Environmental Leadership

The Addis Plant became a member of the Louisiana Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) on April 10, 2008 - making it the first carbon black facility in the State of Louisiana to participate in this voluntary program. The purpose of this program is to promote pollution prevention and other efforts that exceed regulatory requirements in the pursuit of a cleaner, safer environment.

Sustainability and Energy Conservation

The Big Spring Plant Cogeneration Project is a waste gas-to-energy project. The initial phase of the project was started in early 2005 and the Cogen Unit was completed and commissioned in July 2006. Previous to the installation of the Cogen Unit, waste gas was being incinerated and the resulted thermal energy was not recovered. The Cogen Unit now captures that thermal energy and converts it to useful electrical energy. The amount of electrical energy generated is about 23 MWs. Of this total, 13 MWs are sent to the local electrical grid - which is enough to service approximately 13,000 homes.

The Cogeneration Project benefits the environment in two ways. First, the project saves approximately 90,000 tons of coal per year that would have to be burned at a utility boiler to generate the 23 MWs. The amount of pollution generated from the combustion of 90,000 tons of coal equates to the followings:

• CO2 => 394,024,000 lbs
• SO2 => 2,277,600 lbs
• NOX => 1,051,200 lbs
• PM10 => 35,040 lbs

Secondly, the project uses an air-cooled condenser instead of the traditional water-cooled condenser. This project was one of the first non-utility cogen projects that uses an air-cooled condenser. This technology uses no water and it saves an electrical generating facility from having to use 125,000,000 gallons of water per year.