ERT 319 INDUSTRIAL WASTE

TREATMENT

WASTE MINIMIZATION &

MANAGEMENT HANNA ILYANI ZULHAIMI hanna@unimap.edu.my

OUTLINE:

v  Waste Minimization

v  Hierarchy of waste management

v  Clean technology

v  Waste Management Practice:

i) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

ii) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

v  Integrated Waste Management

Introduction – Waste Minimization & Management   Hazardous waste sources include a wide range of

industrial and commercial operations of varying scale, plus other sources such as hospitals, as well as certain domestic activities.

  Disposal may be at landfill sites, incinerators or the natural receiving bodies such as rivers, land and the atmosphere. If no measures are taken to prevent, recycle or treat the hazardous waste generated, all of it will have to be sent for disposal, placing additional burdens on disposal capacity.

  In broad environmental and resource terms, ‘waste’ is not simply the solid waste which remains at the end of a process or which results from use, but it also comprises releases to air and liquid waste discharges.

  As the very simplistic slide shows, if any or all of a number of measures are taken, the amount of waste going to final disposal can be greatly reduced. These measures include source reduction, on-site or off-site recycling, and appropriate treatment, which can reduce both volume and toxicity of residual waste.

  From an industry viewpoint, less wastage of raw materials and lower energy and water use results in less waste, lower costs and higher profits.

Why minimise waste?

On-site recycling

Off-site recycling

DISPOSAL

DISPOSAL SOURCE

SOURCE waste

No waste minimization

With waste minimization, recycling and treatment

to treatment

waste

Successful example: 3M

• Reduced effluent discharges by 3.7 billion litres Ø  eliminated 10,000 tonnes of water

pollutants Ø  eliminated 140,000 tonnes of sludge Ø  eliminated 90,000 tonnes of air pollutants

Savings = US$ 192 million

WASTE MINIMIZATION

Reasons of waste minimization:

1.  Energy requirement Ø  rises exponentially with increasing waste

2.  Reduce total cost Ø  for collection, segregation, intermediate

storage, transport, treatment and final storage

3.  Profitability Ø  waste = inefficiency Ø  reduce waste = efficiency & profitability

HIERARCHY OF WASTE MANAGEMENT

1. Waste Reduction Technique

  An important method of waste management is the prevention of waste material being created, also known as waste reduction.

  Methods of waste reduction include: Ø  reuse of second-hand products

Ø  repairing broken items instead of buying new, designing products to be refillable or reusable (such as cotton instead of plastic shopping bags)

Ø  encouraging consumers to avoid using disposable products (such as disposable cutlery), removing any food/liquid remains from cans, packaging etc.

Ø  designing products that use less material to achieve the same purpose (for example, light weighting of beverage cans)

2. REUSE   Recycling is a resource recovery practice that refers to

the collection and reuse of waste materials such as empty beverage containers.

3. RECYCLING v  The materials from which the

items are made can be reprocessed into new products.

v  Material for recycling may be collected separately from general waste using dedicated bins and collection vehicles are sorted directly from mixed waste streams and are known as kerb-side recycling, it requires the owner of the waste to separate it into various different bins (typically wheelie bins) prior to its collection.

4. RESOURCE RECOVERY

Ø  Resource recovery (as opposed to waste management) uses LCA (life cycle analysis) attempts to offer alternatives to waste management.

Ø  For mixed MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) a number of broad studies have indicated that administration, source separation and collection followed by reuse and recycling of the non-organic fraction and energy and compost/fertilizer production of the organic material via anaerobic digestion to be the favored path.

5.INCINERATION Ø  Incineration is a disposal method in which

solid organic wastes are subjected to combustion so as to convert them into residue and gaseous products. This method is useful for disposal of residue of both solid waste management and solid residue from waste water management.

Ø  Incineration and other high temperature waste treatment systems are sometimes described as "thermal treatment".

Ø  Incinerators convert waste materials into heat, gas, steam and ash.

5. LANDFILL   Disposal of waste in a landfill involves

burying the waste, and this remains a common practice in most countries.

  Landfills were often established in abandoned or unused quarries, mining voids or borrow pits. A properly designed and well-managed landfill can be a hygienic and relatively inexpensive method of disposing of waste materials.

  Another common product of landfills is gas (mostly composed of methane and carbon dioxide), which is produced as organic waste breaks down an aerobically. This gas can create odor problems, kill surface vegetation, and is a greenhouse gas.

WASTE REDUCTION TECHNIQUES – INDUSTRIAL PERSPECTIVE

4 major categories: 1.  Inventory management 2.  Production process modification 3.  Volume reduction 4.  Recovery

(1) Inventory Management

Inventory management is divided into two:

Ø  inventory control

Ø  materials control

Inventory Control •  avoid over-purchasing

•  inspect deliveries before acceptance

•  make frequent inventory checks

•  label all containers accurately

•  ensure materials with limited shelf-life are used by expiry date

•  where possible, install computer-assisted inventory control

Materials Control

  Proper control over the storage of raw materials, products and process waste and the transfer of these items within the process and around the facility.

  Minimize the losses through spills, leaks or contamination

  Ensure the material is efficiently handled and used in the production process and does not become waste

(2) Production Process Modification

u  3 techniques for production process modification:

a) operation and maintenance procedures

b) material change

c) equipment modifications

a)  Operation and maintenance procedures

Ø  corrective and preventive maintenance can reduce waste generation caused by equipment failure.

Ø  Can help spot potential sources of release and correct a problem before any material is lost.

b) material change

Ø  the replacement of materials used in either a product formulation or in a production process, can either result in elimination of a hazardous waste or facilitate recovery of a material.

