MONASH

CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING

CHE3163 Sustainable Processing I

Cleaner Production

Prof. Gil Garnier

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
Gil.Garnier@Monash.edu
Learning Objectives

▪ To understand the definition of cleaner production and its

relevance to sustainability.
▪ To identify the types and source of waste and their impacts,
their classification and the ways of handling them.
▪ To identify the challenges faced in implementing cleaner
production

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CONCEPT

▪ Cleaner Production is a holistic philosophy of

Process design and Operation.
▪ This is an iterative and continuous approach:
– We can always improve
– We can react to a change or a perturbation
▪ Cleaner Production:
– Consists of maximizing the desired product(s) while minimizing
reactants, undesired co-products, energy and utilities.
– Can be applied to existing or new processes and products.
– Optimizes the environmental, economical and societal impacts

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Definition of Cleaner Production
▪ The United Nations Environment Program has defined
cleaner production as :

“The continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental

strategy to processes and products to reduce risks to humans and the
environment. For production processes, cleaner production includes
conserving raw materials and energy, eliminating toxic raw materials,
and reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastes
before they leave the process. For products the strategy focuses on
reducing impacts along the entire life cycle of the product, from raw
material extraction to ultimate disposal of the product”

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Cleaner Production vs Sustainability
“The continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy
to processes and products to reduce risks to humans and the environment. For
production processes, cleaner production includes
conserving raw materials and energy, eliminating toxic raw materials, and
reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastes
before they leave the process. For products the strategy focuses on reducing
impacts along the entire life cycle of the product, from raw material extraction to
ultimate disposal of the product”
The primary focus is the manufacturing part; however, it is important
to consider the entire product life cycle when targeting cleaner production

REDUCE Consumption/Waste
• Material
• Energy
• Toxic

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 Let’s Look at Wastes
▪ What are wastes?
– Undesired products resulting from the manufacturing process
– Occur in Process and Utility Systems
– Emission to air, water, or land – mass of material lost
– Energy wastage: i.e. waste heat

▪ Cleaner production is applied to

the entire life cycle of a product
from extraction of basic raw materials,
Until final disposal

So, the system boundaries are important!

Analyse one subject at a time - plants and products are in different dimensions

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Generation of Waste during Processing
Where? - everywhere
▪ Purges
▪ Vents and drains
▪ Leaks and spillages
▪ Accumulated deposits
When?- all the time
▪ Normal operation of plant
▪ Abnormal operation, start up or shut down
▪ Maintenance and cleaning of equipment
▪ Transport and storage of process materials

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Common sources of wastes : Process wastes (5)
1. Feedstock impurities coming from the raw materials, often inevitable
2. Waste generated in reactors and separation equipment
– Undesired products from side reactions
3. Energy used in the process
– reactors, separation equipment, recycling streams, transport Additives need
to be replaced
4. Additives – catalysts, solvents, filter-aids, adsorbents from time to
time
5. Packaging for raw materials and products
Packaging also needs to be well-managed to minimise wastes

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Common sources of wastes : Utility wastes
▪ Utilities:
– Supply: water, air, steam
– Energy: electricity, gas, …
– Heating and Cooling systems/fluids
1. Waste products of fuel combustion (heating, electricity)
2. Aqueous effluents eg. blow down from steam and
cooling water systems

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System Boundaries
▪ An important consideration in waste generation is the definition of
system boundaries.

▪ A chemical plant may use electricity from the grid, but in so doing is
contributing to emissions resulting from the generation and
distribution of that electricity.

▪ A chemical plant may use packages for its product, but in so doing
contributes to any wastes emitted in the production, use, recycling or
disposal of the packages.

Cradle- to-Grave
System boundary needs to be considered at any stage of a product cycle - from the beginning to finish

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Waste Management
Diagrammatic representation of
waste management hierarchy in
chemical processes (adapted
from Allen & Rosselot)

Higher the hierachy of the strategy, more

efficient it is, i.e. always optimise source
e.g. Brown coal => Black coal reduction

HIERARCHY OF WASTE MANAGEMENT

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 Impacts of Wastes
The impact of waste can be classified in 3 categories:
1. GLOBAL:
– Global warming (volatile carbon),
– Ozone layer depletion (ChloroFluorinated carbons, CFC)
2. REGIONAL:
– Acid rain (SO2 to H2SO4), nitrification
– Effluent discharge to river/sea/ocean
3. LOCAL:
– Human toxicity (Hg, Pb)
– Emission from nearby factory
Effect
– Short term duration
– Long term duration, eg. land contaminated for future generations

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Driving Forces for Cleaner Production (4)
Customer perception:
"Tesla is such a cool car because it does not only
look amazing, it also uses electricity for power
which reduces carbon emission."

Community perception:
"The factory is producing a lot of black smoke, we
need to report this to the local council so that they
can reduce the emission for health reasons."
Economic
- Potential cost
Regulatory savings
- International - Future cost of
agreements Customer Community remediation
- License to operate Perception Perception - Potential liability
- Need for resulted from
environmental damage to
accreditation environment
- Actual cost in
Perceptions can be either positive or negative
waste treatment

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Obstacles to Introduction of Cleaner Production

Resistance to change

Lack of skilled personnel & appropriate

technology

Time and cost of developing appropriate

technology

Capital costs associated with technical

change

Insufficient return on capital investment

from making the technical change

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Driving Forces vs Obstacles for Cleaner Production

Engineers act as the balance

between driving forces and
obstacles

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Challenges of Cleaner Production
1. Quantify: Develop robust means of assessing or quantitatively
measuring the level of ‘cleanliness’ of a process or product
2. Process Design: Develop cleaner processes, for example by
changes in process design, by using different or purer raw materials,
or by substituting non-toxic materials such as catalysts for toxic
materials
3. Integration: Integrate technical, safety, environmental and economic
objectives in process and product design; ensure that the economic
benefits of cleaner production are clearly identified and justified
4. Defining Boundaries: Identify appropriate system boundaries for
analysis, especially what to include and exclude
5. Manage existing plants and systems for cleaner performance and
ensure continuous improvement
6. Use better techniques for design and revamping process plants,
for example those derived from heat integration and mass
integration.

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•The Journal of Cleaner Production is
an international, transdisciplinary
journal focusing on Cleaner
Production, Environmental, and
Sustainability research and practice.
Through our published articles, we
aim at helping societies become more
sustainable.

'Cleaner Production' is a concept that

aims at preventing the production of
waste, while increasing efficiencies in
the uses of energy, water, resources,
and human capital.

The Journal of Cleaner Production

serves as a platform for addressing
and discussing theoretical and
practical cleaner production,
encompassing environmental, and
sustainability issues in corporations,
governments, education institutions,
regions, and societies.
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Thank you