| Author: | Joyce Smith |
| Title: | The Measurement of the Environmental Performance of Industrial Processes: A Framework for the Incorporation of Environmental Considerations into Process Selection and Design |
| Institution: | Duke University |
| Date: | September, 1996 |
| Advisor: | J. Jeffrey Peirce |
| Key Words: | Design for Environment, process selection, occupational impact indicators, fugacity modeling, environmental degradation products, ozone formation |
| How to Obtain: | Interlibrary loan from Duke University libraries;
UMI dissertation service (order number 9701269); or, directly from the author: Joyce Smith Cooper, PhD Battelle Memorial Institute 4000 NE 41st Street Seattle, Washington 98105 phone: (206) 528-3309 fax: (206) 528-3552 smithjk@battelle.org |
| Abstract: | A framework for the evaluation of industrial processes based on economic
attributes and potential human health and environmental impacts is developed
and implemented. The framework combines Data Envelopment Analysis,
quantitative impact analysis, and Monte Carlo techniques to define state-of-the-art
performance among a set of industrial processes performing the same function.
State-of-the-art performance is defined by processes that maximize production
while minimizing their consumption of economic attributes and the potential
environmental impacts associated with their operation.
The framework is applied to the evaluation of wood furniture finishing processes utilizing nitrocellulose and waterborne coating systems. Each finishing process is characterized by its consumption of labor, energy, finishing materials, and the potential adverse impacts to human health and the environment associated with generated wastes for the amount of finishing solids applied to wood surfaces. Potential impacts related to the inhalation of toxic gases, the ignition and explosion of vapor clouds, and the formation of tropospheric ozone are quantified for the finishing materials wasted. Each impact is quantified with consideration given to both potential exposure and effect. Variations in temperature prove to be essential in the quantification of potential exposures related to impacts within facility boundaries. The contributions of degradation products prove to be essential in the quantification of potential exposures related to impacts outside facility boundaries. Measures of potential effect are used to link the exposure to the adversity of each impact. A statistical distribution of performance scores, on a scale of zero to one, is determined for each wood finishing process. A score of one is indicative of the maximization of production for a minimum consumption of the economic attributes and a minimum potential to produce adverse human health and environmental impacts. Two wood finishing processes are found to comprise the state-of-the-art among the fifteen processes evaluated. The first state-of-the-art process, using waterborne coatings, achieves optimum performance through the consistent minimization of energy consumption and the potential incidence of ignition and explosion of vapor clouds and ozone formation associated with waste generation. The second state-of-the-art process, using nitrocellulose coatings, achieves optimum performance through the consistent minimization of labor. The environmental performance framework provides a new tool for the evaluation of industrial processes. Insight is provided into both the valuable and harmful aspects of industrial activities. Given this knowledge, poorly performing processes may be phased out and state-of-the-art technologies may be improved upon. |