Computer simulation for designing waste reduction in chemical processing
Conference
·
OSTI ID:430538
- Oak Ridge Inst. for Science and Technology, TN (United States)
- Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH (United States)
A new methodology has been developed for implementing waste reduction in the design of chemical processes using computer simulation. The methodology is based on a generic pollution balance around a process. For steady state conditions, the pollution balance equation is used as the basis to define a pollution index with units of pounds of pollution per pound of products. The pollution balance has been modified by weighing the mass of each pollutant by a chemical ranking of environmental impact. The chemical ranking expresses the well known fact that all chemicals do not have the same environmental impact, e.g., all chemicals are not equally toxic. Adding the chemical ranking effectively converts the pollutant mass balance into a balance over environmental impact. A modified pollution index or impact index with units of environmental impact per mass of products is derived from the impact balance. The impact index is a measure of the environmental effects due to the waste generated by a process. It is extremely useful when comparing the effect of the pollution generated by alternative processes or process conditions in the manufacture of any given product. The following three different schemes for the chemical ranking have been considered: (i) no ranking, i.e., considering that all chemicals have the same environmental impact, (ii) a simple numerical ranking of wastes from 0 to 3 according to the authors judgement of the impact of each chemical, and (iii) ranking wastes according to a scientifically derived combined index of human health and environmental effects. Use of the methodology has been illustrated with an example of production of synthetic ammonia. 3 refs., 2 figs., 1 tab.
- OSTI ID:
- 430538
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960730--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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