Grocery bags 195•• Eco-attributes of the materialsAttr.docx

Grocery bags 195
•• Eco-attributes of the materials
Attribute Polypropylene Polycarbonate Cardboard
Embodied energy, virgin material (MJ/kg)* 95 110 28
Carbon footprint, virgin material
CO2,equiv (kg/kg)*
2.7 5.6 1.4
Molding energy (MJ/kg)* 21 18.5
Molding carbon footprint, CO2,eQUiV (kg/kg)* l.6 l.4
Oil-equiv. energy for single wash,
1,000 cups (MJ)
195
*From the data sheets of Chapter 15
Suppose the reusable cups are used, on average, n times. Then
they become
more energy efficient when
n Edisposable >Ereusable + (n -1)Ewash
Inserting the data and solving for n reveal that reusable cups are
more energy

efficient only if reused at least 15 times.
This might be an achievable target in a restaurant, but for
outdoor events it is
totally unrealistic. Garrido and del Castillo, investigating a
major outdoor event at
the Barcelona Universal Forum of Culture in 2004, report the
gloomy statistic that
only 20% of reusable cups were actually returned. The rest
ended up in trashcans
or simply disappeared.
Further reading
Garrido, N. and del Castillo, M.D.A. (2007), "Environmental
evaluation of single-
use and reusable cups," Int. f. LeA, 12, pp. 252-256.
Imhoff, D. (2005), Paper or plastic: searching for solutions to
an overpackaged
world, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. ISBN-13:
978-1578051175.
(What the title says: a study of packaging taking a critical
stance)
8.3 Grocery bags
Few products get a worse press than plastic grocery bags. They
are distributed free,
and in vast numbers. They are made from oil. They don't
degrade. They litter the
countryside, snare water birds, and choke turtles. Add your own
gripe.
Paper bags are made from-natural materials, and they
biodegrade. Surely it's better

to use paper! And come to think of it, why not use bags made
out of jute-it's a renew-
able resource-and use them over and over? That must be the
best of all?
196 CHAPTER 8: Case studies: ceo-audits
A lot of questions. Let's see what answers the data sheets of
Chapter 15 can
give, using CO2 footprint as the measure of goodness or
badness. First we must
look at some real bags (Figure 8.2 and Table 8.3). The function
of an eco-bag is
"low-carbon containment," but there is more to it than that. Bag
1 is a typical one-
use supermarket container. It is made of polyethylene (PE) and
it weighs just 7
grams. Bag 2 is also PE but it is 3 times heavier and the
designer graphics tell you
something else: the bag is a statement of the cultural and
intellectual standing of
the store from which it comes (it is a bookshop). It is attractive
and strong, too
good to throwaway, at least not straight away.
~ Carrier bags. The lightest weighs 7grams, the heaviest weighs
257 grams .
•• The characteristics of the carrier bags shown in Figure 8.2
Bag Material Mass (g) Material CO2
footprint (MJ/kg)*
CO2 footprint, How many

100 bags (kg) reuses?
l.5 1
4.3 3·
6.4 5
7.6 6
20.3 14
28.3 19
Polyethylene (PEl 7 2.1
2 Polyethylene (PEl 20 2.1
3 Paper 46 1.4
4 Paper 54 l.4
5 Polypropylene (PPl 75 2.7
6 Juco-75% jute 25% cotton 257 l.l
*From the data sheets of Chapter 15.
496 CHAPTER 15: Material profiles
Polypropylene (PP)
The material. Polypropylene, PP, first produced commercially in
1958, is the youn-
ger brother of polyethylene-a very similar molecule with similar

price, processing
methods, and application. Like PE it is produced i~ very large
quantities (more than
40 million tons per year in 2010L growing at nearly 10% per
year, and like PEl
its molecule lengths and side branches can be tailored by clever
catalysis, giving
precise control of impact strength, and of the properties that
influence molding and
drawing. In its pure form polypropylene is flammable and
degrades in sunlight.
Fire retardants make it slow to burn and stabilizers give it
extreme stability, both to
UV radiation and to fresh and salt water and most aqueous
solutions.
Composition
(CH2-CH(CH3l)n
General properties
Density
Price
Mechanical properties
Young's modulus
Yield strength (elastic limit)
Tensile strength
Elongation
Hardness-Vickers
Fatigue strength at 107 cycles
Fracture toughness
Thermal properties
Melting point
Maximum service temperature
Thermal conductor or insulator?

