Control pollution

The Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive (96/61/EC) has been introduced across Europe to improve the standard of environmental protection. The purpose of the Directive is to achieve prevention and control of pollution arising from the range of activities listed in Annex 1 of the Directive. It lays down measures designed to prevent, or where that is not practicable, to reduce emissions to air, land, and water from these activities, including measures concerning waste. 

Annex 1, under 4.1. (j), lists dyes and pigments as falling under the Directive because of their chemical production on an industrial scale [17]. 

The objective of the E.P. and Council Directive (94/62/EC) [18] is to reduce the amount of packaging waste requiring disposal by means of a combination of reuse, recycling or recovery measures. A further aim is to harmonize the regulations in the individual member states to prevent obstacles to trade within the single market whilst providing for a high level of environmental protection. 

Reduction of effluent volume A first step. May require a combination of other control methods. 

Total elimination of effluent at the source The ultimate goal. Written into some regulations. 

Recovery and recycle of ingredients Better utilization of raw materials saves money, natural resources, and the environment. 

Recovery of secondary products for sale Requires commitment and ingenuity. 

Physical separations The method that is filling up the landfills. 

The potential of rare earth compounds as catalytically active phases and promoters in pollution control, catalytic combustion, polymer production and in the fuel and chemical manufacture and thermal stabilizers for catalyst supports (alumina, silica-alumina, titania) need to be mentioned. Application of rare earths in alternate fuels technology (Fisher-Tropsch Processes, natural gas to transport fuel pathways) is also promising. 

Complex oxides of the perovskite structure containing rare earths like lanthanum have proved effective for oxidation of CO and hydrocarbons and for the decomposition of nitrogen oxides. These catalysts are cheaper alternatives than noble metals like platinum and rhodium which are used in automotive catalytic converters. The most effective catalysts are systems of the type Lai vSrvM03, where M = cobalt, manganese, iron, chromium, copper. Further, perovskites used as active phases in catalytic converters have to be stabilized on the rare earth containing washcoat layers. This then leads to an increase in rare earth content of a catalytic converter unit by factors up to ten compared to the three way catalyst. 

Rare earth containing catalysts are useful in stationary pollution control devices as for example lanthanum titanate catalysis in the reduction of sulphur dioxide with carbon monoxide to yield carbon dioxide and elemental sulphur. The disposal of elemental sulphur is far less hazardous than that of effluent from an SO2 scrubber. 

This process is attractive for many applications. Heat can be directly produced on the walls of heat exchangers and NO pollution is significantly reduced. Perovskites of the type effective in pollution control are good combustion catalysts. 

In most parts of the world the local or national regulator(s) responsible for the environment also have powers to limit the amount of material that may be released from a manufacturing process into the atmosphere or local watercourses. In some cases, where the factory effluent is discharged into a sewerage system, this control may be exerted indirectly via hmits on the eventual release by the sewerage system operator. 

In the United States a comprehensive document has been pubhshed by the EPA [25] outlining Best Available Treatment options and the regulatory treatment of effluents arising from pharmaceutical manufacture. However, the most comprehensive control system is currently that provided in the EU by the Directive on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control [26], and this is becoming a model for the development of similar legislation across the world. 

The six general principles are laid out in Article 3, which requires the Competent Authorities in each Member State to ensure that installations are operated in such a way that 

The key principle from the perspective of the pharmaceutical sector is (a) supported by (c) and (d). In essence, to obtain a permit to operate a manufacturing facility the operator needs to be able to demonstrate that best available techniques (BAT) are in use for aU the products being manufactured. Article 6.1 makes it clear that the apphcation for a permit, a document which is in the pubhc domain, must include the proposed technology and other techniques for preventing or, where this is not possible, reducing emissions from the installation. In other words a simple statement that this process is BAT is not sufficient the applicant must document both the rationale and a description of the alternatives that have been rejected. 

Unlike the majority of bulk chemicals, most pharmaceuticals are very complex organic molecules that have to be constructed using multiple synthetic steps, often involving the isolation and purification of intermediate products. As a consequence, process efficiency has historically been very low [28]. In recent years, driven by both cost and sustainability issues, the research pharmaceutical companies have become industry leaders in the introduction of Green Chemistry and technology techniques into their process design. The implementation of environmental legislation such as this directive provides a further stimulus. 

The dissociation products recombine in the cooler air to form a blue haze consisting of AN particles of submicron size. Particles of this size are difficult to collect, and they present a highly visible and stable haze or blue fume. The problem is much less serious lowdenaty 

A more detailed description of poUution abatement in AN plants is given in Chapter 19. 

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Smith, R., and Petela, E. A., Waste Minimisation in the Process Industries, paper presented at the IChemE Symposium on Integrated Pollution Control Through Clean Technology, Wilmslow, UK, May 20-21, 1992. 

Figure 11.1 An inertial collector. (Reproduced with permission from Stenhouse, "Pollution Control, in Teja, Chemical Engineering and the Environment, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, UK, 1981.)...

The battery limit is a geographic boundary which deflnes the manufacturing area of the process. This includes process equipment and buildings or structures to house it but excludes boilerhouse facilities, pollution control, site infrastructure, etc. 

The increase in demand for good quality white products and the reduced consumption of fuel-oil related to pollution controls are going to be important factors in residue processing and heavy oil conversion in the years to come. 

Pollution control such as the reduction of nitrogen oxides, halocarbons and hydrocarbons from flue gases [37] is another important field of plasma-assisted chemistry using non-thennal plasmas. The efficiency of plasma chemical reactions can be enhanced by introducing catalysts into the plasma [38, 39]. 

Penetrante B M, Bardsley J N and Hsiao M C 1997 Kinetic analysis of non-thermal plasmas used for pollution control Japan. J. Appl. Phys. 36 5007-17... 

Pollution Pollution control Pollutionmomtoring Pollution prevention... 

B. Harris and B. Tichenor, Proceedings of 74 th Annual Meeting, Air Pollution Control Association, Pittsburgh, Pa., 1981, Vol. 3, paper 81—41.5. 

Advances in fundamental knowledge of adsorption equihbrium and mass transfer will enable further optimization of the performance of existing adsorbent types. Continuing discoveries of new molecular sieve materials will also provide adsorbents with new combinations of useflil properties. New adsorbents and adsorption processes will be developed to provide needed improvements in pollution control, energy conservation, and the separation of high value chemicals. New process cycles and new hybrid processes linking adsorption with other unit operations will continue to be developed. 

R. E. Kenson andj. E. Jackson, Prepared Paper, Air Pollution Control Association, Annual Mtg., 1988. 

Selection of pollution control methods is generally based on the need to control ambient air quaUty in order to achieve compliance with standards for critetia pollutants, or, in the case of nonregulated contaminants, to protect human health and vegetation. There are three elements to a pollution problem a source, a receptor affected by the pollutants, and the transport of pollutants from source to receptor. Modification or elimination of any one of these elements can change the nature of a pollution problem. For instance, tall stacks which disperse effluent modify the transport of pollutants and can thus reduce nearby SO2 deposition from sulfur-containing fossil fuel combustion. Although better dispersion aloft can solve a local problem, if done from numerous sources it can unfortunately cause a regional one, such as the acid rain now evident in the northeastern United States and Canada (see Atmospheric models). References 3—15 discuss atmospheric dilution as a control measure. The better approach, however, is to control emissions at the source. 

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