Industrial wastes from pesticide processes

Industrial wastes from pesticide and other manufacturing processes merit particular attention. While we know a great deal about the fates of many registered pesticide chemicals, we know very little about the natures and fates of the many products in the immense tonnages of wastes in the dumps of pesticide manufacturers. These compounds will slowly leach from already existing dumps into our waters and soils for hundreds of years. 

The use of solvent extraction as a unit process operation is common in the pesticide industry however, it is not widely practised for removing pollutants from waste effluents. Solvent extraction is most effectively applied to segregated process streams as a roughing treatment for removing priority pollutants such as phenols, cyanide, and volatile aromatics [7]. One pesticide plant used a full-scale solvent extraction process for removing 2,4-D from pesticide process wastewaters. As a result, 2,4-D was reduced by 98.9%, from 6710 mg/L to 74.3 mg/L. 

As an example of incinerator use in the pesticide industry, one plant operates two incinerators to dispose of wastewater from six pesticide products [7]. They are rated at heat release capacities of 35 and 70 milhon Btu/hour and were designed to dispose of two different wastes. The first primary feed stream consists of approximately 95% organics and 5% water. The second stream consists of approximately 5% organics and 95% water. The energy generated in burning the primary stream is anticipated to vaporize all water in the secondary stream and to oxidize all the organics present. Wastes from two of the six pesticide processes use 0.55% and 4.68% of the incinerator capacity, respectively. The volume of the combined pesticide... 

The list of potentially hazardous materials includes drugs, food additives, preservatives, ores, pesticides, dyes, detergents, lubricants, soaps, plastics, extracts from plant and animal sources, plants and animals that are toxic by contact or consumption, and industrial intermediates and waste products from production processes. Some of the information refers to materials of undefined composition. The chemicals included are assumed to exhibit the reported toxic effect in their pure state unless otherwise noted. However, even in the case of a supposedly pure chemical, there is usually some degree of uncertainty as to its exact composition and the impurities that may be present. This possibility must be considered in attempting to interpret the data presented because the toxic effects observed could in some cases be caused by a contaminant. Some radioactive materials are included but the effect reported is the chemically produced effect rather than the radiation effect. 

Soils and waters affected by emissions from smelters, power plants. Soils and waters affected by mining wastes and by-products. Some playa lake sediments. Soils and dusts derived from naturally As-enriched rocks and sediments. Waters that have leached As from As-rich rocks, soils, and sediments. Pesticides, other industrial chemicals. By-products or wastes from chemical manufacturing or other industrial processes. 

Aniline is the parent compound of the aromatic amines, which are used in the synthesis of agrochemicals, dyes, and pharmaceuticals. There is a concern that aromatic amines may be released into the environment during production processes or incomplete treatment of industrial waste streams. Additiondly, aromatic amines can enter the environment from the reduction of azo dyes, polynitroaromatic munitions (e.g. TNT), and dinitro herbicides, and from hydrolytic degradation of several classes of pesticides, including the phenylurea, phenylcarbamate, and acylanilide herbicides. 

Subsurface soils and groundwaters can become contaminated with heavy metal as a result of a number of activities, including the application of industrial waste, fertilizers, and pesticides mining, smelting, and metal plating/metal finishing operations automobile battery production vehicle emissions and fly-ash from combustionAncineration processes. 

As highlighted in previous reviews of nitrile hydratase, nitriles from both natural and industrial sources are a prevalent chemical functionality in our environment (i-5). In industry, nitriles find use in the production of fine chemicals, as pesticides, and as feedstock for the production of polyacrylamide and other polymers. Historically, waste products from these processes were dumped into open waterways or pumped into deep pressure wells, leading to deleterious environmental effects. Naturally occuring nitriles include... 

The family of hazardous pollutants also includes phenol and its nitro and chloro derivatives. They enter the aquatic environment through waste-waters from many industries, such as petroleum processing and production of plastics, dyes, cellulose, pharmaceuticals, etc., or as the products of pesticides decomposition. Phenols may also arise in drinking water from the reaction of natural humic and fulvic acids with chlorinating disinfectants. Even at non-toxic levels, they deteriorate the taste and odor of drinking water. To address the steady increase in water contamination with phenolic compounds and pesticides, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has included 26 phenoHc compounds and 32 pesticides and their metaboHtes in the list of priority contaminants. In accordance with regulatory requirements, the allowed tolerance hmit of these pollutants must not exceed O.lpg/L for individual species and 0.5 Xg/L... 

Environmental protection in the chemical industry is divided into product related and production related areas. Environmental protection related to products covers the development and production of environmentally friendly products (e.g., paints, herbi-cides/pesticides, washing powder) and treatment of product wastes from processing and consumption (Chap. 4). Environmental protection related to production covers the concept of the production-integrated environmental protection and additive environmental protection. Additiv environmental protection is the German term for end-of-pipe technology. This further subdivision can be examined in Figure 4 [18]. 

The K-list (wastes from specific sources) includes certain wastes from specific industries. They may be certain sludges and wastewaters from treatment and production processes from specific industries. Examples are petroleum refining or pesticide manufacturing. 

The FIFRA provides procedures for the registration of pesticide products to control their introduction into the marketplace. As such, its regulatory focus is different from most of the statutes discussed in this chapter. While the other statutes attempt to minimize and manage waste by-products at the end of the industrial process, FIFRA controls whether (and how) certain products are manufactured or sold in the first place. 

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