Thermal conductivity
Specificheat capacity
Thermal expansion coefficient
Electrical properties
Electrical conductor or insulator?
Electrical resistivity
Dielectric constant
Dissipation factor
Dielectric strength
890
1.85
910
2.05
kg/m"
USDIkg
0.9 1.55 GPa
21 37 MPa
28 41 MPa
100 600 %
6.2 11 HV
11 17 MPa
3 4.5 MPa·m1f2
150 175 DC
100 115 DC
Good insulator
0.11 0.17 W/m·K
1,870 1,960 JIkg.K
122 180 ustrain/rC
Good insulator

3.3 X 1022
2.1
3 X 10--4
22.7
3 X 1023
2.3
7 X 10-4
24.6
uohrrr-cm
Polymers 497
Polypropylene is widely used in household products.
Eco properties: material
Global production, main component
Embodied energy, primary production
CO2 footprint, primary production
Water usage
Eco-indicator
44 X 106
75
2.9
189
254
Eco properties: processing
Polymer molding energy
Polymer molding CO2 footprint

Polymer extrusion energy
Polymer extrusion CO2 footprint
20.4
1.5
5.9
0.44
End of life
Embodied energy, recycling
CO2 footprint, recycling
Recycle fraction in current supply
Heat of combustion
Combustion CO2
Recycle mark
45
2.0
5
44
3.1
metric tonlyr
83 MT/kg
3.2 kgIkg
209 Ukg
millipoints/kg
22.6 MT/kg
1.7 kglkg
6.5 MT/kg
0.49 kgIkg
55 MT/kg
22 kglkg

6 %
46 MT/kg
3.2 kgIkg
&pp
Typical uses. Ropes, general polymer engineering, automobile
air ducting, parcel
shelving and air-cleaners, garden furniture, washing machine
tank, wet-cell battery
cases, pipes and pipe fittings, beer bottle crates, chair shells,
capacitor dielectrics,
cable insulation, kitchen kettles, car bumpers, shatter proof
glasses, crates, suit-
cases, artificial turf, thermal underwear.
Polyethylene (PE)
The material. Polyethylene, (- CH2 -)ll/ first synthesized in
1933, looks like the
simplest of molecules, but the number of ways in which the-
CH2-units can be
linked is large. It is the first of the polyolefins, the bulk
thermoplastic polymers that
account for a dominant fraction of all ,polymer consumption.
Polyethylene is inert,
and extremely resistant to fresh and salt water, food, and most
water-based solutions.
Because of this it is widely used in household products, food
containers, and chopping
boards. Polyethylene is cheap, and particularly easy to mold and
fabricate. It accepts
a wide range of colors, can be transparent, translucent, or
opaque, has a pleasant,

slightly waxy feel, can be textured or metal coated, but is
difficult to print on.
Composition
(-CH2-CH2-)n
General properties
Density
Price
960
1.9
kg/m"
USD/kg
939
1.7
Young's modulus
Tensile strength
Elongation
Hardness-Vickers
Fracture toughness
0.62 0.86 CPa
18 29 MPa
21 45 MPa
200 800 %
5.4 8.7 HV
21 23 MPa
1.4 1.7 MPa·m1l2

Thermal properties
Melting point
125 132 °C
90 110 °C
Cood insulator
0.4 0.44 W/m·K
1,810 1,880 J/kg·K
126 198 ustrain/rC
Dielectric constant
Dissipation factor
Dielectric strength
Good insulator
3.3x 1022
2.2
3 x 10-4
17.7
3 X 1024
2.4
6 x 10-4
19.7
uohm vcm

