www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro
Abstract
An environmental assessment method for cleaner production technologies enabling quantitative analysis of environmental impact is presented.
The proposed method is based on material and energy flows and uses a set of profile indices, including raw material, energy, waste, product
and packaging profiles that describe all material and energy flows related to the technology under investigation. The indices are used as a basis
for determining an integrated index for overall environmental assessment of cleaner production technologies.
The presented method can be employed to evaluate environmental nuisance of implemented, modernised and modified technological processes and products as well to perform comparative analyses of alternative technologies.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Cleaner production; Technology environmental assessment; Profile unit indices; Integrated index for environmental assessment of cleaner production
technologies
1. Introduction
An environmental assessment, in particular a valuation of
environmental impact of technical facilities, is a relatively
new research subject. Previously, the related research studies
on pollutant emission levels, volume of generated wastes or
discharged effluents, documented relationships between the
manufacturing activity and deterioration of environmental
quality. As a result, increasingly pressures are being brought
on companies and industrial regions to make dramatic improvements in their environmental and economic performance,
at the same time.
Currently, there is an increasing awareness and acceptance
of environmental problems caused by human activities and
therefore, the urgent need to reduce the adverse environmental
impacts of manufacturing processes and products. In order to
assist corporate and regional leaders to make further progress
with implementing preventative approaches such as the
Both methods are based on assessment of predicted environmental impacts related to the evaluated product (facility).
Regardless of facility to be assessed, both methods use the
same or similar tools, including, for example, checklists, matrix methods, networks, histograms or multi-criteria decisionmaking models [12,14].
In both methods an assessment includes important components such as:
e environmental characteristics of the technology, and
e environmental characteristics of the product.
These procedures are most often used separately and consist of individual assessments of hazards of the analysed technological process or manufactured product.
The concept of the new method for environmental assessment of cleaner production technologies enabling overall evaluation of environmental hazards related to implementation of
technological processes and impact of manufactured product is
presented in this paper.
2. Assumption of the method for environmental
assessment of cleaner production technologies
The proposed method for environmental assessment of
cleaner production technologies consists of evaluations of environmental hazards while enabling quantitative analysis of
environmental loading expressed by material and energy flows
exchanged between the technological processes under investigation (including manufactured product) and the environment.
The technological process is considered as a sequence of unit
processes and operations required to manufacture the product
under consideration.
The method is based on analysis of materials and energy
flows and uses a set of profile indices describing quantitatively,
all materials and energy flows related to the analysed technology. A flow chart of such technological process including profiles of analysed material and energy flows is presented in
Fig. 1.
To avoid any incorrect results of assessment, when preparing the materials and energy characteristics (input and
output balance), the materials and energy flows should
915
The raw material profile comprises raw material characteristics, including quantitative data related to all raw material
flows (primary raw materials, auxiliary raw materials, materials) assigned to the technology under consideration.
The energy profile contains an energy assessment, including quantitative data related to consumption of all power
raw material flows (solid, liquid and gaseous fuels) and any
kind of energy (heat, electricity) used in the process.
The waste profile consists of the characteristics of waste
generation by the technology, including quantitative data related to all waste flows (solid, liquid and gaseous wastes) generated in the process.
The product profile contains an environmental assessment
of products, including quantitative data related to product
flows of adverse environmental impacts resulting from the
technological process.
The packaging profile comprises environmental characteristics of packaging materials used in the technological process,
including quantitative data related to any kind of packaging,
while considering its negative environmental impact.
In each profile the analysed technology is described with
profile unit indices that determine the quantity of individual
mass and energy flows per unit mass of manufactured products.
3. Profile unit indices
3.1. Raw material unit index
Raw Material
Flows
Energy Flows
(energy profile)
TECHNOLOGICAL
PROCESS
Product Flows
(product profile)
Waste Flows
(waste profile)
Packaging Used
(packaging profile)
In raw material profile the raw material unit index (Ws), defined in Table 1, is used.
Index Ws includes all raw materials involved in the technological process (except for energy raw materials and raw materials recovered by recycling), including primary raw
materials, auxiliary materials and water used for technological
or cooling purposes.
3.2. Energy unit index
In energy profile the energy unit index (We), defined in
Table 2, is used. Index We includes total consumption of direct
916
Table 1
Set of formulas and factors taken into account when computing the raw material unit index
Table 3
Set of formulas and factors taken into account when computing the waste generation unit index
Ws
wsi
n
P
wsi ;
i1
msi
Wo
i1
mcp
where:
wsi e partial raw material unit index for i-th primary raw material,
msi e weight of i-th primary raw material used in the technological process,
mcp e total weight of all products manufactured in the technological process.
where:
t.p.u. e ton of standard fuel,
Mt e metric ton 1000 kg,
Qw e calorific value of hard coal (standard fuel).
The total consumption of energy (heat, electricity) used in
the technological process to manufacture product flows e expressed in weight of standard fuel e is reduced by amount of
secondary energy (wew), recovered and used in the process.
3.3. Waste generation unit index
In waste profile the waste generation unit index (Wo), including all types of wastes generated in the technological process, is defined in Table 3.
