Evaluating and improving environmental performance of HC's recovery system: A case study of distillation unit

Waste solvents/valuable products in the effluent stream are one of the major environmental problems in the chemical industry if not properly controlled. Separation processes are vital for the recovery of waste solvent/valuable product from the effluent stream to reduce the pollution along with improvement in economic performance. Among the various separation processes, distillation is most widely used. A number of environmental indicators, each satisfying researchers own need, and methodologies such as life cycle assessment (LCA), minimum environmental impact assessment (MEIM), waste reduction algorithm (WAR) and environmental fate and risk assessment (EFRAT) are available for evaluation of environmental performance of chemical processes. In this article, a systematic procedure, introducing an environmental performance index (EPI) based on potential environmental impact (computed from waste reduction algorithm (WAR)), energy consumption, resource conservation and fugitive emission, for evaluating environmental performance is presented. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is used at two levels for the determination of weighting of individual categories. The procedure is applied for the study of environmental performance of distillation column (steam stripping column) from a real chemical plant for the recovery of acetone and HC's from the off gases of the distillation fraction (DF) plant. Alternatives are compared using environmental performance index and best alternative is selected.     

Life cycle assessment of a ceramic glaze containing copper slags and its application on ceramic tile

Even though copper slags have many possible applications, their disposal is still practiced, creating long-term waste management problems. This led to the investigation of new products for residential applications, taking advantages of the interesting chemical properties of copper slag. This study aims to assess the environmental impact of the use of copper slag as secondary raw material in a ceramic glaze composition and to compare it with a traditional glaze. A manufacturing process was designed, through an industrial scale up operation from experimental laboratory data and the entire life cycle of the products was analyzed using the Life-cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Considering the production of a ceramic glaze containing copper slag, the most impacting process resulted the one related to frit production, due to the large amount of thermal energy necessary for the raw materials melting. The comparative LCA analysis carried out between the frit obtained from metallurgical slags and a traditional one, demonstrated that the innovative ceramic frit has a greater environmental advantage. The LCA analysis allowed to highlight the most impactful stages of an industrial process using copper slag as a secondary raw material for glaze production and to quantify the potential environmental advantages of this operation.     

生命周期评价的发展新方向:基于GIS的生命周期评价

综述了生命周期评价(LCA)区域化研究的进展,论述了将空间信息数据引入LCA的必要性与可行性,以及GIS(geographical information system)在LCA地域化的重要作用。综述表明GIS能系统有效地组织和管理空间数据,能够管理LCA明细的地域信息、LCA影响的地域信息,从而实现GIS与LCA的结合。在此基础上,进一步提出了基于地理信息的LCA的架构,分析了基于GIS的LCA发展的机遇和挑战。基于地理信息的LCA将突破传统LCA缺乏空间信息的致命缺陷,其结果将更具准确性和科学性,基于地理信息的LCA的绿色设计和管理对企业以及政府将更具可操作性,是生命周期评价方法发展的新方向。     

Review of life cycle assessment on polyolefins and related materials

Abstract

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a sustainability measurement tool that identifies the environmental impacts of a product. The uniqueness of the LCA lies in its methodology, which aggregates all environmental burdens throughout the product’s life cycle, providing many variables for optimisation of the product (or process). Having occupied a major market share, the environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing and disposal of polyolefins are quite high. The main theme of this paper is to review the reported LCA studies on polyethylenes and polypropylenes including recycled plastics, biobased materials, which are competing with polyolefins, and polyolefin composites. The widely claimed green product ‘recycled plastic’ is analysed in detail from an LCA perspective, and key points, which determine its sustainability, are discussed. The environmental impacts associated with the manufacturing of polyolefins and their bioalternatives are highlighted. The few published studies of polyolefin composites on different applications are also discussed.     

