Environmental impact reduction, cost

Linking Environmental Impact Reduction with Costs... 

Strengths 1. Reduction of the environmental impacts 2. Cost reduction 3. Weight reduction in composites 4. Rural development 5. Strong market potential 6. Biodegradability 7. Recyclability Weaknesses 1. Reduction of mechanical performance 2. Reduction of thermal resistance 3. Biomass cropping... 

The Chemical Process Industry (CPI) uses various quantitative and qualitative techniques to assess the reliability and risk of process equipment, process systems, and chemical manufacturing operations. These techniques identify the interactions of equipment, systems, and persons that have potentially undesirable consequences. In the case of reliability analyses, the undesirable consequences (e.g., plant shutdown, excessive downtime, or production of off-specification product) are those incidents which reduce system profitability through loss of production and increased maintenance costs. In the case of risk analyses, the primary concerns are human injuries, environmental impacts, and system damage caused by occurrence of fires, explosions, toxic material releases, and related hazards. Quantification of risk in terms of the severity of the consequences and the likelihood of occurrence provides the manager of the system with an important decisionmaking tool. By using the results of a quantitative risk analysis, we are better able to answer such questions as, Which of several candidate systems poses the least risk Are risk reduction modifications necessary and What modifications would be most effective in reducing risk ... 

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) has evolved as a comprehensive approach to project evaluation, in which environmental factors, as well as economic and technical considerations (e.g. Cost Benefit Analysis), are given appropriate consideration in the decisionmaking process. The purpose of an EIA study is to determine the potential environmental, social and health effects of a proposed development. It attempts to define and assess the physical, biological and socio-economic effects, so that logical and rational decisions are made. The identification of possible alternative sites and/or processes may assist in the reduction of potential adverse impacts. 

The application of membrane-separation processes in the treatment of wastewater of the leather industry can give a reduction of the environmental impact, a simplification of deaning-up procedures of aqueous effluents, an easy re-use of sludge, a decrease of disposal costs, and a saving of chemicals, water, and energy [22],... 

A very promising method to solve this problem is coupling the photocatalysis with membrane techniques, obtaining a very powerful process with great innovation in water treatment. In fact, membrane processes, thanks to the selective property of the membranes, have been shown to be competitive with the other separation technologies for what concerns material recovery, energy costs, reduction of the environmental impact and selective or total removal of the components [77]. 

These four areas are not independent of each other. Cost benefits can arise from producing material to consistent quality, resulting in a more effective utilisation of materials, known as materials efficiency, which in turn confers a reduction in the environmental impact of the process. Increasing the output, especially from an existing older plant, is very cost efficient work for R D. 

The production of material of a consistent quality is one of the major goals of development work. Quality problems in a product are identified by the constant monitoring and analysis of the output from the plant, using statistical process control techniques [D-4]. Some of these methods have already been mentioned in Section B, 3.4.2. The avoidance of product quality problems results in direct cost benefits and also brings about a reduction in the environmental impact of its manufacture. This is because material does not need to be reworked, recycled or sent for disposal. A reduction in the number of inferior quality batches of material leads to an increase in output from the plant. More material is produced for the same effort, with the added benefit that it can be consistently supplied to the sales warehouse or be used in consuming processes. 

Many applications, especially in electrochemistry, rely on the use of expensive and rare metals, like Pt, Li, and rare-earth elements. In the synthesis of micro- and me-soporous materials, costly structure-directing agents are sometimes applied. The reduction of catalyst mass and the prevention of waste formation, for instance by recycling of synthesis additives, are therefore highly topical research issues. The practicability of future technologies based on catalysis will depend on the availability of efficient catalysts composed of abundant elements prepared by robust, preferentially aqueous-based synthesis methods and the reduction of environmental impacts arising from catalyst manufacture. 

There is a standard of performance for equipment leaks of formamide and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry (SOCMI). The intended effect of these standards is to require all newly constructed, modified, and reconstructed SOCMI process units to use the best demonstrated system of continuous emission reduction for equipment leaks of VOCs, considering costs, nonair quality health and environmental impact and energy requirements. 

Also, the economic data are compiled over the entire lifecycle. The total costs are normalized with respect to the average of all alternatives. This helps in identifying cost drivers and areas offering potential for cost reductions. The data on relative costs and environmental impacts are used to construct a diagram, the so-called eco-efficiency portfolio, which clearly shows the strengths and weaknesses of each product or process. 

Moreover, the results of this comparison show that the alternative process allows a significant reduction of the mass of waste, the environmental impact of waste and of the hazards and costs associated with the materials used for the process. With the aid of the EATOS tool it was also possible to establish the process zones were most of the environmental impact is produced. From the analysis, it clearly emerged that the use of other green metrics based only on waste mass would have led to different or underestimated results. 

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