Reduction of air pollution by pollution prevention approach in the Czech Republic

Transcription

1 Reduction of air pollution by pollution prevention approach in the Czech Republic M. Kuras, V. Dobes, J. Stejfa and M. Bfezina ^ Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, Technickd 5, CZ Prague, Czech Republic Mecislav.Kuras@vscht.cz, Milan.Brezina@vscht.cz Czech Cleaner Production Center, Boticskd 4, CZ 128 Prague, Czech Republic dobes@cpc.cz, stejfa@cpc.cz Abstract This paper provides information on possibilities to reduce air pollution by preventive cleaner production techniques, which bring double benefit: improvement of environmental performance and enhancement of competitiveness at the same time. Air protection is considered to be investment needing however, we would like to show that there can be also non investment measures find providing significant reduction of air emissions and economic savings. These possibilities are illustrated on the example of Czech pharmaceutical enterprise VUAB. Background information on demonstration project is given, main cleaner production measures and their effects described and some observations are given in conclusions. 1 Introduction Cleaner production (CP) as defined by UNEP is the continuous application of an integrated preventive environmental strategy to processes, products and services to increase efficiency and reduce risks to humans and the environment. For production processes, CP includes conserving raw materials and energy, eliminating toxic processing materials and reducing the quantity and toxicity of all emissions and wastes before they leave a production process.

2 158 Air Pollution For product, the approach focuses on the reduction of environmental impacts along the entire life cycle of a product, from raw material extraction to the ultimate disposal of the product, by appropriate product design. The Czech Republic is facing enormous challenges ahead in the course of transition. Czech companies are under competitive pressure of free market economy, while faced with increasingly tougher environmental regulations. CP is a win-win strategy to overcome those two seemingly conflicting challenges. More than 7 CP demonstration projects completed in the Czech Republic proved that: 1) The potential to decrease the industrial waste under the conditions of permanent grow of competitiveness among the enterprises is rather significant (possible input cost saving is estimated up to at least 1,5 bil. USD in the run of six years). 2) This potential is not systematically utilized by majority of the enterprises. Companies invest into corrective measures (end-of-pipe technologies) even in sectors where they could decrease the quantity of produced pollution by integrating the CP innovative measures in production technologies. This is illustrated by the demonstration project in Czech enterprise VUAB that is in more detail described later. Demonstration project was developed within the long-term training programs including both lectures and on-the-job training. This project was implemented within the capacity building program of the Czech Cleaner Production Centre (CPC) in cooperation with Institute of Chemical Technology Prague. The CPC mission is to catalyze and coordinate, as a non-for-profit and independent organization, the efforts to promote CP in the Czech Republic. The purpose is to achieve wide-scale and sustainable application of CP in the country, thereby improving resource productivity at firms and reducing environmental damage caused by industry. The Institute of Chemical Technology Prague is the Technical University having the research and education activities in all branches of applied chemistry, including environment protection and waste management The CPC was established in 1994 under a framework of the Czech- Norwegian Cleaner Production Project ( ). The project succeeded in building a basic capacity in CP in the Czech Republic [1,2]. One of the critical factors for success was the emphasis on the train-the-trainer approach. The graduates of training programs joined the Association of Managers for Cleaner Production (AMCP), which has been serving as associates of the CPC for providing training and advisory service to industry. The CPC is further broadening its operations under the support of UNIDO/UNEP National Cleaner Production Center (NCPC) Program. The Center has participated in the program since the beginning of The distinctive approach of the CPC is to forge professional capacities within companies, so that they can continue to apply CP practices on their own even after the external assistance is over. This was also the case of the pharmaceutical enterprise VUAB.

