Potential Negative Environmental Impacts

There is an increasing movement of scientists and engineers who are dedicated to minimizing the environmental impact of polymer composite production. LCA is of paramount importance at every stage of a product s life, from initial synthesis through to final disposal and a sustainable society needs environmentally safe materials and processing methods. With an internationally recognized team 

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Catalytic hydrotreatment is widely used in the petroleum Industry to remove sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen from crude oil fractions. However, its use to treat chlorocarbons has not been widely reported despite the widespread use of these compounds in industrial and military operations, and despite the negative environmental impact associated with most disposal options. Catalytic hydrotreatment has the potential to be a safe alternative for the treatment of chlorinated wastes and has advantages over oxidative destruction methods such as thermal incineration and catalytic oxidation. Some of these advantages include the ability to reuse the reaction products, and minimal production of harmful byproducts, such as CI2, COCI2, or fragments of parent chlorocarbons. 1,1,1- Trichloroethane was chosen for this research because it is widely used in industry as a solvent and is on the EPA Hazardous Air Pollutant list as a toxic air contaminant and ozone depleter. ... 

Identify equipment, instrument failure, process upset, and human error, which could manifest the potential hazard and have a detrimental effect such as loss of asset and/or negative environmental impact... 

Concern over the negative environmental impact of accumulating nondegradable plastic films and containers has been increasing. Replacement of these petroleum-based plastics with biodegradable plastics maybe inevitable within the next 50 years. Lactic acid based bioplastics will play an important role in future potential products (see section O Areas of Research and Development in this chapter). 

The larger concern about nitro-aromatic compounds is that environmental exposure to these molecules can cause cancer in humans and in other living organisms. Nitro-aromatic compounds are acutely toxic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic in laboratory mammals and in vitro test systems [6, 8]. Despite the potential negative impact of nitro-aromatic compounds on human health, they continue to be emitted into ambient air from municipal incinerators [9], motor vehicles (particularly from diesel exhausts) [10, 11], industrial power plants [12], and other sources. Evidence... 

A more subtle issue is the concern that sustainability can stifle innovation. More than most employees, researchers and product developers are intimately aware of any potentially detrimental impacts - again, environmental, social, or economic - from a new product or process. These impacts cannot be ignored, but they must not be allowed to quash a project too early, since alternatives can often be found if other technical and marketing issues can be resolved. Furthermore, even if alternatives are not found, experience teaches that potential negative impacts can often be managed so that the risk is minimized. 

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