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Environment
Flint Hills Resources’ commitment to performance and compliance excellence means working to prevent spills and releases, reduce emissions and conserve resources and raw materials. The company integrates environmental, health and safety initiatives into its employee culture through a clear vision for excellence and principles of operation that demand safe and environmentally responsible decisions and actions. A team approach is employed to tap the knowledge and expertise of all employees and bring employees into the decision-making process.
Using resources efficiently
Each Flint Hills Resources manufacturing facility is uniquely configured. As a result, each site is charged with utilizing best practices and knowledge to improve its ability to operate efficiently and make best use of its resources.
In Alaska, for example, the company uses a derivative of crude oil to power the facility and to run the process units. It takes 126,000 gallons of the crude oil derivative to power the refinery each day – even before the first gallon of product is refined for sale. To reduce production costs, the operations team determined ways to make the crude units run more efficiently – and reduce energy use.
In Texas and Minnesota, millions of dollars have been spent in the past several years on refinery efficiency projects. Some of the projects allow the plant to produce more products while using less energy – and others save time or resources such as water. The company has also found that by using a flare gas recovery system, gases that once were sent to the flare for elimination can be recycled as a source of power or in some cases used as a more marketable product.
At the intermediates plant near Joliet, Ill., the company has reduced emissions of volatile organic material by 50 percent since acquiring the plant in 2004. Once taking ownership, FHR focused on verifying emissions and their sources and worked to close gaps to reduce emissions. Working with local regulatory agencies, the company installed additional emissions control equipment. The chemical plants acquired in the second half of 2007 have very dissimilar configurations. All will undergo or have undergone evaluations to position them to best use resources.
CRITERIA AIR EMISSIONS
In 2009, Flint Hills Resources refinery operations criteria air emissions per barrel were 67 percent lower than the average among peer refiners (latest comparison data available.) Since 1997, Flint Hills Resources has reduced its per-barrel criteria air emissions average by 76 percent. The three refineries rank No. 1 (North Pole), No. 7 (Pine Bend) and No. 16 (Corpus Christi) for lowest criteria air emissions per barrel on the list of the 50 largest refineries.
REFINERY FLARE TIME
Flint Hills Resources has ongoing efforts to reduce emissions at its plants. A key component of the emissions reduction programs at its Texas and Minnesota refineries is the ability to reduce flaring – especially during times of startup, shutdown and malfunction. The company completed a four-year collaborative effort with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop and share best practices aimed at reducing emissions during these periods.
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