3 Air Pollution Emission Prevention - Case Study VUAB Enterprise 2.1 Characteristics of the VUAB Enterprise The Antibiotics and Bio-transformation Research Institute (VUAB) is a mediumsized state-owned pharmaceutical company focusing mainly on the biotechnological production of pharmaceutical substances. Its typical by-product consists of a considerable volume of solvents, which are realized partly in the form of air emissions and, to a smaller extent, also in the form of wastewater pollutants. Since 1972 the enterprise has been producing ephedrine as a basic substance for the production of many other Pharmaceuticals. The product is for the most part exported and the VUAB company has already won a significant position on the world market 2.2 I-st Phase of the CP Project in the Enterprise Before the task was assigned, it had already been assumed that ephedrine production generates a large number of various waste products and there are considerable losses on solvents used in the production, which escape from the production (escapes of VOC) by means of an unknown mechanism This undesired side effect causes considerable damage to the environment and also decreases production yield. These findings constituted a sufficient base for the project's first phase, which was aimed at finding the inefficiencies in the operation of the evaporating unit, and also at proposing appropriate corrective measures. This phase lasted from 1994 to In the production process there are considerable losses on solvents, namely butyl-acetate and acetone. The production losses also include ethanol, which is generated as a by-product. A considerable volume of platinum escapes during the production process and the volume of emissions (benzaldehyde, butylacetate, QHy) in ratio exceeds the limits. The production was not supported by any measuring equipment and a number of technological operations were based only on the expertise of experienced employees. There were also hardly any written documents concerning the material flows in the enterprise, and if there were, they were difficult to obtain. After assessing the most problematic sites, balancing the situation regarding waste flows, and generating ideas, individual alternatives were evaluated. Some of the measures only reflected the level of the existing technology and were therefore more of a corrective nature. Unprofessional interference in the technology during its operation resulted in considerable damage to the expected yield of the machinery. It included measures like "reviving blinded sensors", "closing container manholes" in order to reduce the volume of evaporated ethanol etc. The plant documentation was completely revised, the evaporator operating instructions were thoroughly examined, and the changes carried out were evaluated.

4 16 Air Pollution Evaluation of the Measures: Closing the vapor containers: This measure will reduce air emissions by approximately 11 kg per charge (In 1995 the overall number was 457 charges) Recycling the vacuum pump water: The losses on one charge will be reduced by 5 kg Reducing the volume of ethanol in the VUAB wastewater treatment plant: The implementation of the optimizing regime may gain as much as 5 kg of ethanol from one charge, which will decrease the burden on the wastewater treatment plant by 1 42 kg of O: per charge. Disposal of the concentrate in the VUAB wastewater treatment plant: The process of minimizing the volume of ethanol may create capacity for the disposal of bottom discard concentrate and thus cut the costs of its disposal in the wastewater treatment plant The overall contribution of all the proposed and evaluated measures amounted to 87 USD per year, which included both savingson the process and savings on the waste (Table 1 and 2) The labor intensiveness of this phase of the project was assessed to be 3 persondays. Table 1 Summary evaluation of the project - I-st phase Butyl-acetate A total of 45 tons/year 87 USD Main reduced waste flow Volume of main waste flow reduced by CP Total financial savings achieved through the project Total investment needed to implement the measures Average payback period for the whole project (sewerage) Total savings on waste Total savings on the process 1 USD of non-investment measures Approximately 1 month 32 USD 55 USD

5 Air Pollution 161 Effects Table 2 Effect of cleaner production approach - I-st phase Units Noninvestment measures Increase in solvent recuperation Reducing wastewater volume Reducing the volume of wastewater Emissions Financial savings and profits Single saving on investment t/year tof COD/year nrv year t/year USD/year USD Investment with a payback period of less than.5 year Total n-nd Phase of the CP Project in the Enterprise The second phase of the CP project in the enterprise, which was aimed at reducing the volume of waste generated during the production of pharmaceutical substances, took place between This phase was already fully within the competence of an employee trained in the CP courses organized by the CPC (a CP course graduate).. The project was consequently focused on cutting the losses and increasing the regeneration of solvents used in the production of Pharmaceuticals, and thus reducing the wastewater inlet into the company wastewater treatment plant A large number of alternatives was generated by means of brainstorming, most of which were successfully realized. They included, for example, the improvement of production technology. This measure was, like thefirstphase of the project, aimed at a large number of inappropriate adjustments carried out during the production existence. Correction of these adjustments resulted in successful optimization of the production process. Another corrective measure was focused on an evaporator column. Now the improved column enables the regeneration of ethanol. This further resulted in reducing the volume of discharged wastewater. The wastewater treatment plant was also successfully adjusted, and a customer for the ethanol generated was found (Table 3 and 4).

