Major milestone achievements were made in the implementation of OEMS in 2004 when Refining and Supply's Marcus Hook, Philadelphia, Toledo, and Tulsa refineries and its headquarter's group were approved for RC 14001 Certification. This momentum was carried into 2005 as, in September, the Eagle Point Refinery underwent its certification audit and the Chemicals headquarters organization was subject of an RCMS certification audit.

NSF International Strategic Registrations, Ltd. was again selected by Sunoco to be the American Chemistry Council (ACC) Responsible Care® Management Systems RC 14001 auditor. ACC's RCMS 14001 adds the elements of ACC's Responsible Care Management System to those of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 Environmental Management System.

NSF performed the audit in two stages. First the OEMS policy and various elements were reviewed and key personnel at the Eagle Point Refinery were interviewed. This was followed by a detailed review of work practices and employee interviews to verify that the management system requirements are being met. The Eagle Point Refinery was approved for RC 14001 certification and became the first facility to achieve certification based on the newest version of the standard, RC 14001:2005. With Eagle Point’s certification, Sunoco became the first company to have all of its refineries and R&S headquarters organization certified to RC 14001 standards.

The certification is valid for three years at which time a formal re-assessment audit will be performed. In the meantime, each location undergoes semi-annual surveillance audits to verify that OEMS is being followed.

The Chemicals headquarters organization was subject of an RCMS certification audit, also performed by NSF, in December of 2005. The Chemicals headquarters organization, with its implementation of OEMS, achieved certification to the ACC’s Responsible Care Management System (RCMS). This accomplishment enabled Sunoco Chemicals to meet its obligations as an ACC member and demonstrates their commitment to the Guiding Principles of Responsible Care®.

The Chemicals organization will now work towards the next requirement, which is to have two of its chemical plants RCMS certified by year-end 2007.

These projects, which will involve the installation of state-of-the-art emission control technology, are part of a recent settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Air Act. Sunoco believes that it is in full compliance with all environmental regulations and agreed to move forward because it believes these additional actions are good for the environment and energy security. It is anticipated that Sunoco will make capital expenditures of approximately $275 million over a period of eight years in connection with the improvement projects.

The agreement was reached under a federal comprehensive refinery enforcement action initiated by EPA in late 1999.  The EPA program targeted the petroleum, paper, and utility industries. Numerous other refining companies have entered into similar binding Consent Decrees which have realized substantial reduction of air emissions around the country.

The cross-over ducts go from the coke ovens to the heat recovery steam generators.

The new coke plant uses heat recovery steam generation to provide lower cost energy to the phenol-manufacturing complex and provide the chemical facility with protection from rising natural gas costs. Teams from both business units collaborated to develop this project and personnel from the two facilities continue to work together to manage the day-to-day operations of the steam transfer.

The chemical plant previously used natural gas fired boilers to make steam. Now, by purchasing steam from the Coke plant, the chemical plant has experienced significant savings in energy costs. This has allowed the chemical plant to achieve best in class production costs in phenol, and has made the facility much more competitive.

Following the completion of the riverbank engineering activities, native grasses were planted along with about 600 trees.

The project included cleaning and disposal of native materials; site preparation; sub-base preparation and re-grading of existing soils; construction of storm water management and erosion and sediment controls. The riverbank was rip rapped with stone for erosion control and overall area surface conditioning to prevent any environmental impact from the filter clays.

The Eagle Point Refinery LSG Unit is one of four built at Sunoco refineries. Click here to see additional pictures.

Lowering sulfur levels in gasoline reduces automobile NOx emissions that can lead to the formation of ground level ozone or what is typically called smog.  Sunoco utilized a corporate strategy , referred to as Four X, to optimize logistics, construction, and start-up of the new units as well as to minimize the capital and construction expense. The Four X concept allowed Sunoco to save costs on procurement of equipment, lowered engineering costs, and to learn from other refineries during the staggered startups.

Additional cost savings were generated by using a modular construction approach to expedite the projects. In the Four X concept, four identical LSG units were built in roughly the same timeframe, but with staggered start-ups. This allowed operators and engineers at all four Sunoco sites to draw on each other’s experience and expertise during construction and startup.

Years of planning, designing and coordinating resulted in smooth startups. Employee training, quality construction from the contractor and the Four X concept are all reasons the projects went smoothly.

A collaborative effort and workflow process was used to meet emissions compliance deadlines.

To meet the EPA requirements, the facility was charged with building and installing Maximum Allowable Control Technology (MACT) to reduce emissions from wastewater sumps (areas where wastewater is collected). The plant’s Maintenance construction crew, which averaged 15 mechanics working 49 calendar days, completed the project in time for the compliance deadline.

In 2005, the Haverhill Plant de-registered from U.S. EPA’s Risk Management Program in 2005. The achievement was accomplished by reducing the storage capacity of ammonia and chlorine throughout the plant site.

The project, carried out in cooperation with the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary and U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, involved students from the eighth grade science class at nearby West Deptford Middle School.

A field of Phragmites had taken over most of the undeveloped refinery wetlands area. When the refinery environmental department learned that the Phragmites are a non-native invasive plant, they arranged for environmentally-sound extermination of the weeds in the fall of 2004.

Jen Porter, a volunteer with the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, arranged for a visit to the West Deptford Middle School for refinery personnel to visit the classroom to educate students about invasive specifies and habitat restoration before inviting the students to participate in the project.

In the spring of 2005, Sunoco volunteers worked with the science class to plant hundreds of native shrubs and trees. The project not only restored the native vegetation, but also taught the students about the importance of preserving wetlands environments.