A Theoretical Model for the Formation of Functional Micro- and Nano-Particles from Combustion of Emulsion Droplets

In this paper a theoretical model is developed to simulate the process of vaporization and burning of emulsion droplets of a fuel and the evolution and formation of micro- and nano-particles. This process is usually known as the Emulsion Combustion Method (ECM). In the ECM, a proper salt solution is mixed with a fuel to form an emulsion of micro-solution droplets. The emulsion is then sprayed into micron-sized emulsion droplets; spray droplets burn in a spray flame to form final micro- or nano-particles. A mathematical model for the entire process from the droplet interior to the gas phase processes is proposed. Model equations are solved numerically. It is found that particle characteristics are dependent on the operating and processing conditions, such as the initial size and concentration of the suspended micro solution droplets in emulsion droplets and the fuel type and fraction of the emulsion droplets. Although a quantitative evaluation of the model performance is not yet possible due to the lack of sufficient experimental data, the developed model may be used to design an ECM process to produce particles with tailored properties. The main novelty of the model is that in an ECM process it can predict whether mono-dispersed single particles will be formed or agglomerated larger particles.     

退役锂离子电池湿法回收生命周期和经济评价

锂离子电池（LIBs）具有能量密度高、输出功率大等优点被广泛应用,随之产生了大量退役LIBs。近年来,退役LIBs回收再利用逐渐受到了人们的关注,但目前回收体系尚不完善,存在发展动力和科学技术等方面的问题。从生命周期评价（LCA）和经济性评价两方面对典型的盐酸、硫酸-双氧水和电化学浸出3种回收方法进行分析讨论。使用SimaPro 9软件对回收过程进行生命周期评价,得到全球变暖潜能值、非生物资源耗竭潜能值和资源消耗量等,结果表明酸用量和能量消耗为主要的环境影响因素;并对回收再利用过程（包括预处理、浸出、再制备）进行经济性分析,得到相应的收益情况。结果表明,目前回收成本较高,整体呈现亏损状态。基于此,提出了相应的优化建议。     

Cleaner production of cellulose nanocrystals and calcium sulfate whiskers: Process design and life cycle assessment

The commercialization of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) is currently limited by its environmental impact of high water consumption and brine wastewater generation. Here, a combined process integrating the production of CNCs and calcium sulfate whiskers (CSWs) was proposed to achieve complete utilization of the waste acid, and the corresponding environmental performance was evaluated by life cycle assessment (LCA). Accordingly, we prepared fibrous CSWs with an average length of 309 μm and an average aspect ratio of 57 under optimum conditions. The LCA results demonstrated the superior environmental performance of the combined process, especially for CNC production, and the impact values reduced by 45.6% on average. Moreover, the cost of producing 20 g of CNCs decreased from 3.04 CNY (traditional process) to 1.66 CNY (combined process). Therefore, this combined production process is eco-efficient and economically scalable for the industrial production of CNCs.     

An introduction to life cycle assessment with hands-on experiments for biodiesel production and use

This paper describes a hands-on project that introduces first year engineering students to life cycle assessment (LCA) through the comparison of the environmental impact of the production and use of three diesel fuels: petroleum diesel, biodiesel from new vegetable oil, and biodiesel from waste vegetable oil. The purpose of this LCA project was to incorporate life cycle thinking into the engineering design process, to apply the four main steps of LCA (definition and scope, inventory analysis, impact assessment and improvement assessment), and to explore some of the challenges associated with each step. The inventory for biodiesel production (from both new and waste vegetable oils) was based on measurements obtained by the students in laboratory experiments. The fossil diesel production inventory was obtained from the SimaPro^® database. The inventory for the use of all three fuels was obtained from measurements taken during combustion of the fuels in a generator. A cradle-to-grave life cycle analysis was then conducted using SimaPro^® for each fuel. The assessment of learning outcomes indicates a significant increase in conceptual understanding of the four stages of life cycle assessment, and an average gain of over 55% in overall knowledge of life cycle assessment.     

聚酯的生命周期评价

生命周期评价(LCA)是重要环境管理工具,阐述了PET产品生命周期评价的意义和应用,通过AMFA对PET纺织品生命周期评价研究要点说明PET生命周期评价的方法和步骤,并对我国PET的LCA研究提出建议。     

Life cycle assessment of functional materials and devices: Opportunities,challenges, and current and future trends

