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HIERARCHIAL DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF PROCESSES TO GENERATE WASTE-RECYCLED FEEDS
Citation:
Smith*, R L. HIERARCHIAL DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF PROCESSES TO GENERATE WASTE-RECYCLED FEEDS. Paul, D.R. (ed.), INDUSTRIAL & ENGINEERING CHEMISTRY RESEARCH. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 43(10):2508-2515, (2004).
Description:
Hierarchical Design and Evaluation of Processes to Generate
Waste-Recycled Feeds
Raymond L. Smith
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Research and Development
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
26 W. Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
smith.raymond@epa.gov, fax: (513)569-7111
Abstract
A methodology is described for the hierarchical design and evaluation of processes to make waste-recycled feeds that can be exchanged, thereby furthering efforts aimed at industrial ecology. The methodology consists of nine hierarchy levels that include identifying, transporting, handling, sorting, converting, and purifying the waste-recycled feeds. These levels provide the designer with a systematic procedure for developing waste-to-feed processes. Evaluations at each level show whether a process for recycling a waste is economically and/or environmentally beneficial, or if costs or environmental impacts are actually greater than those saved from using a waste stream. The systematic procedure for designs and evaluations allows one to look for other alternatives immediately when costs or impacts are found to be too high. An example for styrene tar waste shows how the method can be used to design and evaluate waste-to-feed processes. In addition, any part of the process that is currently yet to be designed can use the intermediate results of economic and environmental impact values as targets for the remainder of the design. These targets let the designer know what monetary and impact values to remain below for the process to be economically and environmentally beneficial. In the future, this methodology can be used to analyze specific recycling processes of interest and evaluate their economic and environmental viability.