6 162 Air Pollution Table 3 Summary evaluation of the project- II nd phase Main reduced waste flow Volume of main waste flow reduced by CP Totalfinancialsavings achieved through the project Total investment needed to implement the measures Average payback period for the whole project (sewerage) Total savings on waste Total savings on the process Effects Increase in solvent recuperation Reducing wastewater volume Reducing the volume of waste water Emissions Financial savings and profits Single saving on investment t/year t of COD/ year m / year t/year USD/ year USD Wastewater inlet at wastewater treatment plant Reducing the volume by 13 nr* and ton of COD per year 5 USD per year and a single saving on the wastewater treatment plant reconstruction for approx. 1.3 mil. USD 55 USD investment measures and 9 7 non-investment measures Approximately 1.5 months 161 USD (sewerage 13 USD, saving on drinkable water consumption decrease 58 USD) 339 USD (274 USD used regenerated butyl-acetate, 64 5 sales of ethanol) Table 4 Effect of cleaner production ] apj)roach -End phase Units Noninvestment Total measures This phase was assessed at 6 persondays. 2.4 m-rd Phase of the CP Project in the Enterprise Investment with a payback period of less than.5 year The situation in this company underwent a major change in 1997, when VUAB asked the American company FDA (The Food and Drugs Administration) to register their ephedrine. This resulted in considerably more strict production indexes (of all types)

7 Air Pollution 163 The previous projects along with several years' work of the CP manager constituted a base for assessing an overall balance of escapes including the already established regeneration. It became clear that the biggest problem from the economic point of view is the escape of platinum. Air emissions (C%Hy, NOx) escaping from the technological equipment and the boiler house are the most significant from the legal angle. As a result of its uncompleted privatization the enterprise did not have the funds to cover a more financially demanding solution, therefore there was a marked search for a maximally effective solution aiming at reducing emissions and a subsequent decrease in the losses of platinum and solvents. The sites of the escapes were already known, as mentioned above. In the first place these were the plant air-conditioning, fermentor outlets, centrifugal exhausts, the conditioning exhaust from the hydrogenation and others. In this particular case, the possible use of end-of-pipe technologies was very limited, not just as a result of the company's financial situation, but also because of the fact that these problems had not been dealt with in a satisfactory way, as was proved by the enterprise's analysis. The balance found many faults, resulting from long neglect of the production plant. The corrective measures were implemented without investment immediately after the project has been completed (Table 5). The verification of individual proposals during the analysis included: checking on the economy of the combustion process of the boiler, which does not meet the current environmental limits. A new boiler will be purchased, as improvements of the existing one do not solve anything. cooling the hydrogenate before separation of Pt using of closedfiltrationequipment sealed-off hydrogenate filters cooling the escaping air - solvent condensation. This measure resulted in a very efficient and cheap solution, which led as far as the creation of a patent. other realized measures go beyond the scope of this paper Table 5 Project Economic Evaluation: Effects for the environment Raw material savings Input reduction at wastewater treatment plant Energy savings Emission reduction Investment need Realization period Total savings within 1 year of introduction Average payback period Reduction of production costs 147 USD 24 5 USD 75 USD 6 5 USD 758 USD Less than 1 year 255 USD 3 years

8 164 Air Pollution 3 Conclusions The demonstration project showed that: - a double benefit of CP can be reached even through non-investment measures or simple improvements of existing technology the origin of air pollution is connected with production inputs and its reduction can be reached through optimization of material flows within the technology this optimization is often connected with reduction of other waste flows (generation of solid waste and water pollution) implementation of CP is labor intensive as there is need for detailed analysis of the real causes of pollution generation. More extensive application of CP in the Czech Republic strikes mainly against the following impediments: The lack of information on CP potential in particular enterprises (lack of information on material, energy and financial flow). Often blurred business strategies, unclear company ownership and the unstable economic situation. The system of environmental management in public and private sectors is still based upon an ex-post solutions approach and end-of-pipe corrective measures. The implemented end-of-pipe technologies are one of the important obstacles to implementation of CP assessment 4 References 1. Kuras M, Kupec I, Dobes V.: Minimisation of waste from some chemical processes by cleaner production approach, First European Congress on Chemical Engineering, Florence, Italy, May , Proceedings, Vol. 1 pp Kuras M., Kupec I, Dobes V.: Industrial waste prevention by application of cleaner production assessment in the Czech Republic, 13* International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management, Philadelphia, Pa, November , Proceedings, Vol. 1, session 4D.