Gaseous wastes include all dust and gas pollutants emitted
into the atmosphere containing dusts and gases such as: SO2,
Table 2
Set of formulas and factors taken into account when computing the energy unit
index
Energy unit index (We)
We
wei
n
P
i1
zei
n
P
wei wew ;
;
mcp
zew
;
wew
mcp
where:
wei e partial energy unit index for i-th power raw material,
wew e secondary energy unit index for energy recovered in the process,
zei e consumption of i-th power raw material expressed in weight of standard
fuel,
zew e amount of secondary energy expressed in weight of standard fuel,
mcp e total weight of all products manufactured in the technological process.
wosi kosi
m
l
P
P
wocj kocj
wogk kogk kosi ; kocj ; kogk 1 ;
j1
k1
mosi
;
mcp
mocj
wocj
;
mcp
mogk
wogk
;
mcp
where:
wosi e partial waste generation unit index for i-th solid waste,
wocj e partial waste generation unit index for j-th liquid waste,
wogk e partial waste generation unit index for k-th gaseous waste,
kosi e relative toxicity index for i-th solid waste,
kocj e relative toxicity index for j-th liquid waste,
kogk e relative toxicity index for k-th gaseous waste,
mosi e weight of i-th solid waste generated in the technological process,
mocj e weight of j-th liquid waste generated in the technological process,
mogk e weight of k-th gaseous waste generated in the technological process,
mcp e total weight of all products manufactured in the technological process.
wosi
n
P
wpi kpi
kpi 0; .; 1 ;
i1
mpi
;
mcp
msui
kpi
;
mpji
where:
wpi e partial product unit index for i-th product,
kpi e environmental nuisance index for i-th product,
mpi e weight of i-th kind of products manufactured in the technological
process,
mcp e total weight of all products manufactured in the technological process,
msui e weight of environmentally noxious (hazardous) components in i-th unit
product,
mpji e weight of i-th unit product manufactured in the technological process.
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Table 5
Set of formulas and factors taken into account when computing the packaging
unit index
Packaging unit index (Wv)
Wv
wvi
n
P
wvi kvi kvi 1;
i1
mvi
;
mcp
kvs
;
kvi
kvs max
where:
wvi e partial packaging unit index for i-th packaging material,
kvi e relative environmental loading index for i-th packaging material,
mvi e weight of i-th kind of packaging material used in the technological
process,
mcp e total weight of all products manufactured in the technological process,
kvs e total environmental loading index for given packaging material,
kvs max e maximum value of total environmental loading index for packaging
materials under consideration.
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When considering the value of this index obtained for packaging materials under investigation and the maximum value
When using partial unit indices defined in equations presented in Tables 1e5, the above formula takes the following form:
v
!2
!2
!2
!2
!2
u n
n
n
m
l
n
n
u X
X
X
X
X
X
X
t
wocj kocj
wogk kogk
wpi kpi
Wz
wsi
wei wew
wosi kosi
wvi kvi
i1
i1
i1
j1
determined for aluminium packaging (kvs max 13), the relative environmental loading index for i-th packaging material
(kvi) was used.
The results of environmental assessment for principal packaging materials are listed in Table 6.
When determining index Wv all types of packaging materials being used are taken into account (for products manufactured without packaging Wv 0).
4. Integrated environmental assessment index
for cleaner production technologies
The above profile indices Ws, We, Wo, Wp and Wv based on
analysis of material and energy flows are used for determining
the integrated environmental assessment index for cleaner
production technologies, as proposed by the author. The integrated index is a mathematical expression describing the
developed model for overall environmental assessment of
the technological process, while considering environmental
quality of the manufactured products.
The proposed integrated environmental assessment index
for cleaner production technologies (Wz) is equal to the square
root of the sum of squares of profile indices (Ws, We, Wo, Wp
and Wv) and can be written as follows:
Wz
q
2
Ws 2 We 2 Wo 2 Wp Wv 2
i1
k1
i1
Table 6
A scale for environmental impact assessment of common packaging materials
Assessment criteria
Paper (board)
PE
PP
PS
PET
Steel sheet
Environmental degradation
Consumption of natural
resources
Consumption of energy
Emissions
Solid wastes generated
Effect on human health
Environmental loading
indices
Total environmental loading
index (kvs)
Maximum value kvs (kvs max)
Relative environmental
loading index (kvi)
1
0
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
1
1
0
1
1
1
3
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
2
1
3
3
3
0
12
13
e
0.3
e
0.4
e
0.4
e
0.9
e
0.5
e
0.6
e
0.5
e
0.6
13
1.0
PVC
Aluminium
Integrated environmental
assessment index for cleaner
production technologies (Wz)
Below 25
25e50
51e100
101e200
Above 200
quantitatively material and energy flows related to the technology under investigation. In addition, the model includes basic
sources of environmental hazards related to the analysed technology. The model can be extended to include additional components (partial indices), depending on specific features of the
technology under consideration and to cover other environmental impacts such as acoustic nuisance, vibrations or electromagnetic fields.
5. Conclusions
The proposed method for environmental assessment of
cleaner production technologies allows:
e overall evaluation of environmental hazards resulting from
the technological process and manufactured products;
e quantitative analysis of environmental loading related
to material and energy flows used in the process as
well to flows of environmental unfriendly products and
wastes;
e recovery of secondary materials from wastes and recycling
to be taken into account;
e consumption of any power raw materials and use of energy
recovered in the process to be considered;
e any flows of industrial wastes (solid, liquid and gaseous) to
be taken into account;
e any flows of manufactured environmentally noxious products to be included;
e environmental loading resulting from packages used in the
process to be included in the environmental assessment.
The proposed method can be employed, for example, to
assess:
e environmental nuisance of implemented technological
processes and manufactured products;
e modernisation or modification of the technological
process;
e to carry out comparative analyses of alternative technologies (or designs) leading to the manufacture of the same
product or of a modified product.
919
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