Waste which

Raw materials costs dominate the operating costs of most processes (see App. A). Also, if raw materials are not used efficiently, this creates waste, which then becomes an environmental problem. It is therefore important to have a measure of the efficiency of raw materials use. The process yield is defined as... 

Synthetic Processes. Traditional Solvay plants produce large volumes of aqueous, chloride-containing waste which must be discharged. This fact, in addition to a noncompetitive cost position, is largely responsible for the demise of U.S. synthetic plants. In countries other than the United States, waste is sent to the ocean, rivers, or deep underground wells. The AC and NA coproduct processes produce less aqueous waste than the traditional Solvay and NA mono processes. Related environmental concerns are added whenever a plant complex includes lime quarries and ammonia-producing equipment. 

Chemical processing or reprocessing (39) of the fuel to extract the plutonium and uranium left a residue of radioactive waste, which was stored in underground tanks. By 1945, the reactors had produced enough plutonium for two nuclear weapons. One was tested at Alamogordo, New Mexico, in July 1945 the other was dropped at Nagasaki in August 1945. 

HAZARDOUS WASTE An Unofficial class of industrial wastes which have to be disposed of with particular care. In the UK the closest definition is for special wastes . Certain toxic organic wastes, such as PCBs, have to be burned in high-temperature incinerators. 

SPECIAL WASTE Controlled waste which is subject to special regulations regarding its control and disposal because of its difficult or dangerous characteristics. The UK definition of special waste is similar, but not identical, to the EC s hazardous waste. 

Extra duties are imposed on the producers of Special Waste , i.e. a waste that is on the European Hazardous Waste list reproduced in Table 17.6 and if it has one or more of the hazardous properties listed in Table 17.7 (reproduced from Part 2 of Schedule 2 of the Special Waste Regulations, 1996). Also Special Waste is any Controlled Waste which has one of the listed properties. Extra requirements are detailed for the safe transfer and management of such waste. 

Wastes from human or animal health care and/or related research (excluding kitchen and restaurant wastes which do not arise from immediate health care)... 

It is often taken for granted that reduction of a waste will have environmental benefits. Though this is generally true, there are exceptions to the rule. For example, reducing one waste may give rise to pH imbalances or may produce another waste which is more difficult to treat, resulting in a net environmental disadvantage. Hence, there may be environmental trade-offs between the status quo and the alternatives identified. 

Hazardous waste means any waste or combination of wastes which pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or living organisms because such wastes are nondegradable or persistent in nature or because they can biologically magnify or because they can be lethal or because they may otherwise cause or tend to cause detrimental cumulative effects. 

If the primary intent is to detoxify the waste, then the characteristics of the waste which make the waste... 

Shock load The arrival at a plant of a waste which is toxic to organisms in sufficient quantity or strength to cause operating problems. Possible problems include odors and sloughing off of the growth or slime on a trickling-filter media. Organic or hydraulic overloads also can cause a shock load. 

Nuclear reactors, however, do generate highly radioactive waste. This waste, which consists primarily of the fission fragments and their radioactive-decay products, must be stored for many years before its radioactivity decays to a reasonable level, and the safe long-term storage of this waste is a matter of great concern and debate. Fortunately, the volume of waste that is created is only about 20 cubic meters annually from a reactor, compared with 200,000 cubic meters of waste ash from a coal-fired plant. When nuclear weapions were tested in the atmosphere, the radioactive products from the nuclear explosions were released into the air and fell to Earth as radioactive fallout. 

All toxic materials were disposed of in accordance with the policy of UTMDACC to handle and dispose of hazardous waste, which is in accordance with the regulations of the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Federal Department of Transportation, Texas Department of Health, and the Texas Water Commission. 

This article presents details of the gloomy picture of the environmental impacts associated with PVC waste which has been painted by four PVC waste management studies carried out for the European Commission. The studies cover mechanical recycling, feedstock recycling, behaviour in landfill, and the influence of PVC on incinerator flue gas cleaning residues. 

This paper describes the Recopet process of chemical recycling for post-consumer PETP waste, which yields polymer-quality purified terephthalic acid. Background information is given on PETP recycling, and two routes of chemical recycling are explained. The Recopet process is described in detail, with information provided on the quality of the produets obtained. 

Even when operated safely, nuclear power plants produce long-lived radioactive wastes, which must be sequestered from the biosphere until their radioactivity diminishes to acceptable levels. Plutonium-239, formed in... 

---