Waste products, analysis

Life-cycle analysis (LCA) does not account for economic aspects, and such analysis should therefore be considered together with a life-cycle cost analysis (LCC), which takes into account the costs of investment, energy, maintenance, and dumping the final waste product throughout the lifetime of a plant. 

The increasing concerns of the public and the need for monitoring very low concentrations of toxic compounds means that detection at levels below ig kg-1 are required in many areas of analysis. Pesticides in the food chain, toxic materials in incineration and waste products and traces of nitro-compounds in finger washings of a person suspected of handling explosives, all involve analysis for low concentrations. 

Because of the advantageous characteristics (low capillary and operating costs, short analysis, small amount of waste products, etc.) CE methods have found application in the... 

Reactor effluent analysis R = 388 Final product analysis R — 583 Waste stream analysis R = 140... 

Reactors may be operated with product retention as well as cell retention. This allows for product recovery at high concentration. Retention may be accomplished by using a membrane with a pore size that is too small to allow passage of product but large enough to allow passage of metabolites and waste products. Capsules that retain cells can also retain product. In any type of product-retention system, retention may not be 100%. This does not complicate analysis as long as the... 

The Stringfellow Superfund site in California poses analytical problems similar to those encountered with most waste sites across the United States and that may be best addressed via LC/MS based methods. Most of the organic compounds in aqueous leachates from this site cannot be characterized by GC/MS based methods. Analysis of Stringfellow bedrock groundwater shows that only 0.78% of the total dissolved organic materials are identifiable via purge and trap analysis (IQ). These are compounds such as acetone, trichloroethylene etc, whose physical properties are ideally suited for GC/MS separation and confirmation. Another 33% of the dissolved organic matter is characterized as "unknown", i.e., not extractable from the aqueous samples under any pH conditions and thus not analyzed via GC. Another 66% is 4-chlorobenzene sulfonic acid (PCBSA), an extremely polar and water soluble compound that is also not suitable for GC analysis. This compound, a waste product from DDT manufacture, is known to occur at this site because of the history of disposal of "sulfuric acid waste from industrial DDT synthesis. 

On Level 1 in Figure 2, the most abstract test plan is represented by a single component which is always the Test-Plan-of-Sample. The Test-Plan-of-Sample has tens of different templates in production rule form. In this case, as the sample is some kind of water sample and the purpose is the ordinary waste water analysis, the Waste-Water-Task-Set-Rule shown in Figure 4 is applied. 

A refined analysis of the environmental costs considers energy requirements and the relative harmlessness of waste products (Sheldon, 1994). 

Prior to the processing of any lithium battery for recycling, the battery s material safety data sheet should be reviewed, and, if necessary, a complete analysis should be performed to determine the waste products. Components and chemicals are unique to each manufacturer and not each type of lithium battery. Many are similar but none are identical. Compoimds that can cause serious concern if overlooked include chrome, arsenic, fluorine, mercury, organic solvents, asbestos, lithium, and others. At the end of this chapter are two typical battery analyses performed by Toxco Inc., exemplifying the... 

Second, an analysis such as life cycle analysis or environmental impact assessment should be performed on water treatment systems. This analysis should include issues such as treatment plant construction, membrane manufacturing, chemicals consumption, waste production (concentrate streams, sludge, membranes), energy consumption (with the option to apply alternative energies), as well as health aspects and risk assessment. 

The authors acknowledge the dedicated efforts of W. F. Riemath and G. G. Neuenschwander of PNL who assisted in reactor operation and product analysis. The work was funded by the Biomass Thermochemical Conversion Program office at PNL under the direction of G. F. Schiefelbein, D. J. Stevens, and M. A. Gerber. We would also like to acknowledge the support of S. Friedrich of the Biofuels and Municipal Waste Technology Division of the U. S. Department of Energy. 

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