Functional ceramics such as piezoelectrics, thermoelectrics, magnetic materials, ionic conductors, and semiconductors are opening new frontiers that underpin numerous aspects of modern life. This widespread usage comes with a responsibility to understand what impact their mass production has on the environment. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool employed for the identification of sustainable materials pathways through the consideration of environmental burdens of materials both during fabrication and as a final product. Although the LCA technique has been widely used for the evaluation of environmental impacts in numerous product supply chains, its application for environmental profiling of functional ceramics is now gaining attention. This paper presents a review of current developments in LCA, including existing and emerging applications with emphasis on the development and fabrication of functional materials and devices (FM&D). Selected published works on LCA of functional ceramics are discussed, highlighting the importance of adopting LCA at the design stage and/or at laboratory stage before expensive investments and resources are committed. Drawing from the extant literature, we show that the integration of environmental and sustainability principles into the overall process of FM&D manufacturing, in a way that anticipates foreseeable harmful consequences while identifying opportunities for improvement, can aid the timely communications of key findings to functional materials developers. This guides the orientation of research, development and deployment, and provides insights toward the prioritization of research activities while potentially averting unintended consequences. It is intended that the review presented will encourage the materials science community to engage with LCA to address important materials design, substitution, and optimization needs.     

电解锰生产过程的生命周期评价

以软锰矿浆烟气脱硫尾液制电解锰（新工艺）和传统电解锰生产工艺为对象作全生命周期评价,结果显示：电解锰生产过程对环境的首要影响是非生物资源耗竭（ADP）,在传统生产工艺中ADP占总影响的98%,在新工艺中比例更高;新工艺所有类型的环境影响值均低于传统工艺,尤其是新工艺酸化（AP）影响值为-2.10×10—8〈0,说明新工艺对酸化产生负贡献,另外,高硫煤的在新工艺中得到了安全环保的使用。本文首次对电解锰行业尝试进行LCA分析,旨在为该行业环境影响评价提供参考,同时为决策者作决策提供客观的依据。     

Environmental life cycle assessment of a pre‐fragmented high explosive grenade

Organisations today face increasing environmental constraints, e.g. in the form of legal and customer requirements; the defence sector is no exception. There is a need to evaluate and limit environmental effects of defence activities and materiel. In this study we used quantitative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and a method for simplified LCA (the Material, Energy, Chemicals and Others (MECO) method) to assess the environmental impacts of a grenade. The aims of the study are to identify aspects in the grenade's life‐cycle that have the largest environmental impact, suggest improvement possibilities, make a comparison between different approaches for waste management of munitions, and to perform a demonstrative case for the application of LCA to munitions. Significant environmental aspects of the grenade's life‐cycle include use of metals, use of fossil fuels, and detonation outdoors. The study shows that an LCA can be used to analyse environmental impacts from munitions. The simplified LCA gave information that is complementary to the quantitative LCA. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

LCA tool for the environmental evaluation of potable water production

Environmental impact assessment will soon become a compulsory phase in future potable water production projects, especially when alternative treatment processes such as desalination are considered. An impact assessment tool is therefore developed for the environmental evaluation of potable water production. The evaluation method used is the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. The quick and easy assessment of energetic and environmental performances contributes to determine the weak points of potable water production processes or the best suited treatment in a specific context. Studies of some potable water supply scenarios (groundwater treatment, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, seawater reverse osmosis and thermal distillation associated to water transfer) are presented in order to illustrate the environmental information drawn from this tool. The main source of impacts is shown to be electricity production for plant operation. Improvement levers are presented for impact reduction and for the objective comparison between alternative and conventional water treatment processes.     

生命周期评价在降解塑料研究中的应用

生命周期评价（ＬＣＡ）作为一种环境管理工具,被广泛地应用于制订企业产品开发,设计决策和环保方案的过程中,并日益成为一项改善环境保护的辅助决策工具,在回顾了生命周期评价历史发展背景及其概念框架的前提下,对塑料包装材料及其降解塑料的环境协调性进行了综述,旨在消除人们对塑料的偏见,指出在ＬＣＡ工具的指导下,开发和设计价格低廉,环境协调性好的降解塑料是解决塑料白色污染的一条理想途径。     

运用生命周期分析(LCA)评估和选择废水处理工艺

科学地确定水处理的工艺路线是工程技术人员和政府希望的。本文以污水处理中的生物滤池法和活性污泥法为例,运用ＬＣＡ技术,以污水处理工艺设施为主线,从设施的设计,材料和能源的获取,施工建设,运行管理和报废拆除的全过程将技术,经济,社会和心理等因素与环境保护联系起来,以全面揭示两种处理方案的优缺点。ＬＣＡ技术是确定污水处理工艺的一种有效手段。     

