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RBLs Position on Carbon/Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide is seen to be a major threat to the environment as a “global warming” gas. At RBL we are committed to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide we emit either through our own operations or externally, for instance through purchased in electricity or transportation.
Carbon is the basis of most chemistry. Atoms from sources like petrochemicals and natural products are reacted together to make molecules. These atoms may be hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur etc. but carbon atoms will be the main constituents. Inevitably all chemicals eventually will break down into their component parts. This may happen very slowly, like polyethylene in a landfill or very quickly like wood, which is made from a variety of chemicals such as cellulose, in a fire. Carbon atoms in the chemicals will normally end up as carbon dioxide.
We purchase chemicals, containing carbon, to make into other chemicals and these chemicals are used to make other chemicals, and so on. The carbon in the chemical is tied up and goes forward to make a useful molecule, like a pharmaceutical. If we cannot incorporate all of the carbon in our raw materials into the useful chemical it becomes waste and quickly end up as carbon dioxide as it is burnt or broken down by the bugs in a sewage treatment facility. We can reduce the amount of carbon escaping this way by being as efficient as possible in not generating waste, and this is a very important part of our operation,
Much more carbon dioxide is produced when we use energy. Electricity does not produce carbon dioxide on our site but a great deal of the gas is generated if the electricity is made in coal, gas or oil fired power stations, and we have to allow for this in assessing how much carbon dioxide we produce. We also bring gas and oil onto the site and burn them to make steam, emitting carbon dioxide directly. Increasingly we are replacing gas and oil with waste solvent and gases from our own and other operations. This does not reduce carbon dioxide generation but it is much more environmentally sustainable. If we burn gas this is virgin fossil energy and we get nothing from it but its irreplaceable energy value. The waste solvent has been recycled many times and it is only burnt when it has too many impurities or too high a water content to re-use any further. The usual way of disposing of it then for most small chemistry companies is for it to go off site for incineration when its energy is normally vented up the incinerator chimney. We burn it under carefully controlled conditions to destroy the chemical, recover its heat to make steam and then treat it to ensure that any gasses like sulphur dioxide are removed before it enters the atmosphere. We still count this as a carbon dioxide emission, but it is a more sustainable one than burning gas. In 2008 we are generating 79% of our steam from waste that would otherwise be incinerated and its energy thrown away.
We report the amount of carbon dioxide generated directly and indirectly (e.g. electricity) by RBL in our Environmental performance. Since 1998 we have cut the tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted by 55%, putting 92,900 tonnes less into the atmosphere. | 