Further reading 197
Bags 3 and 4 are made of paper. Paper bags suggest a concern
for the environ-
ment, a deliberate avoidance of plastic, good for company
image. But there is more
mass of material here-about seven times more than that of Bag
1.
And finally, reusable bags-"Bags for life" as one supermarket
calls them. Bag 5
is an example. It is robust and durable and looks and feels as if
it is made from a,
woven fabric, but it's not-it's a textured polypropylene sheet.
The color, the
"Saving Australia" logo, and the sense that it really is green
propelled this bag into
near-universal popularity there. Here is one Aussi paper:
"Forget the little black
dress. The hot new item around town is the little green bag."
But isn't murmuring "Green" and "Save the planet" a little bit,
well, yesterday?
Today is Bag 6. Discrete, understated, almost-but not quite-
unnoticeable. Those
who have one have the quiet satisfaction of knowing that it is
made of [uco, a mix
of 75% jute and 25% cotton. But it uses a great deal of material-
36 times more
than Bag 1.
So you see the difficulty. We have wandered here into a world
that is not just
about eontainment but also about self-image and company
branding. Our interest

here is eeo-analysis, not psychoanalysis. So consider the
following question. If the
7 gram plastic bags are really used only once, how many times
do you have to use
the others to do better in eeo-terms? The data sheets of Chapter
15 help here. The
fourth column of Table 8.3 lists their values for the carbon
footprints of PE, PP,
paper, and jute (that for jute includes spinning and weaving). If
you multiply these
values by the masses, taking 100 bags as the unit of study, you
get the numbers in
the fifth column. Divide these by the value for the single-use
bag, and you get the
number of times the others must be used to provide containment
at lower carbon
per use than Bag I-last column.
Now you must make your own judgment. Would you re-use a
paper bag six or
more times? Unlikely-they tear easily and get soggy when wet.
If you don't, Bag 1
wins. Would you use the green Bag 5 more than fourteen times?
I have one and it has
already been used more than that, so it looks like a winner.
Finally Bag 6, the thinking
person's eco-bag, is less good than plastic until you've used it
19 times. Not impossi-
ble, provided nothing leaks or breaks inside it, causing terminal
contamination.
So from a carbon and energy point of view, single-use bags are
not necessarily
bad-it depends how meticulous you are about reusing any of the
others. The real
problem with plastic is its negligible value (so people discard it

without a thought)
and its long life, causing it to accumulate on land, in rivers and
lakes, and in the
sea where it disfigures the countryside and harms wildlife.
Further reading
Edwards, C. and Fry, J.M. (2011), "Life-cycleassessment of
supermarket carrier bags,"
Report: SC030148, The Environment Agency, Bristol, UK.
www.environment-
agency.gov.ul<lstaticidocumentslResearchiCarrier
_Bags_final_18-02-11.pdf.
Accessed January 2011. (An exemplar of LCA at its most LCA-
liRe)
Grocery bags 195
•• Eco-attributes of the materials
Attribute Polypropylene Polycarbonate Cardboard
Embodied energy, virgin material (MJ/kg)* 95 110 28
Carbon footprint, virgin material
CO2,equiv (kg/kg)*
2.7 5.6 1.4
Molding energy (MJ/kg)* 21 18.5
Molding carbon footprint, CO2,eQUiV (kg/kg)* l.6 l.4

Oil-equiv. energy for single wash,
1,000 cups (MJ)
195
*From the data sheets of Chapter 15
Suppose the reusable cups are used, on average, n times. Then
they become
more energy efficient when
n Edisposable >Ereusable + (n -1)Ewash
Inserting the data and solving for n reveal that reusable cups are
more energy
efficient only if reused at least 15 times.
This might be an achievable target in a restaurant, but for
outdoor events it is
totally unrealistic. Garrido and del Castillo, investigating a
major outdoor event at
the Barcelona Universal Forum of Culture in 2004, report the
gloomy statistic that
only 20% of reusable cups were actually returned. The rest
ended up in trashcans
or simply disappeared.
Further reading
Garrido, N. and del Castillo, M.D.A. (2007), "Environmental
evaluation of single-
use and reusable cups," Int. f. LeA, 12, pp. 252-256.
Imhoff, D. (2005), Paper or plastic: searching for solutions to
an overpackaged
world, University of California Press, Berkeley, CA. ISBN-13:

