Reducing Environmental Problems

A reduced environmental problem associated with the disposal of solvent waste. 

Product life cycle assessment involves consideration of environmental effects at every stage in the product s life cycle, including the natural resources and energy consumed and the waste created in the manufacture, distribution and disposal of a product and its packaging...Such assessments will only provide useful comparative information about how to reduce environmental problems associated with products if they are conducted using uniform and consistent assumptions ... 

Acetic anhydride and acetic acid increase the solubiUty of the two phases in each other, and they are employed for the commercial N-nitration of hexamethylenetetramine [100-97-0] (11) to form cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine [121-82-4] (RDX), (CH2)3(NN02)3. Renewed consideration has been given to replacing H2SO4 with an improved soHd catalyst to reduce the environmental problems of disposal or reconcentration of the waste acid and to increase production of desired nitrated isomers. For example, a catalyst with suitable pore size might increase the production of 4-MNT and reduce that of 3-MNT when toluene is nitrated. 

Practical separation techniques for hquid particles in gases are discussed. Since gas-borne particulates include both hquid and sohd particles, many devices used for dry-dust collection (discussed in Sec. 17 under Gas-Sohds Separation ) can be adapted to liquid-particle separation. Also, the basic subject of particle mechanics is covered in Sec. 6. Separation of liquid particulates is frequently desirable in chemical processes such as in countercurrent-stage contacting because hquid entrainment with the gas partially reduces true countercurrency. Separation before entering another process step may be needed to prevent corrosion, to prevent yield loss, or to prevent equipment damage or malfunc tion. Separation before the atmospheric release of gases may be necessaiy to prevent environmental problems and for regula-toiy compliance. 

Does your company take corrective actions aimed at reducing pollution, or does it monitor and react to environmental problems Which do you think is a better approach to managing environmental issues and why ... 

This book assembles a tremendous amount of practical information to show how to plan and manage production activities to minimize and even eliminate. some environmental problems without severely disrupting operations. It focuses on ways to treat drilling and production wastes to reduce their toxicity and/or volume before their ultimate disposal. 

Applying the techniques that have worked so well in commodity chemicals to the higher value sectors will reduce environmental impact and improve the economics, but the gains wiU be smaller. In particular, the economic benefits may not justify the investment in improvement. Further reduction in environmental footprint will require a new way of looking at the problem. 

For every other industry one can produce a list of unmet demands for products that will help reduce environmental footprint. We can no longer focus on fixing the problems we think we own. The opportunity is in fixing other people s problems. 

A common assumption is that reduced environmental impact must be paid for by higher prices or lower profit margins. This is a dangerous assumption because it reinforces the idea that environmental issues are a problem and cost. With good design you can achieve reduced impact and higher value at the same time. 

Lactose, the milk sugar, is a reducing disaccharide consisting of glucose and galactose moieties. The estimated annual worldwide availability of lactose as a byproduct from cheese manufacture is several million tons [1,2], but only about 400 000 t/a lactose is processed further from cheese whey [3], Non-processed whey is an environmental problem due to its high biochemical and chemical oxygen demand [2], The use of lactose as such is limited by two main factors relatively low solubility of lactose in most solvents and lactose intolerance in human body [1]. 

There is a real opportunity to reduce biodiesel production costs and environmental impact by applying modem catalyst technology, which will allow increased process flexibility to incorporate the use of low-cost high-FFA feedstock, and reduce water and energy requirement. Solid catalysts such as synthetic polymeric catalysts, zeolites and superacids like sulfated zirconia and niobic acid have the strong potential to replace liquid acids, eliminating separation, corrosion and environmental problems. Lotero et al. recently published a review that elaborates the importance of solid acids for biodiesel production. ... 

---