YANBU, 8 November 2007 — A series of studies conducted by the Royal Commission for Jubail and Yanbu have found that the new industrial installations by Yanbu National Petrochemicals Co. (Yansab), a subsidiary of Saudi Arabian Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), do not cause serious environmental pollution in areas around them.
The study was conducted with the help of Fluent, a British-developed software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD), which helps researchers ascertain accurate levels of emissions and pollution.
The study was conducted over three months following the installation of Yansab’s huge cooling towers in the Yanbu Industrial City. Data for analysis was collected at different times of the day under varying weather conditions.
The study specifically focused on the influence of vapor from cooling towers on fog formation around the factory and other parts of the city at noon in summer and in the morning during winter.
The study noticed a slight rise in the density of fog above the towers during morning hours in winter and a light rise in salt sedimentation during afternoons in summer.
Yansab also employed other advanced programs, such as Aermod and CalPuff, to determine levels of pollution coming from its plants and their impact on the local environment.
The Royal Commission’s efforts to reduce environmental pollution have received international commendation. It recently received the Arab League’s Prize for Environment Management and last year bagged second prize in environment awareness from the Organization of Arab Cities.
The commission adopts the latest environment protection techniques in all of its projects. It makes special efforts to protect the purity of air from pollution caused by industrial emissions.
According to a company statement, as part of Yansab’s aim to protect the environment, the company, prior to establishing new plants, submits all building plans to environmental protection authorities for approval.