978-1578051175.
(What the title says: a study of packaging taking a critical
stance)
8.3 Grocery bags
Few products get a worse press than plastic grocery bags. They
are distributed free,
and in vast numbers. They are made from oil. They don't
degrade. They litter the
countryside, snare water birds, and choke turtles. Add your own
gripe.
Paper bags are made from-natural materials, and they
biodegrade. Surely it's better
to use paper! And come to think of it, why not use bags made
out of jute-it's a renew-
able resource-and use them over and over? That must be the
best of all?
196 CHAPTER 8: Case studies: ceo-audits
A lot of questions. Let's see what answers the data sheets of
Chapter 15 can
give, using CO2 footprint as the measure of goodness or
badness. First we must
look at some real bags (Figure 8.2 and Table 8.3). The function
of an eco-bag is
"low-carbon containment," but there is more to it than that. Bag
1 is a typical one-
use supermarket container. It is made of polyethylene (PE) and
it weighs just 7
grams. Bag 2 is also PE but it is 3 times heavier and the
designer graphics tell you

something else: the bag is a statement of the cultural and
intellectual standing of
the store from which it comes (it is a bookshop). It is attractive
and strong, too
good to throwaway, at least not straight away.
~ Carrier bags. The lightest weighs 7grams, the heaviest weighs
257 grams .
•• The characteristics of the carrier bags shown in Figure 8.2
Bag Material Mass (g) Material CO2
footprint (MJ/kg)*
CO2 footprint, How many
100 bags (kg) reuses?
l.5 1
4.3 3·
6.4 5
7.6 6
20.3 14
28.3 19
Polyethylene (PEl 7 2.1
2 Polyethylene (PEl 20 2.1
3 Paper 46 1.4
4 Paper 54 l.4

5 Polypropylene (PPl 75 2.7
6 Juco-75% jute 25% cotton 257 l.l
*From the data sheets of Chapter 15.
Polypropylene (PP)
The material. Polypropylene, PP, first produced commercially in
1958, is the youn-
ger brother of polyethylene-a very similar molecule with similar
price, processing
methods, and application. Like PE it is produced i~ very large
quantities (more than
40 million tons per year in 2010L growing at nearly 10% per
year, and like PEl
its molecule lengths and side branches can be tailored by clever
catalysis, giving
precise control of impact strength, and of the properties that
influence molding and
drawing. In its pure form polypropylene is flammable and
degrades in sunlight.
Fire retardants make it slow to burn and stabilizers give it
extreme stability, both to
UV radiation and to fresh and salt water and most aqueous
solutions.
Composition
(CH2-CH(CH3l)n
General properties
Density

Price
Young's modulus
Tensile strength
Elongation
Hardness-Vickers
Fracture toughness
Thermal properties
Melting point
Dielectric constant
Dissipation factor
Dielectric strength
890
1.85
910
2.05
kg/m"
USDIkg
0.9 1.55 GPa

21 37 MPa
28 41 MPa
100 600 %
6.2 11 HV
11 17 MPa
3 4.5 MPa·m1f2
150 175 DC
100 115 DC
Good insulator
0.11 0.17 W/m·K
1,870 1,960 JIkg.K
122 180 ustrain/rC
Good insulator
3.3 X 1022
2.1
3 X 10--4
22.7
3 X 1023
2.3
7 X 10-4
24.6
uohrrr-cm
Polymers 497
Polypropylene is widely used in household products.
Eco properties: material