Example: In pharmaceutical company : replace solvent based tablet coating process with a water based process

c) Equipment modifications

Ø  installation of more efficient equipment or modification of equipment can reduce the generation of waste.

Ø  installation of completely new equipment may be involved.

(3) Volume reduction

a)  Source segregation Ø  segregation of wastes allows them to be more

readily removed or recovered.

b)   Concentration

Ø  Concentrate waste through separation processes such as filtration, centrifugation, membrane separations and evaporations

(4)  Recovery Ø  on-site Ø  off-site On-site Recovery Ø  Reduce possible handling losses and allow the management

of the waste to remain within the compass of the producer. Ø  Recovered material can be reused as raw material. Ø  Example:

In printing industry, use vapor recovery system to recover solvents.

Off-site Recovery Ø  If on-site recovery is not feasible, for economic or other

reasons, off-site recovery should be considered. Ø  Waste may be transferred to other company for use as a raw

material in the other company’s manufacturing process.

Clean Technology

Clean technology (clean tech) is a general term used

to describe products, processes or services that

reduce waste and require as few non-renewable resources

as possible.

Clean Technology

ü  Generation of less waste

ü  Consumption of fewer raw materials

ü  Less energy

1.  Cannot be zero waste from any manufacturing process

2.  Once created, waste cannot be destroyed Ø  waste can be minimized in terms of both quantity and

toxicity.

Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA)

v  Definition: an evaluation of the environmental effects associated with any given activity from the initial gathering of raw material from the earth until the point at which all residuals are returned to the earth.

v  A systematic inventory and comprehensive assessment of the environmental effects of two or more alternative activities involving defined product in a defined space and time including all steps and co-products in its life cycle.

Stages in Life Cycle: Raw material acquisition

Bulk material processing

Engineered and specialty materials production

Manufacturing and assembly

Use and service

Retirement

Disposal

LIFECYCLEOFCHOCOLATE

CocoaCultivation

Baggingandstorage

Harvesting,FermentationandDrying

Transportofbeanstoprocessingfactory

Mixingofcocoaliquor,cocoabutter,milk,sugarandotheringredients

Expiredfood&packagingdisposal

TemperingandMoulding

DistributionandRetail

Industrialcleaning,roasting,breakingandwinnowing,andgrindingofcocoabeans

ConchingandRefining

Chocolatepackaging

Consumptionphase

Fertilizerproduction

Sugarproduction Milkproduction

JutebagcultivationandManufacturing

Pesticidesproduction

Productionofpackaging

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Ø  Assessment is required for those projects which are likely to have a significant effect on the environment, due to their nature, size or location.

Ø  EIA : A process that requires consideration of the environmental and public participation in the decision-making process of project development.

Ø  “The process of identifying, predicting, evaluating and mitigating the biophysical, social, and other relevant effects of development proposals prior to major decisions being taken and commitments made” - The International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA)

Ø  To ensure that decision makers consider the ensuing environmental impacts when deciding whether to proceed with a project.

Ø  Environmental impact statement (EIS) : A review document prepared for assessment in EIA process.

Ø  For large-scale waste treatment and disposal project, such as a municipal waste incinerator or landfill site, the environmental assessment would include criteria: ü  Visual Impact ü  Air Emissions ü  Water Discharges ü  Ash Discharges

ü  Human Health •  exposure to pollutant emission, ingestion via food chain,

water and inhalation. Estimation of hazard and risk.

ü  Fauna & Flora

•  loss of habitat.

ü  Site Operations •  analysis of risks , operational failure, operation noise.

ü  Traffic

ü  Socio-economic Impacts

•  existing industries, benefits to employment & investment.

ü  Land-use and Cultural Heritage

Stages in EIA Screening

to decide which projects should be subject to environmental assessment.

Scoping

is the process which defines the key issues that should be include in the environmental assessment.

EIS preparation

the scientific and objective analysis of the scale, significant and importance of impact identified.

Review

by government agency or an independent review panel advice the decision makers.

INTEGRATED WASTE MANAGEMENT

(IWM)

Ø  IWM has been defined as the integration of waste streams, collections and treatment methods, environmental benefit, economic optimization and societal acceptability into a practical system for any region.

Ø  Implies the use of a range of different treatment and disposal options – no one option is better than other, but it is the best environmentally & economically sustainable for a particular region.

Environmental sustainability à means the options & integration of those options should produce a waste management system that reduces overall environmental impacts , including energy consumption, pollution of land, air and water and loss of amenity.

Economic sustainability à means that the overall costs of waste management systems should operate at a cost level acceptable to all areas of the community, including householders, businesses, institutions, government.

Definition of IWM in terms of the integration of six functional elements:

1)  Waste generation

2)  Waste handling and separation, storage and processing at the source

3)  Collection

4)  Separation, processing and transformation of solid waste 5)  Transfer and transport 6)  Disposal

Legal framework

v  Related to legislations

v  Example: In Malaysia, Ø  Environmental Quality (Industrial Effluent)

Regulations 2009 Ø  Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulations 1978 Ø  Environmental Quality (Control of pollution from solid

waste transfer and landfill) Regulations 2009 Ø  Environmental Quality (Refrigerant Management)

Regulations 1999

Ø  Treatment of waste (sludge) through landfilling – comply with Environmental Quality (Control of pollution from solid waste transfer and landfill) Regulations 2009.

Ø  Treatment of scheduled waste – comply with Environmental Quality (Scheduled waste treatment and disposal facilities ) Regulations 1989

FOR OTHER REGULATIONS, visit www.doe.gov.my

Legal framework

THANK YOU!