Moranbah Plant 2018 Maintenance Issue

Incitec Pivot is committed to transparent reporting across a range of areas, including how we care for the environment and our communities.

 

Our Moranbah plant in regional Queensland employs 170 people and produces ammonium nitrate for our explosives products, vital to Australia’s mining and resources industry.

Two different gases are emitted in the production process:

1. Nitrous oxide, N2O, a greenhouse gas (GHG)
2. Nitrogen dioxide, NOx, an air pollutant, not a GHG.

Moranbah residents can be assured that we measure, monitor and abate both these gases to maintain air quality and reduce greenhouse gases.

In the second half of 2018, a maintenance issue at the plant resulted in less N2O being abated per tonne of product. The maintenance issue did not result in a ‘leak’ or ‘release’ to the air, rather it caused the N2O abatement unit to work less effectively.

Incitec Pivot invested $5.8 million in new equipment which was installed in December 2018. This resolved the issue and corrected the problem, enabling the abatement unit to return to full capacity.

The site exceeded its GHG Baseline because the efficiency of the N2O abatement unit was reduced for a period. To offset these emissions and comply with the Safeguard Mechanism, Incitec Pivot purchased Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU), which were surrendered to the Clean Energy Regulator in early 2019.

We applied for a three-year monitoring period (2019-2021) in order to manage further purchasing of ACCUs, a standard practice available to companies that exceed their Baselines under the Safeguard Mechanism. The remaining liability will be settled in February 2022.

We work with the Federal Government’s safeguard mechanism and fully comply with all regulatory requirements to operate an industrial chemical plant in regional Queensland.

We publish our past emissions each year in our Annual Report and Sustainability Report, as well as Carbon Disclosure Project reports, all available on our website. Incitec Pivot’s sustainability reporting aligns with Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Guidelines.

ENDS