On Monday, February 7, we had the pleasure of welcoming representatives from the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Ineris (National Institute for the Industrial Environment and Risks) as part of the revision of the BREF STM.

BREF STM, what is it?

• The BREF is the reference document grouping the BAT (Best Available Techniques).
• STM stands for “Surface Treatment of Metals (and Plastics)” and applies to the surface technology profession.

The STM BREF is therefore the mandatory reference document for the authorization conditions for sites subject to the IED Directive (Industrial Emissions Directive).

During this working day, we discussed the following topics:

• the characterization of the different processing chains
• water management (input, treatment, output)
• air emissions management
• energy consumption
• the different pollutants
• any additional treatments (thermal – degassing)

In particular, we were able to present:

• the actions taken to significantly reduce water consumption over the past 10 years,
• energy savings via heat recovery on chillers (EEC device),
• and the changes made to our wastewater treatment plant to adapt it to changes in the nature of effluents, flows and regulations.

Industrial feedback is absolutely essential for our BREF STM to be adapted to the realities and constraints of the field. So it was a very constructive day! More info on INERIS: https://www.ineris.fr/fr