UEMK4613 Green Chemical Process

Tutorial 6
1. Discuss health concerns of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), if any.

 The main concerns are with single-walled as opposed to multi-walled CNT’s. The biggest
concern with single-walled CNT’s is their aspect ratio – the ratio between height and width.
 Early chronic inhalation toxicity studies conducted using single-walled CNT’s
concentrations that far exceed those likely to be seen in production have in fact resulted in
lung cancers.
 Another concern related to CNT’s is their ability to absorb a variety of toxic materials like
polycyclic aromatic compounds and a host of other organic materials.
 The nature of nanoparticles is such that they are easily inhaled and under certain conditions
have been shown to pass through intact skin, so they could act as a very good delivery
device for unwanted toxics into humans.

2. Compare conventional pollution control and cleaner production.

Cleaner production Pollution control

Continuous improvement “One-off” solutions to individual problems
Progress towards use of closed loop or Processes result in waste materials for
continuous cycle processes disposal a pipeline with resources (money) in
and wastes out
Everyone in the community has a role to play Solutions are developed by experts often in
and share responsibilities; partnerships are isolation
essential – team/cooperative work
Voluntary and active anticipation and Reactive responses to pollution and waste
avoidance of pollution and waste after they are created
Elimination of environmental problems at Pollutants are controlled by waste treatment
their source equipment and methods
Involves new practices, attitudes and Relies mainly on technical improvements to
management techniques and stimulates existing technologies
technical advances

3. Compare pollution prevention (P2) and cleaner production (CP), and elaborate their
benefits.

- In certain aspects, CP is very similar to P2. Most importantly, both P2 and CP

emphasize environmental management through source reduction, rather than pollution
control methods. Similar to P2, CP should not be considered an absolute state, but rather
a process which continually evolves with the introduction of improved technology and
innovative ideas.
- There is one primary difference between P2 and CP. While P2 is an environmental
management concept which can be applied to all sectors, CP is a technique designed
more specifically for sectors dealing with production processes, like the manufacturing
sector.
Their benefits:
 Reduction of Operating Costs.
- pollution prevention (P2) and cleaner production (CP) programs can reduce material
costs by adopting production and packaging procedures that consume fewer resources.
- Waste management and disposal costs are an obvious and readily measured potential
savings to be realized from P2.
- Many government regulations, for example, mandate costly procedures and methods
for the handling of certain wastes. These costs can be avoided through a P2 or CP
program.
- Efficiency measures, such as production scheduling and equipment maintenance, can
decrease overall production costs.
- Energy costs, as well as facility clean-up costs are also reduced through P2 and CP
programs.

 Reduction of Ecological Damage.

- P2 and CP programs provide obvious benefits for the natural environment.
- Air quality will increase as a result of the reduction of pollutants entering the air.
- Also, water and land will not be contaminated with pollutants which may potentially
leak from waste generating, transporting, storage, and disposal activities.

 Improved Company Image.

- P2 and CP programs can improve company image, both within and outside of its walls.
- Undoubtedly, employees react more positively toward management which places a
priority on providing a safe working environment.
- Employees also react positively when they are included in the planning and
implementation of P2 and CP programs.
- Surrounding communities and potential customers will also react favorably toward the
establishment of a P2 or CP program because they are concerned with the EHS of their
neighbourhoods.

 Reduction of Civil and Criminal Liability.

- Implementing a P2 or CP program decreases liability because the total volume of waste
generated is reduced.
- Even if the waste generated is not currently defined as toxic or hazardous, it is still in
the producer’s best interest to adopt a P2 or CP program.
- Government regulations often threaten to impose heavy fines, and in some cases
imprisonment, upon producers of high volumes of waste.
- Producers also face potential civil litigation if the waste generated threatens the public.
- Also, worker’s compensation costs and risks are directly related to the volume of waste
produced.
4. What are the common attributes of various definitions of industrial ecology?

These attributes include the following:

 a systems view of the interactions between industrial and ecological systems
 the study of material and energy flows and transformations
 a multidisciplinary approach
 an orientation toward the future
 a change from linear (open) processes to cyclical (closed) processes, so the waste from one
industry is used as an input for another
 an effort to reduce the industrial systems’ environmental impacts on ecological systems
 the idea of making industrial systems emulate more efficient and sustainable natural
systems
5. Kalundborg’s Eco-Industrial Park (Figure 1) is a typical example of industrial ecology.
Describe this eco-industrial park integrates various industrial partner’s mass and energy
inputs and outputs. Also, what are the advantages gained by the participating companies?

Figure 1

- Kalundborg’s Industrial Symbiosis is the collaboration between five primary

independent industrial enterprises for mutual economic and environmental benefit.
- It is based on a series of bilateral commercial agreements on three different kinds of
projects: recycling water, exchanging energy at different levels, and recycling waste
products.
- The Aeneas Power Plant, for example, produces a waste stream of steam and heated
water. This water warms the tanks of a fish farm, while the steam is used by the
municipality for heating and by Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical company. Novo
Nordisk, in turn, pipes organic sludge waste to farms to use as fertilizer.

