Identification of Cleaner Production Improvement Opportunities

Regardless of its size or nature, every industry generates waste and is responsible for imple-menting the practices of pollution prevention and waste minimization in its day-to-day operations. Whether it's dirty water or toxic wastes, industrial pollution is all the same in one way: it reduces a business's profitability. Identification of Cleaner Production Improvement Opportunities urges environmental, health, and safety department managers, industrial environmental consultants, and personnel across all chemical engineering industries to employ a forward-thinking and tested technology of process improvements that will reduce waste generation, reduce the resources requirements to manufacture a product, and, most important to the life of a business, increase revenues. This new publication consists of the following five sections: * Section I: The relationships among cleaner production, waste, cleaner production analyses, and their business values * Section II: How to develop a cleaner production program * Section III: The data requirements and data analyses for the opportunity identification step * Section IV: The opportunity identification step * Section V: How to assess and rank the best ideas Industry expert and chair of AIChE's Environmental Division, Kenneth Mulholland introduces methodology in this manual that has been used to identify process improvement opportunities for more than fifty processes, including pharmaceutical intermediates, elastomer monomers and polymers, polyester intermediates and polymers, batch processes such as agricultural products and paints, chlorofluoro-hydrocarbon and chlorocarbon processes, and specialty chemicals and waste water treatment facilities. With no product changes or new technology necessary, these process improvements have produced a 200 percent internal rate of return and reduced waste generation by 40 percent to 50 percent.

Regardless of its size or nature, every industry generates wasteand is responsible for imple-menting the practices of pollutionprevention and waste minimization in its day-to-day operations.Whether it's dirty water or toxic wastes, industrial pollution isall the same in one way: it reduces a business's profitability.Identification of Cleaner Production Improvement Opportunitiesurges environmental, health, and safety department managersindustrial environmental consultants, and personnel across allchemical engineering industries to employ a forward-thinking andtested technology of process improvements that will reduce wastegeneration, reduce the resources requirements to manufacture aproduct, and, most important to the life of a business, increaserevenues.This new publication consists of the following five sections:* Section I: The relationships among cleaner production, wastecleaner production analyses, and their business values* Section II: How to develop a cleaner production program* Section III: The data requirements and data analyses for theopportunity identification step* Section IV: The opportunity identification step* Section V: How to assess and rank the best ideasIndustry expert and chair of AIChE's Environmental DivisionKenneth Mulholland introduces methodology in this manual that hasbeen used to identify process improvement opportunities for morethan fifty processes, including pharmaceutical intermediateselastomer monomers and polymers, polyester intermediates andpolymers, batch processes such as agricultural products and paintschlorofluoro-hydrocarbon and chlorocarbon processes, and specialtychemicals and waste water treatment facilities. With no productchanges or new technology necessary, these process improvementshave produced a 200 percent internal rate of return and reducedwaste generation by 40 percent to 50 percent.

Acknowledgments viiForeword ixPreface xiSection I: Cleaner Production and Waste 1Section II: Waste Stream Selection 23Section III: Preparation for Opportunity Identification 33Section IV: Opportunity Identification 53Section V: Opportunity Evaluation and Final Report 65Appendix A: Forms and Handouts 85Appendix B: Chemical Plant Final Report 119Index 193