You are here:
Estimating Chemical Releases and Evaluating Indicators for Manufacturing Processes: Biorefinery Case Studies
Citation:
Smith, Raymond L., E. Tan, AND Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado. Estimating Chemical Releases and Evaluating Indicators for Manufacturing Processes: Biorefinery Case Studies. American Institute of Chemical Engineers National Meeting, San Francisco, California, November 15 - 20, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
This abstract describes an invited keynote presentation for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, requested by the sustainable biorefineries group, for the National Meeting to be held in November of 2020. The work presented is based on the evolution of research that has developed from pollution prevention to sustainability, and now focuses on quantifying estimates of release profiles for the manufacture or use of chemicals of interest, which by analogy is similar to the evolutionary history of the EPA, today in its 50th anniversary year. The contribution describes methods for estimating manufacture and use releases of various chemicals. These chemicals may present unanticipated health risks that EPA and its Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics must evaluate, as described in the Toxic Substances Control Act as amended by the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act. Other uses of the same inventory of releases may be applied to life cycle assessments or process improvement indicators. The idea of the release estimation method is to develop generic scenarios for common process activities which can be used repeatedly for various processes. In this presentation the case studies are for biorefineries, but the methods can be applied to various processes and chemicals of interest.
Description:
During manufacturing and use of chemical substances, the estimation of releases is critical for environmental and human health impact evaluations. Human health impacts, acidification, smog, and many other environmental impacts are directly related to chemical releases. For example, for human health risk assessments, the risk depends upon the amount of chemical released, the exposure people have, and the toxic effects of the chemical. Other environmental impacts are similarly determined through a combination of releases and impact characterizations. Thus, release estimation is a key step in evaluating the effects of manufacturing, processing, using, and disposing of chemicals. This contribution will describe recent efforts to estimate releases, evaluate indicators for manufacturing with case studies for biorefineries that produce cellulosic ethanol via biochemical and thermochemical routes, and provide tools available to aid in these evaluations [1]. In addition, this contribution offers a practical method that enables stakeholders to estimate releases from on-site utilities and common but often neglected unit operations. It also suggests how to guide process designs or improvements that incorporate knowledge from the indicators. [1] Smith, R.L., Tan, E.C.D., and Ruiz-Mercado, G.J., “Applying Environmental Release Inventories and Indicators to the Evaluation of Chemical Manufacturing Processes in Early Stage Development,” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 7, 10937-10950 (2019); DOI: 10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b01961 The views expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.