- Cooperation between businesses was voluntary, but conducted in close collaboration

with regulatory authorities (Christensen 1994). By 1998, the Symbiosis agreements
have amounted to some $160 million in savings. This level of cost savings and
improved environmental performance becomes a competitive advantage for
participating companies.
6. For a successful implementation, the concept of industrial ecology can be divided into three
domains: technical, business system and networks, and community-business interactions.
Elaborate them.

Technical Domain:
- The technical domain focuses on the physical and chemical interactions involved in the
recovery, refining, and reuse of materials in the context of both single firms and a
networked system of multiple firms.
- This technology driven approach focuses on the infrastructure and technology for
resource exchanges in manufacturing processes among and between companies.
- Approach focuses on identifying opportunities for reducing pollution and wastes and
exploring ways to use low value by-products as inputs for other processes.

Business System and Networks Domain:

- Business system and networks facilitate cooperation among firms for greater
environmental and economic performance than each can realize on their own.
- The perspective shifts from materials exchange to the development of interconnections
between businesses such as sharing services, transportation, and facilities.

Community-Business Interactions Domain:

- The third domain is about the development of symbiotic networks between businesses,
community, and the public sector.
- Such symbiosis is expected to create synergy among participants.
- This is the broadest view of industrial ecology based on the pursuit of 3 E’s : Economy,
Environment, and Ecology.
- It focuses on developing networks to manage energy, water, and material resources in
a sustainable fashion.
- This approach considers interconnections between labor force, industry clusters,
ecosystems, institutional, and community resources.
7. Syngas can be produced via petrochemical and the biorefinery processes (Table 1).
Interpret the greenness of these two processes.

Table 1
Biorefinery Process Petrochemical Process
Pyrolysis:
C6H10O5  5CO + 5H2 + C CH4 + H2O  CO + 3H2
Partial Oxidation: Nickel oxide catalyst, 300ºC, 30 atm
C6H10O5 + O2  5CO + 5H2 + CO2 CO + 2H2  CH3OH
Steam Reforming: CO2 + 3H2  CH3OH + H2O
C6H10O5 + H2O  6H2 + 6CO Cu and Zn catalyst, 300ºC, 100 atm

Biorefinery process:
 Starting material is glucose from which it is possible to produce quantities of CO and H2
for production of a variety of chemicals as in the petrochemical process.
 Pyrolysis, partial oxidation and steam reforming would be very similar to the petrochemical
process in terms of catalysts, temperatures and pressures.

Petrochemical process:
 Uses catalysts containing Ni, Cu, and Zn;
 High temperatures and pressures. The high temperatures and pressures will require a
significant amount of energy to maintain.
 Methane is potentially obtainable from biological sources, but it is generally
petrochemically derived or extracted from a variety of geological formations and most
recently, through environmentally impactful processes known as fracking (Hydraulic
fracturing).

8. Consider solvent such as acetone or methylene chloride (or named as dichloromethane).

(i) To reduce environmental safety or health hazards, what you recommend to change
the molecule?

 In both cases, there is a VOC potential impact, and in the case of methylene chloride, it is
a chlorine containing compound that makes it difficult to treat.
 One strategy would be to make each molecule a higher molecular weight by adding either
CH or an additional functional group that is tailored to the desired application. Such
changes would make the molecules less volatile but could increase their lipophilicity and
that may lead to increased potential for bioconcentration.
 For acetone, the fact that it is very water soluble means that in mixed aqueous-organic
systems, it would be impractical to recover although it is readily biodegradable.

(ii) How would you change the molecule to improve its recyclability?

In either case, you may increase the molecular weight of the solvent or you may create bound
solvents, that is, you install the desired functionality (a ketone or halogenated functional group)
into a polymeric backbone that is large enough and stable enough to be recycled and reused
many times in a solvent system acceptable for a given reaction and which is itself recyclable.
9. As described in the report of Ellen MacArthur Foundation, the circular economy is based
on several key principles, which drive four sources of value creation. Elaborate the value
creation.

 ‘The power of the inner circle’: the more that hidden costs (such as materials, labour, energy
and capital) are retained in a product, the greater will be the savings (or potential benefits).
Repairs and maintenance retain much more of a product’s value than recycling its
individual component.
 ‘The power of circling longer’: the more often a product re-enters a cycle, or the longer it
is used, the higher will be the value created.
 ‘The power of cascaded use’: if materials (as opposed to products) are to be reused (as a
result of wear, for example), they can create added value if people look for other, more
complex uses for them instead of breaking them down to the level of raw materials.
 ‘The power of pure cycles’, i.e. it is easier to separate inputs and designs: reuse, repair and
recycling all benefit if the final phase of the life of a product has been taken into
consideration when it is designed, by ensuring, for example, the use of non-toxic
components and combinations of materials that are easy to separate.