A global approach to integrating environmental, energy, economic, and technological objectives

The environmental problems of the chemical process industries cannot be isolated from other plant issues such as energy, cost and process technology. In this paper, we introduce the concept of total waste management {open_quotes}TWM{close_quotes}. Where waste refers to any wasteful activity or any waste of resources in the process which prevents its optimal performance. This concept is far more general than conventional waste management whose main focus is to reduce the negative environmental impact of the process. In this context, examples of waste include: (1) Losses of valuable chemicals in air or water emissions, (2) Loss of wastewater which could have been recycled/reused or reduced, (3) The cost of treating pollutants that could have been prevented at the sources, (4) Yield losses, (5) Raw material losses into unnecessary byproducts, (6) Poor utilization of process streams, and (7) Inefficient energy utilization TWM can reconcile the various process objectives such as pollution prevention, yield enhancement, energy efficiency, cost effectiveness, and similar objectives. 20 refs., 5 figs.