Environmental Impacts and Risks

There has been a significant shift during the past 20 years in the use of formulations based on petroleum solvents to formulations based on water as a primary solvent. In addition to reducing VOC emissions, water-based formulations offer advantages such as easier cleanup, and less odor. Consequently, their market acceptance is much greater than that of other low-emission paints and coatings. 

The use of supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) as a component in a solvent mixture is another ingenious technique to reduce VOC emission by 50 percent or more. This technique takes the advantage of the fact that CO2 is a supercritical fluid below its critical temperature (31.3°C) and critical pressure (7.4 MPa). Sohd coating and supercritical CO2 are metered into a proportioning spray gun in such a ratio so as to reduce the viscosity to the level needed for proper atomization. Airless spray guns are used. 

There are, however, still several applications where the necessary performance can be achieved only by using solvent-based systems. Research is continuing to further reduce solvent content while retaining its beneficial properties. 

The landfilling of paint containers with leftover contents is another environmental issue. In most jurisdictions these are not accepted in landfill sites because of their potential for contamination of the soil, so waste paint is normally collected at a special depot, along with other household hazardous waste. The paint industry has developed techniques for collecting paint from these waste depots, testing for contamination, and reformulating the paint into a usable product. 

Reisch, Marc, Chemical Engineering News, American Chemical Society, 79(45), p. 23-30, November 5, 2001. 

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Juntunen, R., Vartiainen, S. and Pullinen, A. (2004) Arsenic in water from drilled bedrock wells in Pirkanmaa, in Arseeni Suomen Luonnossa Ymparistovaikutukset Ja Riskit(Arsenic in Finland Distribution, environmental impacts and risks) (eds R. K., Loukola and P. Lahermo), Geologian Tutkimuskeskus, Espoo, pp. 111-22. 

The pace in the development of electromagnetic field (EMF) technologies and the ever-increasing number of commercial applications in all areas and activities of our life is breathtaking. This is particularly true of radio frequency wireless technologies and telecommunications. Nowadays, especially in urban environments, exposure to human-made EMFs is an unavoidable fact of life, and understanding its potential health effects and possible environmental impacts and risks, a priority. 

The principal shortcoming with SCREENS is the lack of graphical displays. Interactive graphics that enable plume tracking are invaluable in assessing potential environmental impacts and public health risks from episodic releases. There are a... 

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 ... 

The ECO method was developed to aid environmental impact and cost optimisation of chemical synthesis pathways or processes suitable for the research and development (R D) stage. In order to represent terms of ecological as well as economic sustainability, three objective functions which incorporate (i) energy demand (EF), (ii) risks concerning human health and the environment (EHF) and (iii) costs (CE), were defined. Their calculation follows the life cycle approach and is based on the data available already in R D. Because the application of a comprehensive LCA is both, too complex and based on data which are partially not available at the R D stage, the determination of the three objective functions is based on the SLCA approach extended by economic issues. The key objectives are introduced below. 

A Revision of Current Models for Environmental and Human Health Impact and Risk Assessment for Application to Emerging Chemicals... 

The characteristics of the applied models have been described in detail in the chapters Environmental Fate Models [50] and A Revision of Current Models for Environmental and Human Health Impact and Risk Assessment for Application to Emerging Chemicals [49] and only a brief overview is given here. Since each model has its own approach (i.e., QWASI is focused on the aquatic system), the combined results are expected to give a wider view with in-depth analyses for different aspects compared to just one model with its special characteristics. 

Reitz RH, Quast JF, Scott WT, et al. 1980. Pharmacokinetics and macromolecular effects of chloroform in rats and mice. Implications for carcinogenic risk estimation. Water chlorination environmental impact and health effects 3 983-993. 

Pfeifer, H.-R. and Zobrist, J. (2002) Arsenic in deep groundwater of Switzerland and their environmental impact and health risk. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 66(15A), 597. 

Young DR, Gossett RW, Baird RB, et al. 1983. Wastewater inputs and marine bioaccumulation of priority pollutant organics off Southern California. In Jolley RL, Brungs WA, Cotruvo JA, et al. eds. Water chlorination Environmental impact and health effects. Volume 4, Book 2 Environment, health, and risk. Ann Arbor, Ml Ann Arbor Science (The Butterworth Group), 871-884. 

The impacts and risks of the three approaches above and the actions they imply depend on what the future holds for the energy supply, energy prices and their impact on the economy, and environmental concerns such as climate change and regional air pollution. Because it is impossible to forecast the future with any reasonable accuracy, we suggested, for discussion purposes, four different futures that California might find itself in 15 years from now. Each of the three policy approaches would have different risks and impacts depending on what the future holds. The four future scenarios are as follows ... 

After a process flowsheet has been established, it is appropriate for a detailed environmental impact evaluation to be performed. The end result of the impact evaluation will be a set of environmental metrics (indexes) representing the major environmental impacts or risks of the entire process. A number of indexes are needed to account for potential damage to human health and to several important environmental compartments. 

Companies are beginning to evaluate and account for nature and the true environmental costs and risks associated with chemical refining and manufacturing, the impact to natural capitalism. Natural capital refers to all of the resources used... 

At a minimum, corporate responsibility auditing can provide a complete picture of how well a company performs against its values, industry or global standards, peers, and the expectations of essential stakeholders. Many companies use the results to put in place, both internally and in partnership with major suppliers, credible and measurable process improvements that responsibly drive efficiencies, reduce risk, seize new business opportunities, and strengthen relationships with stakeholders. For many companies, corporate responsibility auditing also provides a verifiable and credible process for reporting to stakeholders on their social and environmental impacts and the effects on profitability. 

Landis, W.G., M.V. Haley, and N.A. Chester. 1993a. The use of the standardized aquatic microcosm in the evaluation of degradative bacteria in reducing impacts to aquatic ecosystems. In Environmental Toxicology and Risk Assessment, ASTM STP-1167. W.G. Landis, J. Hughes, and M. Lewis, Eds[com52]. American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 159-177. 

Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is an additional assessment approach for making environmental decisions. LCA can be defined as an inventory of all the steps in the development, manufacture, use, and disposal of a product or a commodity with a determination of the environmental consequences (Todd and Curan 1999). The purpose of an LCA is to provide information to a decision maker so that choices can be made in the design of a manufacturing process to minimize environmental impacts or risks. 

He has authored over 100 publications, edited or authored 4 books, and has made over 220 scientific presentations. He has taught numerous short courses in environmental toxicology and risk assessment throughout North America. At Western Washington University Dr. Landis currently teaches courses in environmental toxicology, ecological risk assessment, and the impact of the Darwinian revolution on science and society. 

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