Environmental assessment in early process development

A short‐cut method for environmental assessment during process development is presented. The method can deal with data uncertainties in early phases, includes all relevant environmental impacts, and is simple and easy to apply. Therefore, it can be used in early phases of process development. The environmental relevance of each substance is represented by the Environmental Factors. These factors are derived from 14 impact categories, where each compound is classified using an ABC methodology. The impact categories are then grouped into six impact groups: Resources, Grey Input, Component Risk, Organisms, Air and Water/Soil. From these, input and output environmental factors are deduced. This factor is combined with mass balance data to yield a number of indices that can be used to optimize the environmental performance of a process in an integrated manner. The method is applied to three case studies: a comparison of chemical and biotechnological production of 6‐aminopenicillanic acid, a comparison of two process alternatives in the enzymatic production of α‐cyclodextrin and the development of a new process for the fermentative production of pyruvate. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Miniemulsions for the Production of Nanostructured Particles

Nanostructured particles made from polystyrene and zinc oxide are synthesized by precipitation in miniemulsions and miniemulsion polymerization. There are two main applications for miniemulsions: the formation of sub‐micron or nano‐sized reactors for the precipitation of inorganic nanoparticles and the use of sub‐micron or nano‐sized droplets as templates for nanostructured particles. The latter includes the formation of the desired structures within a monomer droplet, which then is polymerized without changing its size or structure during the process. In this research article two approaches to combine both processes are presented: The zinc oxide nanoparticles are precipitated in an inverse miniemulsion of water droplets in a continuous monomer phase. The resulting miniemulsion is either distilled and the nanoparticles are forced into the monomer phase or the miniemulsion is used directly without distillation. In both cases the particle loaded monomer droplets are afterwards polymerized to hybrid nanoparticles. The focus is on the technological challenges in producing nano‐sized, hybrid particles, especially in regard to continuous processing.     

化工产品的生命周期成本分析

生命周期成本分析(LCC) 和生命周期评价(LCA)是实现化工产品设计和过程清洁生产的两大支持工具。引入环境成本概念,分析了生命周期成本的构成,重点分析生命周期成本分析法的步骤,并提出采用LCC和LCA进行化工产品设计的概念框架及实施步骤,为化工产品设计提供科学定量的决策依据。     

基于生命周期评价的两种水泥环境协调性比较

将生命周期评价理论引入到高贝利特水泥和普通硅酸盐水泥环境协调性比较中，利用生命周期评价中的模糊数学评价方法分别对两种水泥进行环境协调性评定。评价结果为：高贝利特水泥的环境影响等级为Ⅱ级，普通硅酸盐水泥的环境影响等级为Ⅲ级，高贝利特水泥的环境负荷明显低于普通硅酸盐水泥，是一种“绿色建材”。     

Design‐based life cycle assessment of hazardous air pollutant control options at pulp and paper mills: a comparison of thermal oxidation to photocatalytic oxidation and biofiltration

BACKGROUND: The forest products industry produces valuable industrial chemicals, wood products, and consumer goods, but is also responsible for the emission of significant quantities of hazardous air pollutants. Although many air pollution control options are available, little is known about the overall environmental impacts of implementing each option. Therefore, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to compare energy and raw material inputs, air emissions, and environmental impacts associated with construction and operation of two air pollution control systems: regenerative thermal oxidation (RTO) with wet scrubbing and photocatalytic oxidation (PCO) with biofiltration. RESULTS: LCA results indicated that environmental impacts to resource depletion, photochemical oxidant formation, and acidification were 20% higher for the use of a RTO‐scrubber than for the PCO‐biofilter. In addition, at least 25% of the RTO impacts were due to infrastructure requirements. However, the PCO‐biofilter system was responsible for more environmental impact in categories of global warming and human toxicity, because of the packing materials required and the electricity use for the PCO reactor. CONCLUSIONS: The PCO‐biofilter system could be a promising, environmentally‐friendly alternative to traditional RTO devices, provided that this system is modified to decrease resource and energy demands. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry