The theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) as option generation tool within cleaner production projects

Cleaner Production is an organized approach to minimize industrial waste and emissions by increasing the efficiency of the use of materials and energy. It is propagated especially by UNIDO and UNEP as an approach to identify preventive measures to cut on waste and emissions from industrial activities. Case studies conducted by the authors in the last 10 years demonstrate, that in a number of cases water consumption per production unit of industries from the surface treatment sector, from food processing and from the textile industry could be reduced by 30–90%, auxiliary materials consumption could be reduced by 30–50%, and energy consumption of processes could be reduced by 15–25%. All these measures were actually economically beneficial for the companies, most of these measures paid back in less than one year [1].The standard approach to apply Cleaner Production originates from chemical engineering. It follows the steps of: Drawing a process flow sheet – collecting input/output data – doing mass and energy balances – identify sources for waste and emissions – set priorities – identify options. In the process of option generation one generally relies on expert knowledge or on checklists which are available in different manuals or in the best available technology reference (BREF) notes.¹ This approach is strong with teams with an (chemical) engineering background.The authors wanted to develop a generic approach for option identification especially for teams with little formal engineering background or teams which have to go beyond their professional experience by using elements of the so-called TRIZ method (Theory of inventive problem solving, or originally Russian: “

” (Teoria reschenija isobretatjelskich sadatsch)). TRIZ offers very strong tools for developing process improvement options on a generic level without specific technological knowledge about the process which shall be improved. The authors have found from their research that especially the concept of the Ideal Final Result, and the Laws of Evolution form a conceptual framework which can aid effectively in the identification of improvement options in a systematic way.     

An environmental assessment method for cleaner production technologies

An environmental assessment method for cleaner production technologies enabling quantitative analysis of environmental impact is presented.The proposed method is based on material and energy flows and uses a set of profile indices, including raw material, energy, waste, product and packaging profiles that describe all material and energy flows related to the technology under investigation. The indices are used as a basis for determining an integrated index for overall environmental assessment of cleaner production technologies.The presented method can be employed to evaluate environmental nuisance of implemented, modernised and modified technological processes and products as well to perform comparative analyses of alternative technologies.     

Technical measures to achieve a cleaner production mode for recycled paper mills

China’s paper production reached 79.8 × 10⁶ t in 2008 and ranked number one in the world. Because of its high consumption of water, energy and materials and its serious pollution, the present processes are not likely to be sustainable. An alternative, the closed Water Loop-Papermaking Integration (WLPI) method, is put forward in this paper. The WLPI method can be realized in a recycled paper mill by adding technologies and using recycled water. Many industrial case studies have shown that a large quantity of water, energy and materials can be saved, and the quantity of waste sludge and wastewater discharge was minimized by using the WLPI method. The design of the water reuse system, control of calcium hardness, water recycling and minimal waste sludge are discussed. Anaerobic technology plays an important role in the WLPI method to lower cost, energy use and waste. In the brown paper and coated white board production, zero-effluent discharge can be realized. Fresh water consumption is only 1–2m³·t⁻¹. For the paper mills with deinking and bleaching processes, about 10 m³·t⁻¹ of fresh water and a similar amount of effluent discharge are needed. Power saving using anaerobic technology is 70% when recycled water is used in comparison with the conventional activated sludge process.Waste sludge can be decreased to about 5% of the initial process due to reuse of the waste sludge and the lower bio-sludge production of the anaerobic process.     

Biotechnology: the ultimate cleaner production technology for agriculture?

There has been much discussion regarding the potential environmental benefits and hazards associated with agricultural biotechnology. Some argue that it can eliminate the need for a wide range of material inputs such as pesticides and herbicides. Others argue that it will increase the demand for non-sustainable and potentially hazardous ‘agri-business' practices. We test these claims against the cleaner production approach. Although we found that pressures to accept this technology are strong enough to overcome initial resistance, we also found that biotechnology, as it applies to agriculture, is not consistent with a cleaner production approach due to the high level of risk. We suggest that this type of technology adds an additional dimension to the cleaner production argument.     

煤矿企业清洁生产实例研究

本文以某煤矿企业为例对煤矿行业实施清洁生产分析与评价进行了探讨,根据“节约用水”、“一水多用”原则,最大限度减少新鲜水消耗,提高矿井水和生活污水综合利用率,同时提高煤矸石综合利用率,对于实现煤矿企业的经济和环境效益的双赢具有重要的意义。此外,对企业的管理者和生产者灌输清洁生产的理念同样是实现企业清洁生产的重要组成部分。     

Resource productivity enhancement as means for promoting cleaner production: analysis of co-incineration in cement plants through a life cycle approach

The objective of this paper is to assess the environmental effectiveness of a strategic measure aimed at resource productivity enhancement. The cement industry has been identified as a relevant sector for this global issue, since the related production process enables the use of waste in partial substitution of raw materials and in substitution of traditional fuels. The analysis of the cement production sector in Italy has been here performed, investigating the recovery of energy from waste through co-incineration. In terms of air emissions, the emission performances of cement kilns appear independent from the use of alternative fuels at the percentages usually employed. However, in order to measure the cleanliness of a production system, systematic analysis with global perspective is needed. For this aim, the principles of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) have been used for a case study analysis of an Italian active plant using an amount of recovered plastics as an alternative fuel resource. The improvement on the investigated process has been quantitatively measured as a way for cleaner production, first in terms of gross energy requirement, and then through an environmental performance comparison with a sector benchmark. The analysis has highlighted the benefits on the global environmental balance for the practice of co-incineration in the cement production process.     

上海铁路局推行清洁生产的现状分析及对策建议

清洁生产是实现污染排放有效控制的重要环保途径,企业要实现可持续发展,创环境友好型企业,必须走清洁生产之路。分析了上海铁路局2006-2008年推行清洁生产的总体情况与取得的实效,总结了在实际清洁生产的审计中企业存在的困难,探讨了审核体系下的技术难点和实践要点,并提出了建议。     

National program for cleaner production (CP) in Iran: a framework and draft

The importance of cleaner production (CP) has motivated leaders of different countries at diverse levels of industrial development to establish national strategies or programs for speeding up the implementation of CP. In this article a proposed framework for the national program to promote CP in Iran is presented. Based on the strategic planning approach, a SWOT analysis was conducted pertaining to the factors influencing the potential cleaner production implementation in Iran. Then, the various levels of the plan, including the Mission, Targets, Strategies, and Actions, were determined, followed by an executive structure for its implementation. The most important characteristic of the proposed program is its emphasis upon the role of the non-governmental sectors in the implementation of CP, in order to avoid governmental bureaucracy.     

Synthesis of batch water network for a brewery plant

This paper presents an industrial application of mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) models for the optimisation of a water network, which was initiated by an integral need for cleaner production within a brewery. Several mathematical models were developed in order to reduce the use of freshwater, whilst considering the specific requirements of each particular production section. These models are based on the design method developed by Kim and Smith [1]. The original formulation is modified to enable efficient integration of discontinuous and semi-continuous water-using processes in the packaging area. Semi-continuous processes are treated as water sources of limited capacity. The option of installing storage tanks for semi-continuous water streams is included in the model, in order to re-use these streams during the shutdown periods of semi-continuous operations. The original model is additionally extended with the option of installing local (on-site) wastewater treatment units operating either in batch or semi-continuous modes. This enables the analysing of opportunities for regeneration re-use within the production area, i.e. the brewhouse with a cellar, because of high contaminant concentrations at these sites. The scheduling of batch wastewater treatment units is performed simultaneously in order to adjust the treatment schedule to a fixed schedule of batch processes.     

A novel approach of preparing press-powders for cleaner production of ceramic tiles

China produces almost half of ceramic tiles in the world. However, serious air pollution and high energy consumption in the preparation of ceramic press-powders by traditional wet process (WP) have become major barriers for the sustainable development of ceramic tile manufacturing industry. A novel cleaner production process, named by the authors as Droplet-Powder Granulation Process (DPGP), was proposed and tested in this work. Droplet-powder granulator, a key facility of DPGP, was designed. In the granulator, ceramic suspension was directly sprayed to form fine suspension droplets and ceramic dry powder was simultaneously jetted and dispersed to enwrap, insulate and adsorb the suspension droplets so as to form coarse granules that were then rolled, tamped and dried into press-powders. Lab experiments of preparing press-powders by DPGP were carried out. The as-prepared DPGP press-powders consist of solid granules with nearly spherical shape and approximately normal grain size distribution, and present favorable flowability and relatively high bulk density, with the similar properties of the press-powders as those prepared by WP. Moreover, as compared with WP, DPGP can reduce both pollutant emission of 98% dust, 65% sulfur oxides and 71% nitrogen oxides and resource consumption of 24% energy and 69% water. Therefore, DPGP is an innovative approach for cleaner production of ceramic press-powders.     

Formic and acetic acid as agents for a cleaner fractionation of Miscanthus x giganteus

Miscanthus. x giganteus bark was subjected to acetic and formic acid fractionation. The kinetics of the process were explained by a model of two parallel first-order reactions, for pulp yield and delignification, and by Saeman's kinetics based models, for total polysaccharides and viscosity of pulps. The influence of hydrochloric acid concentration on both organosolv processes was studied at two levels: 0.10 and 0.15% by weight. The models provided a good fit of the experimental data and helped to predict the best set of independent variables to obtain a good fractionation.Both systems achieved similar delignification levels and pulp characteristics, although the evolution in formic acid was faster than in acetic acid, mainly due to the great extent of reactions in the warming up period that accounted for about a third part of the initial dry weight of the raw material.     

Regional initiatives on promoting cleaner production in China: a case of Liaoning

With the increasing environmental issues, now cleaner production has been implemented across all the regions of China. During this process, regional governments have played a leading role for promoting cleaner production. Main measures include coordinating the various stakeholders, providing financial support, stipulating appropriate policies and conducting capacity building programs. Such an innovative initiative is quite unique and should be further studied. This paper reflects such a perspective through a case study of Liaoning province. We first introduce the main initiatives for the promotion of cleaner production in Liaoning and then identify the key barriers. Our focus is to provide suggestions for future improvements. Finally we make our conclusions.     

Application of cleaner production technology in chemical industry: a near zero emission

The main objective of this study is to investigate and evaluate opportunities for implementation of pollution prevention and waste minimization in a chemical industrial company producing poly sulfonated naphthalene formaldehyde which is used as a super plasticizer for concrete. Environmental problems encountered were mainly the highly polluted wastewater and a semi-solid cake containing considerable amount of the final product. Possible modules for remedial measures and their cost estimation were investigated. The proposed remedial modules included recycling of retained water discharge in filter press, recycling of washing water of reaction vessels (reactors), closed circuit cooling system for high-pressure pump, good housekeeping through control of leakage of raw material, products and water and finally utilization of retained residual product from the solid waste. The implemented pollution control measures proved to be cost effective and have short payback periods. Also, minimization of the hydraulic and organic loads in the final effluent was achieved.     

The concept of sustainable islands: cleaner production, industrial ecology and the network paradigm as preconditions for regional sustainable development

This paper introduces a bottom-up approach towards sustainability which is called the Island approach. The basic assumption of ‘Islands of Sustainability’ is that development towards sustainability can be introduced starting from small sustainable regions. An Island is an area where sustainability is reached locally. Key points to create a sustainable region are communication activities, such as exchange of matter, energy, information, culture, capital and persons within the regional network and with the environment. One of the main theses is that sustainability is linked to the complexity of the regional network. The intensity, the speed and the comprehensive of internal and external interactions, as well as the connectedness of the regional network, have to be changed in order to reach local sustainability.Relations between different approaches such as the Cleaner Production approach, the Industrial Ecology approach and the Island approach are investigated. It is assumed that a combination of these approaches will lead to sustainability, which might not be the case with one approach in isolation. All concepts are based on the new Network Paradigm, which is a reduction of the holistic world view. Cooperation on different hierarchical levels, from the interfirm level up to the interregional level, becomes an important part of behaviour. Networks, such as information networks or matter-flow networks, are introduced and become most important with regard to sustainability.     

Possibilities and limitations of a comparative assessment of process technologies from a cleaner production point of view

This article presents a method for a comparative assessment of process technologies from a cleaner production point of view as well as the results of testing this method in practice. Based on these results and on an analysis of existing technology information systems, an estimation is made of the general possibilities and limitations of a comparative assessment of process technologies from a cleaner production point of view. Finally, the resulting consequences for the definition of ‘best available techniques' in accordance with the new EC Council Directive Concerning Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) are discussed. This article argues that apart from the difficulties related to the valuation of different kinds of materials and energy a major limiting factor is caused by the fact that the function of a production has to be defined very precisely to enable a comparison between different types of process technologies in sufficient detail.     

New findings on the generation of waste and emissions, and a modified cleaner production assessment approach-illustrated by leather production

New findings on the causes of waste and emissions, which were obtained from analysing numerous material streams in various sectors of industry, are presented in this article. It describes the implications of these findings for the vision of clean production, for formulating environmental policy concerning cleaner production targets, for the opportunities to assess to what extent the cleaner production targets have been met, and for the cleaner production assessment. A modified cleaner production assessment approach is presented, and illustrated using leather production as an example. The consequent implications for the diffusion of cleaner production are discussed.     

A case study on artificial intelligence based cleaner production evaluation system for surface treatment facilities

The metal finishing industry is water intensive. Surveys of South African metal finishing companies indicate that water consumption is as high as 400 L/m² of metal surface treated, whilst best available practice can achieve less than 10 L/m². The industry uses hazardous chemicals such as chrome VI, cadmium, nickel and cyanide. If consumption of these chemicals can be optimized, quantities of heavy metals released into the environment will be reduced. In some cases where cleaner production techniques were applied by local companies, heavy metals have been completely eliminated from effluents discharged to municipal sewers, which represent a significant benefit to the urban environment. This benefit was accompanied by significant reduction in the use of chemicals, with a concomitant cost saving and competitive advantage to the companies concerned.A Danish environmental aid initiative promoted cleaner production in the South African metal finishing industry. Local consultants were trained by Danish experts in this field. The general methodology was to conduct an audit of the chemical, water, human resource and environment aspects of the company and compare it to best available practice. Once the review was completed, a detailed feasibility was performed on systems and equipment required to reduce chemical consumption, water consumption, human resources and environmental impact. Applied to a number of South African companies, these methods have typically achieved reductions of the order of 90% in water use and 50–60% in the use of chemicals.There were difficulties in applying the Danish methodology to South African metal finishing companies, as it makes use of quantitative indices derived from the process operations. The companies are often small and technically unsophisticated, and do not have ready access to the process data that are needed. An alternate system is required to simplify the evaluation and optimization process. This paper proposes a case study on a fuzzy-logic operator based evaluation system that outputs the cleaner production status of the company. The model is compared to an established cleaner production tool.     

Landscape protection as a tool for managing agricultural landscapes in Norway

Norwegian Protected Landscapes aim to preserve landscape character. As most of the agricultural land in Protected Landscapes is privately owned, the attitudes and behaviour of farmers are crucial in achieving this goal. We present results of a nationwide questionnaire to farmers who owned or managed farmland in Protected Landscapes. Thirty-eight percent of the respondents claimed that their farm business had been changed as a consequence of landscape protection. Niche products and alternative income possibilities, commonly forwarded as potential benefits of landscape protection status, had generally not been realised. Although we found that most farmers agreed on the importance of taking care of cultural landscapes, 76% felt that this was best done by using rather than protecting the landscape. The study revealed negative attitudes towards municipal authorities. A quarter of respondents were strongly against the establishment of new Protected Landscapes, even if they were compensated for economic losses. Based on results of the study we suggest that major improvements to the protection system could be made by improving communication between management authorities and farmers, and ensuring real involvement of farmers in making and carrying out management plans.     

Copper slag: optimization of productivity and consumption for cleaner production in dry abrasive blasting

Copper slag, a by-product from copper smelting industry, is widely used as an abrasive material to remove rust, old coating and other contamination in dry abrasive blasting which is an expensive process and results in significant amounts of particulate emissions and spent abrasive. This paper presents models developed to improve productivity and consumption of copper slag as functions of blast pressure, abrasive feed rate, and surface contamination. These models will help industries in selecting optimum process conditions for maximum efficiency and to achieve cleaner production by consuming less materials and energy resources. In addition, the models will greatly assist in evaluation of the life cycle costs for use of copper slag in dry abrasive blasting.     

Primary prevention for worker health and safety: cleaner production and toxics use reduction in Massachusetts

Worker health and safety and environmental protection are not always considered simultaneously when attempting to reduce or eliminate hazardous materials from our environment. Cleaner Production-Pollution Prevention (CPPP), as primary prevention, has the ability to shift worker health and safety strategies from control to prevention, where exposure prevention precedes exposure control. This paper evaluates the effect of Cleaner Production-Pollution Prevention in the form of toxics use reduction (TUR) on worker health and safety at three printed wire board facilities covered under the Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Act. In-depth case study analysis, including an assessment of each facility’s health and safety status, explores the root causes of the worker health and safety changes attributable to the TUR interventions. By exploring the relationship between worker health and safety and environmental protection within the corporate structure; we can identify the factors driving companies to reduce toxics both inside and outside of their plants, as a single concern.While traditionally there have been divergent paths of practice for worker health and safety and environmental protection, the two are closely connected. It is important, however, to consider the implications of risk transfer/shifting between the general and work environment. In order to avoid this risk shifting, worker health and safety perspectives and goals must be more clearly incorporated into the Cleaner Production-Pollution Prevention/TUR management system. This study opens a dialog around the effects of environmental intervention programs on worker health and safety. We realize now that while CPPP/TUR reduces exposure to toxic substances in the general environment, it also offers unique opportunities to reaffirm primary prevention principles in the work environment.