Chemical sewers, processing facilities

For many years the control of air and water pollution from biodegradable streams and streams which contain hazardous chemical residues, as well as recovery of unaccounted dry substance, has been a major concern for the wet-milling industry. These problems have been reduced gradually by the development of new by-products and by treatment of wastewater streams, so that they may be returned to the process, put into community sewers or sent to dedicated waste treatment facilities. In the 1930s, the practice of disposing of steepwater and unwanted process water in waterways was stopped, resulting in the development of the bottled up process.5,223... 

An aqueous waste stream with a maximum concentration of 0.50 M H2SO4 (d = 1.030 g/mL at 25 C) is neutralized by controlled addition of 40% NaOH (d = 1.430 g/L) before it goes to the process sewer and then to the chemical plant waste treatment facility. A safety review finds that the waste stream could meet a small stream of an immiscible organic compound, which could form a flammable vapor in air at 40.°C. The maximum tempCTa-ture reached by the NaOH solution and the waste stream is 31°C. Could the temperature increase due to the heat transferred by the neutralization cause the organic vapor to explode Assume the specific heat capacity of each solution is 4.184 J/g K. 

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