Pollution prevention/waste treatment technologies for small business

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:78021

Huang, C S ^[1]

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1. Dept. of Energy, Washington, DC (United States)

This paper presents some pollution prevention/waste treatment technologies which can be adopted by small industrial operations. The technological include selected air pollution control systems, biological and physicochemical water pollution control processes, and sludge dewatering and disposal technologies. Some medical waste treatment alternatives will also be presented. During the selection of a system for waste treatment, several factors shall be considered: (1) legal limitations or effluent criteria imposed for the protection of public health and welfare; (2) social limitations imposed by the community in which the pollution source is or will be located; and (3) economic limitations imposed by funding constraints. The second and the third factors are especially critical for small businesses or industrial operations because they are usually located in or close to metropolitan areas and funding resources are often limited. Pollution prevention is one of the few areas where environmental goals and industry`s economic interests clearly coincide. For instance, the benefits include reduced costs, liabilities, and regulatory burdens associated with hazardous waste management. For the general public, pollution prevention pays off with an improved environment. Since economic benefit is one of the factors for adopting pollution prevention technologies, an example for the economic analysis of pollution prevention system is also included.

• OSTI ID: 78021
• Report Number(s): CONF-9406319--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
SMALL BUSINESSES
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
WASTE PROCESSING