

• Pollution Prevention and Control Regulations 2012
• The Fluorinated Greenhouse Gas Regulations 2009 and Controls on Ozone-Depleting Substances Regulations 2011
• Control of Major Hazards Regulations 2015
• Controlled Activity Regulations (CAR)
• Radioactive Substances Act
• Emission Trading Scheme

Other regulators

Large industrial sites are regulated by a number of organisations including the local authority, SEPA, and the Health and Safety Executive. We also consult with NHS Forth Valley, Health Protection Scotland, Scottish Water and Forth Ports in order to gain information and views to support our regulatory work.

Permits and installations

A PPC permit (or permits) is required when an activity (or activities) prescribed within the regulations is being undertaken at an installation. An installation may be a single site or a group of sites which rely on each other to operate and so may be permitted individually or as part of a group of sites (within an Installation separate legal entities or Operators hold Individual permits).

For example - the Ineos PPC installation consists of five permitted legal entities including the Forties Pipeline System terminal operated by Ineos FPS, the refinery operated by Petroineos, the chemicals facility operated by ICGL, the power station operated by Ineos Infrastructure Grangemouth Limited and the Combined Heat and Power Plant operated by Ineos CHP. Each permit references the other aspects of the installation however it only contains permit conditions relating to the activities carried out by that operator at that site. Similarly where a specialist company operates a power plant to provide steam to another operator this maybe a single operator; for example Versalis and Engie.

Sites around Earls Road

1. Calachem Limited 

Licence Number - PPC/A/1008834

Activity

• Manufactures plant health products and biocides, produces organic chemicals and treats liquid hazardous waste in a biological effluent treatment plant.

Recent developments

• Following assessment and review of the two biological filters used to treat odorous emissions from the effluent treatment plant, CalaChem have upgraded this system to ensure it delivers the maximum odour abatement which is practical. Additional improvements are planned in the medium term to further reduce odour emissions from the effluent treatment plant.
• SEPA continues to work with CalaChem to ensure control systems at the effluent treatment plant are optimised to minimise the risk of abnormal plant conditions contributing to offsite odours.
  
  

2. Piramal Healthcare UK Ltd

Licence number - PPC/A/1008835

Activity - Chemicals

3. Fujifilm Imaging Colourants Ltd

Licence number - PPC/A/1005108

Activity -  Manufacture of organic chemicals

4. Syngenta Ltd

Licence number - PPC/A/1008733

Activity - Manufacture of organic chemicals

5. Veolia Combined Heat and Power Plant

Licence number - PPC/A/1008715

Activity - Supplies utilities to some Operators in the Earls Road area

Grangemouth petrochemical complex

6. Petroineos Manufacturing Scotland Limited (PIMSL)

Licence number - PPC/A/1013141

Activity

• Operate the Grangemouth oil refinery to manufacture petrol, diesel, jet fuel and heating oils.
• Crude oil received from the Ineos Forties Pipeline System (FPS) terminal or from import by ship and pipeline, is converted into products through distillation processes. A number of blending and treatment steps are then undertaken to produce the final products.
• The refinery supplies fuels to all of Scotland, Northern Ireland and North-East England by road, rail and ship.

7. INEOS Chemicals Grangemouth Limited (ICGL)

Licence number - PPC/A/1088953

Activity

• Operates plants within the Grangemouth petrochemical complex to manufacture ethylene, ethanol, polyethylene and polypropylene.
• Ethane, received from the Ineos Forties Pipeline System (FPS) terminal or from import by ship, is converted into ethylene and other products by thermal cracking in the KG ethylene plant.
• The products of the thermal cracking process are then separated and fed into other plants on the complex or distributed via the UK ethylene pipeline to other manufacturing plants in the UK.
• ICGL operates two polymer plants manufacturing Polypropylene and Polyethylene respectively. Polymer pellets are exported from the site by road tanker to users and wholesalers. SEPA has worked with pellet producers over a long period of time to ensure that the risk of pellet loss into the environment in Grangemouth and hence to the River Forth is minimised.
• The site environmental permit includes conditions requiring the Operator to monitor for pellet loss and for them to action should any pellets be identified. SEPA will continue to inspect pellet management on the site as an important aspect of ICGL’s environmental performance.
• ICGL have voluntarily taken action independently and through Operation Cleansweep to review opportunities for further pellet management both by themselves and their supply chain.
• A separate plant manufactures ethanol by hydration of ethylene.

Recent developments

• Recently applied for planning permission to build an additional furnace (although this will not increase the number of furnaces running at any one time or the permitted capacity of the plant).

8. Ineos Forties Pipeline System (FPS) Limited

Licence number - PPC/A/1013107

Activity

• Ineos FPS Limited operates plants within the Grangemouth petrochemical complex producing crude oil and gas (ethane, propane and butane). 
• Unstablised crude oil is received from the North Sea oil platforms via the Forties Pipeline System into the Kinneil terminal at Grangemouth. The terminal separates water and gas from the crude oil to produce stabilised crude oil. Some of the oil is stored on site and is used by the adjacent Petroineos oil refinery. Whilst the majority is piped to the Dalmeny storage terminal, near Edinburgh and exported via Ship at Hound Point in the Firth of Forth near South Queensferry.
• The separated gas is refined at Kinneil terminal into gas products ethane, propane and butane. The latter two are refrigerated and stored at Grangemouth docks as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prior to export by ship. The ethane gas is piped to the adjacent ethylene cracker operated by Ineos Chemicals.  

Recent developments

• The permit for this installation is currently being reviewed.  This will be completed in 2019 as required by the EU Industrial Emissions Directive. The latter has been implemented via the Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2012 and SEPA are responsible for enforcing the Directive through the Regulations.
•  As part of the review, the effluent (wastewater) from the Kinneil Terminal is in the process of being treated via the sewage works at Kinneil operated by Scottish Water. This will improve the treatment of the effluent prior to discharge in to the River Forth and secure compliance with the Directive requirement to use the Best Available Technique (BAT).
• SEPA is regulating Ineos FPS to secure improvements in the reliability and availability of ground flares and adoption of other techniques, recognised as Best Available Techniques, at Kinneil Terminal. The proposed investments in operating this installation, and specifically in improving environmental compliance, are very significant and will be controlled via the permit to operate issued by SEPA.

9. Grangemouth Combined Heat and Power

Licence number - PPC/A/1013071

Activity - Combined Heat and Power Plant providing steam to other areas of the complex

10. INEOS Infrastructure (Grangemouth) Ltd

Licence number - PPC/A/1090147

Activity - Provides power to other areas of the complex.

Versalis installation

11. ENGIE FM Limited

Licence number - PPC/A/1005112

Activity – supplies steam to Versalis

12. Versalis UK Ltd

Licence number - PPC/A/1005110

Activity – manufactures rubber products

All other sites