WELCOME TO ENVIRONMENTAL DEPARTMENT

Community Environmental Concerns

Community Outreach Feedback Questionnaire

Note : Please ignore the login page while downloading the above forms if prompted. Send the community concerns to amhomssi@qchem.com.qa; maljassim@qchem.com.qa

Q-Chem had acknowledged the community environmental concerns based on the fact that the world's consumption rate of resources is growing exponentially, involving the utilization of more energy, production of more waste, discharge of more pollutants to the environment, all that contributes to the world's major problems like greenhouse gases, global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, bio-diversity, etc. Those were acknowledged at the very earliest stages of Q-Chem establishment, when designers and project installation team adopted the state-of-art top technologies and operational philosophies to reduce all associated impacts with our production, storage, and shipping works. The local authorities in Qatar have been using Q-Chem as a role model for newer and older facilities for the lots of good things we did and will continue to do for our environment and following are only examples:

Q-Chem received CPChem President’s Environmental Harmony Award for 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Q-Chem also received the CPChem President’s Operational Excellence Award in 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. Regionally, Q-Chem received the Gulf Countries Council's (GCC) prize for the best establishment meeting the standards in 2006 and the Arab League Award in 2011 for second best environmental management program, just to mention a few.

Q-Chem was one of the pioneers in Qatar to reduce NOx emissions and upgrade treatment units and fired equipment to meet the new and more stringent environmental standards back in 2007-2009. This had continued during the furnaces’ retrofits and debottlenecking projects in recent years.

Q-Chem is continuously reducing the Safety and Environmental events. This applies to all the three facilities operated by Q-Chem (i.e., Q-Chem and Q-Chem II in Mesaieed and RLOC in Ras Laffan). Q-Chem individual process and non-process groups were also successful in reducing waste and demonstrating economic benefits while enhancing their efficiencies. Among many improvements, here are some, which helped Q-Chem reduce flaring, emissions, wastes, and energy consumption, while increasing recycling and reuse of resources; hence, increasing economic benefit and reliability.

Q-Chem voluntarily adopted the Smart LDAR Program since 2005 as one of the pioneers in Qatar. This program allows Q-Chem to use OGI cameras for qualitative scans on fugitive sources to locate emissions of VOCs and HAPs then use the TVA sniffers to quantify emissions from leaking sources. The program included the monitoring and quantification for Methane in 2020 in pursue to minimize GHG. Q-Chem is receiving requests from industries asking help for building the same; given our experience. Q-Chem was also among the pioneer industries in the Middle East to adopt Smart LDAR. Local authorities are using Q-Chem as a role model for other industries in LDAR area. Q-Chem objectives from Smart LDAR include reducing fugitive emissions, protecting the environment, enhancing efficiencies, saving resources, adding profit, and reducing exposures. Q-Chem surveys annually over 120,000 fugitive emission sources and all leaks get video recoded for documentation, with leak arrests done in shortest time or scheduled for the next major shutdown.

The Chromium catalyst waste intensity (i.e., kg waste catalyst per 1000 ton of product) has been dramatically reduced over the last successive years. Minimization of this waste stream eliminates hazardous waste that must be chemically stabilized prior to transport to a Class I hazardous waste landfill. This was achieved by ensuring better product planning and re-activation of catalyst, where possible, instead of sending it out as waste. This re-activation was started in early 2009 and has been continuously improving ever since.

Q-Chem has one of the best Sulphur recovery efficiencies in sour gas treatment in Qatar, with an efficiency of (99.7%). Still, Environmental Section in Q-Chem works closely with Production group to enhance this and minimize emissions to environment by modeling the emissions of the different operational scenarios and coming up proactively with the best philosophy of production to adopt as we change production or feed rates.

Q-Chem was the first company in Qatar to operate solid & liquid hazardous waste incinerator with a destruction efficiency of 99.99%. This minimizes our waste disposal to the landfills and converts our potentially hazardous wastes to stabilized ones before safe disposal.

Q-Chem was the first in Qatar to sign the commitment to Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemicals Association, GPCA, and became GPCA partner to Operation Clean Sweep, OCS®, aiming towards zero plastic spills to environment.

Q-Chem is also one of few companies that control and monitor the emissions at the point of discharge. We monitor all the stacks, flares, process and sanitary wastewater treatment packages, seawater cooling water discharge, noise levels, and thermal radiation. Q-Chem has a trained, equipped and MAZMAT certified Emergency Response Team (ERT) for spill or any environmental emergency response.

