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Environmental Assessment of Waste‐Solvent Treatment Options
Author(s) -
Capello Christian,
Hellweg Stefanie,
Hungerbühler Konrad
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of industrial ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.377
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1530-9290
pISSN - 1088-1980
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2008.00009.x
Subject(s) - incineration , life cycle assessment , environmentally friendly , waste management , usable , environmental science , industrial ecology , distillation , solvent , process (computing) , hazardous waste , environmental analysis , process engineering , biochemical engineering , computer science , chemistry , engineering , sustainability , organic chemistry , ecology , chromatography , production (economics) , biology , world wide web , economics , macroeconomics , operating system
Summary A comparison of various waste‐solvent treatment technologies, such as distillation (rectification) and incineration in hazardous‐waste‐solvent incinerators and cement kilns, is presented for 45 solvents with respect to the environmental life‐cycle impact. The environmental impact was calculated with the ecosolvent tool that was previously described in Part I of this work. A comprehensive sensitivity analysis was performed, and uncertainties were quantified by stochastic modeling in which various scenarios were considered. The results show that no single treatment technology is generally environmentally superior to any other but that, depending on the solvent mixture and the process conditions, each option may be optimal in certain cases. Nevertheless, various rules of thumb could be derived, and a results table is presented for the 45 solvents showing under which process conditions and amount of solvent recovery distillation is environmentally superior to incineration. On the basis of these results and the ecosolvent tool, an easily usable framework was developed that helps decision makers in chemical industries reduce environmental burdens throughout the solvent life cycle. With clear recommendations on the environmentally optimized waste‐solvent treatment technology, the use of this framework contributes to more environmentally sustainable solvent management and thus represents a practical application of industrial ecology.