The Pollution Prevention and Control (Scotland) Regulations 2000

CHAPTER 2 PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING OF METALS

Section 2.1 Ferrous Metals

PART A

(a)

Roasting or sintering metal ore, including sulphide ore, or any mixture of iron ore with or without other materials.

(b)

Producing, melting or refining iron or steel or any ferrous alloy, including continuous casting, except where the only furnaces involved are–

(i)

electric arc furnaces of less than 7 tonnes designed holding capacity; or

(ii)

cupola, crucible, reverbatory, rotary, induction or resistance furnaces.

(c)

Processing ferrous metals and their alloys by using hot-rolling mills with a production capacity of more than 20 tonnes of crude steel per hour.

(d)

Loading, unloading or otherwise handling or storing more than 500,000 tonnes in total in any period of 12 months of iron ore, except in the course of mining operations, or burnt pyrites.

(e)

Producing pig iron or steel, including continuous casting, in a plant with a production capacity of more than 2.5 tonnes per hour unless falling within paragraph (b) of Part A of this Section.

(f)

Operating hammers in a forge, the energy of which is more than 50 kilogoules per hammer, where the calorific power used is more than 20 megawatts.

(g)

Applying protective fused metal coatings with an input of more than 2 tonnes of crude steel per hour.

(h)

Casting ferrous metal at a foundry with a production capacity of more than 20 tonnes per day.

(i)

Handling slag arising in conjunction with an activity in this Section.

PART B

(a)

Producing pig iron or steel, including continuous casting, in a plant with a production capacity of 2.5 tonnes or less per hour, unless falling within paragraph (b) of Part A of this Section.

(b)

Producing, melting or refining iron or steel or any ferrous alloy (other than producing pig iron or steel, and including continuous casting) using–

(i)

one or more electric arc furnaces, none of which has a designed holding capacity of 7 tonnes or more; or

(ii)

a cupola, crucible furnace, reverberatory furnace, rotary furnace, induction furnace or resistance furnace,

unless falling within paragraph (e) or (h) of Part A of this Section.

(c)

Desulphurising iron, steel or any ferrous alloy.

(d)

Heating iron, steel or any ferrous alloy (whether in a furnace or other appliance) to remove grease, oil or any other non-metallic contaminant (including such operations as the removal by heat of plastic or rubber covering scrap cable) unless–

(i)

it is carried out in one or more furnaces or other appliances the primary combustion chambers of which have in aggregate a rated thermal input of less than 0.2 megawatts;

(ii)

it does not involve the removal by heat of plastic or rubber covering from scrap cable or of any asbestos contaminant; and

(iii)

it is not related to any other activity falling within this Part of this Section.

(e)

Casting iron, steel or any ferrous alloy from deliveries of 50 tonnes or more of molten metal falling within Part A of this Section.

Interpretation of Section 2.1

In this Section (and Section 2.2), “ferrous alloy” means an alloy of which iron is the largest constituent, or equal to the largest constituent, by weight, whether or not that alloy also has a non-ferrous metal content greater than any percentage specified in Section 2.2 below.

Section 2.2 Non-ferrous Metals

PART A

(a)

Producing non-ferrous metals from ore, concentrates or secondary raw materials by metallurgical, chemical or electrolytic activities and in this paragraph “secondary raw materials” include scrap and other waste.

(b)

Melting, including making alloys, of non-ferrous metals, including recovered products, refining, foundry casting, etc. in an installation with a melting capacity exceeding–

(i)

4 tonnes per day for lead or cadmium; or

(ii)

20 tonnes per day for all other metals in aggregate.

(c)

Refining any non-ferrous metal or its alloy, other than the electrolytic refining of copper.

(d)

Producing, melting or recovering by chemical means or by the use of heat lead or any lead alloy, if–

(i)

the activity may result in the release into the air of lead; and

(ii)

in the case of lead alloy, the percentage by weight of lead in the alloy in molten form exceeds 23 per cent if the alloy contains copper and 2 per cent in other cases.

(e)

Recovering any of the elements listed below if the activity may result in their release into the atmosphere–

• gallium;

• indium;

• palladium;

• tellurium;

• thallium.

(f)

Producing, melting or recovering (whether by chemical means or by electrolysis or by the use of heat) cadmium or mercury or any alloy containing more than 0.05 per cent by weight of either of those metals or of both of those metals in aggregate.

(g)

Mining zinc or tin bearing ores where the activity may result in the release into water of cadmium or any compound of cadmium which may result in concentrations of cadmium or any compound of cadmium in concentrations in water above background concentrations.

(h)

Manufacturing or repairing involving the manufacture or use of beryllium or selenium or an alloy containing one or both of those metals if the process may release in to the air of any of the substances mentioned in Schedule 5; but an activity does not fall into this description by reason of it involving an alloy that contains beryllium if that alloy contains less than 0.1 per cent by weight of beryllium.

(i)

Unless described elsewhere in this Section, melting, including making alloys, of non-ferrous metals, including recovered products, refining and foundry casting in an installation which has a design holding capacity exceeding 5 tonnes.

(j)

Pelletising, calcining, roasting or sintering any non-ferrous metal ore or any mixture of any suchore and other materials.

PART B

(a)

Unless falling in Part A of this section, melting, including making alloys, of non ferrous metals (other than tin or any alloy which in molten form contains 50 per cent or more by weight of tin) including recovered products, refining foundry casting, etc. in an installation which has a design holding capacity of less than 5 tonnes.

(b)

The separation of copper, aluminium, magnesium or zinc from mixed scrap by differential heating.

(c)

The heating in a furnace or any other application of any non-ferrous metal or non-ferrous metal alloy for the purpose of removing grease oil or any other non-metallic contaminant, including such operations as the removal by heat of plastic or rubber covering from scrap cable if not related to another activity described in this Part; but an activity does not fall within this paragraph if–

(i)

it involves the use of one or more furnaces or other appliances the primary combustion chambers of which have in aggregate a net rated thermal input of less than 0.2 megawatts; and

(ii)

it does not involve the removal by heat of plastic or rubber covering from scrap cable or of any asbestos contaminant.

(d)

Melting zinc or a zinc alloy in conjunction with a galvanising activity at a rate not exceeding 20 tonnes per day.

(e)

Melting zinc, aluminium or magnesium or an alloy of one or more of these metals in conjunction with a die-casting activity at a rate not exceeding 20 tonnes per day.

Interpretation of Part B

In this Part, “net rated thermal input” has the same meaning as in Section 1.1

Interpretation of Section 2.2

1.  In this Section, “non-ferrous metal alloy” and cognate expressions mean an alloy which is not a ferrous alloy, as defined in Section 2.1.

2.  Nothing in paragraphs (c) to (h) of Part A or in Part B of this Section shall be taken to prescribe the activities of hand soldering, flow soldering or wave soldering.

Section 2.3 Surface Treating Metals and Plastic Materials

PART A

Surface treating metals and plastic materials using an electrolytic or chemical activity where the aggregated volume of the treatment vats exceeds 30m³.

PART B

Any process for the surface treatment of metal is likely to result in the release into air of any acid-forming oxide of nitrogen and which does not fall within a description in Part A of this Section.