All employees and contractors alike must undergo compulsory environmental awareness training before being admitted to work in the plant.

Like all other industries in Qatar, Q-Chem reports to the local authorities, landlord, and shareholders on regular basis with our environmental key performance and compliance indicators. We are proud to tell that we have so far exceeded our own expectations. Q-Chem is committed to continue being a role model in the country.

Tips for you

How good are we in buying things?

Do we ask if the detergents we are buying are biodegradable? Do we check if compressed gas items like insecticides and deodorants are CFC free before buying? Do we buy recycled paper or recycled plastic items? Do we buy vehicles that have catalytical reactors built-in for minimum emissions? Do we buy one cleaning chemical that can do many things and not buy many chemicals each for one use? And how much do we care when we use these chemicals? Do we buy dishwashers and laundry machines that use minimum water? And do we buy ovens or cookers that consume minimum power or gas?

Are we preserving our resources, reusing & recycling them, and reducing our waste?

Do we use as minimum water as much when we take a shower or shave? Do we use photocopiers and printers to print on the two faces of the papers? Do we use the old papers as drafts to write on and not just tear off and throw away? And do we use dry cell rechargeable batteries to minimize waste?

How responsible are we towards our environment?

Do we stop others from throwing waste on the roads or beaches? Do we stop others from throwing waste out from their car windows? Do we warn others from leaving waste uncollected behind on beaches or public parks before leaving? Do we throw used oil on the ground or in the sewer system? Do we throw away Nickel-Cadmium or Lithium batteries in the trash bin (those are recyclable)? And do you advise others of the right actions when you spot them contributing to an environmental problem?

Are we committed to protecting our environment?

What have you done recently for your environment at home, school, or work? Have you raised a notification or complaint to any industry, which you believe is causing harm to your environment? Have you arranged or assisted in any environmental activity that has added benefits to your environment? And, if you were in a position to act, would you stop an activity that makes money but contributes to the pollution in your environment?

Are we aware of what may be polluting our environment and affecting our health and safety?

Not only visible smoke from a flare stack or oil from a water discharge or waste dumped on ground is called pollution. There are other sources which we cannot see or even feel, like, but not limited to, noise pollution, radioactivity, micro-waves from telecommunication towers, magnetic fields from ultra-high voltage power lines, heavy metals in wastes dumped to the sea, river, lake, or land, invisible gases emitted to the atmosphere from vehicles and industries, and naturally occurring ones like earthquakes, volcanoes, and tornadoes. The list may grow unless we act fast and firmly. But we certainly need to educate ourselves on each one of these and plan how we act as individuals, groups, organizations, and states to resolve problems with corrective and permanent protective actions. We shall all work hand-by-hand towards a clean, healthy, and safe environment for a pleasant life and for next generations to thank us all.

Are we aware of the overall picture?

The environmental problems can be divided into local (our state), regional (us and neighboring countries), and global (all livings on earth). These problems are mostly due to lack of awareness, irresponsible and unreasonable actions, negligence, and lack of commitment that would always lead to accidents and loss of control. Examples of these would be soil & groundwater contamination, water and air pollution, spills, excessive flaring of industries, and affecting public health. Such problems would initiate other more serious environmental problems such as acid rain, global warming, catastrophic release of toxic gases or radioactive materials, ozone depletion, and emission of more greenhouse gases. These problems affect all living species and cause biodiversity problems and sometimes-serious damage to the ecological system, beside the effects on humans, plants, and animals’ health. Companies and industries causing these accidents and environmental pollution also suffer from that, as they lose money cleaning up, paying penalties, high insurance, and legal fees, and lose their image and reliability.

What is Q-Chem doing?

Q-Chem's objective is to operate safely, reliably, and to protect the environment. Our mission is to meet and exceed the expectations of our customers, shareholders, employees, and community and we vision that by being a premier producer of petrochemicals to our respective markets while protecting the environment. We have an inclusive environmental awareness program for our employees and contractors, adopt the most stringent standard set by local authorities and shareholders, and use the most advanced environmental tools and programs not only to be operating safe in our environment, but also to be rehabilitating it from any past impact. We trust we are investing in the future and trust that the revenue is worth.