Air Emissions Measurements in Environmental Monitoring of IPPC Plants

1. Ippc Plants Under National Operational Licensing

In Italy, IPPC Permit is one typology of licensing authorization released into the environmental protection field to prevent and control pollution as an ‘integrated authorization’, allowing operation of industrial activities with specified production’s characteristics and dimensions, both at national level and at regional level.

The list of categories of these specific industrial activities¹ is regulated by the Italian Law n. 152/2006 and s.m.i. (ex Italian Law n. 59/2005 and s.m.i.) that adopts and endorses the Directive n. 96/61/EC and s.m.i. (Directive 2008/1/EC and s.m.i.) concerning integrated pollution prevention and control (actually recast in the Directive 2010/75/EU)².

In Italy IPPC activities under operational licensing are located in all Regions, where are operating about 5.800 plants, 161 of this are called “strategic” that means that they need National permits³ - 114 of which are old, 41 new already authorized, and 6 new under authorization at December 2012⁴ - as 15 Crude Oil Refineries, 33 Large Chemical Plants, 2 Integrated Foundries, 111 Large Combustion Thermo-Electrical Plants and Offshore Plants (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

IPPC Plants under national operational licensing

These IPPC Permits⁵ are released by the Competent Authority, and namely by:

• 1.

  IMELS for activities of national interest;

• 2.

  other Authority designed by the Region or Province for other activities

By its regulations, ISPRA provides technical and scientific support to the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea (IMELS), and also in coordination of environmental inspections, monitoring and assessments, by the Italian Law n. 152/2006 and s.m.i. in a joint procedure for IPPC permits’ releases.

According to EU Directive 96/61/CE and following codes (Directive 2008/1/CE and Directive 2010/75/UE) production activities under operational licensing permits are listed in Attachment VIII to Part II of Italian Decree n. 152/06 and following integrations, and particularly, in Attachment XII to Part II of Decree 152/06, while others activities remain under regional and provincial licensing.

Quantitatively, on 7 august 2011 about 177 plants were under national licensing (see Table 1).