Global production, main component
Embodied energy, primary production
CO2 footprint, primary production
Water usage
Eco-indicator
44 X 106
75
2.9
189
254
Eco properties: processing
Polymer molding energy
Polymer molding CO2 footprint
Polymer extrusion energy
Polymer extrusion CO2 footprint
20.4
1.5
5.9
0.44
End of life
Embodied energy, recycling
CO2 footprint, recycling
Recycle fraction in current supply
Heat of combustion
Combustion CO2
Recycle mark
45
2.0
5
44
3.1

metric tonlyr
83 MT/kg
3.2 kgIkg
209 Ukg
millipoints/kg
22.6 MT/kg
1.7 kglkg
6.5 MT/kg
0.49 kgIkg
55 MT/kg
22 kglkg
6 %
46 MT/kg
3.2 kgIkg
&pp
Typical uses. Ropes, general polymer engineering, automobile
air ducting, parcel
shelving and air-cleaners, garden furniture, washing machine
tank, wet-cell battery
cases, pipes and pipe fittings, beer bottle crates, chair shells,
capacitor dielectrics,
cable insulation, kitchen kettles, car bumpers, shatter proof
glasses, crates, suit-
cases, artificial turf, thermal underwear.
Polyethylene (PE)
The material. Polyethylene, (- CH2 -)ll/ first synthesized in

1933, looks like the
simplest of molecules, but the number of ways in which the-
CH2-units can be
linked is large. It is the first of the polyolefins, the bulk
thermoplastic polymers that
account for a dominant fraction of all ,polymer consumption.
Polyethylene is inert,
and extremely resistant to fresh and salt water, food, and most
water-based solutions.
Because of this it is widely used in household products, food
containers, and chopping
boards. Polyethylene is cheap, and particularly easy to mold and
fabricate. It accepts
a wide range of colors, can be transparent, translucent, or
opaque, has a pleasant,
slightly waxy feel, can be textured or metal coated, but is
difficult to print on.
Composition
(-CH2-CH2-)n
General properties
Density
Price
960
1.9
kg/m"
USD/kg
939
1.7
Young's modulus

Tensile strength
Elongation
Hardness-Vickers
Fracture toughness
0.62 0.86 CPa
18 29 MPa
21 45 MPa
200 800 %
5.4 8.7 HV
21 23 MPa
1.4 1.7 MPa·m1l2
Thermal properties
Melting point
125 132 °C
90 110 °C
Cood insulator
0.4 0.44 W/m·K
1,810 1,880 J/kg·K
126 198 ustrain/rC
Dielectric constant
Dissipation factor
Dielectric strength

Good insulator
3.3x 1022
2.2
3 x 10-4
17.7
3 X 1024
2.4
6 x 10-4
19.7
uohm vcm
Further reading 197
Bags 3 and 4 are made of paper. Paper bags suggest a concern
for the environ-
ment, a deliberate avoidance of plastic, good for company
image. But there is more
mass of material here-about seven times more than that of Bag
1.
And finally, reusable bags-"Bags for life" as one supermarket
calls them. Bag 5
is an example. It is robust and durable and looks and feels as if
it is made from a,
woven fabric, but it's not-it's a textured polypropylene sheet.
The color, the
"Saving Australia" logo, and the sense that it really is green
propelled this bag into
near-universal popularity there. Here is one Aussi paper:
"Forget the little black
dress. The hot new item around town is the little green bag."

But isn't murmuring "Green" and "Save the planet" a little bit,
well, yesterday?
Today is Bag 6. Discrete, understated, almost-but not quite-
unnoticeable. Those
who have one have the quiet satisfaction of knowing that it is
made of [uco, a mix
of 75% jute and 25% cotton. But it uses a great deal of material-
36 times more
than Bag 1.
So you see the difficulty. We have wandered here into a world
that is not just
about eontainment but also about self-image and company
branding. Our interest
here is eeo-analysis, not psychoanalysis. So consider the
following question. If the
7 gram plastic bags are really used only once, how many times
do you have to use
the others to do better in eeo-terms? The data sheets of Chapter
15 help here. The
fourth column of Table 8.3 lists their values for the carbon
footprints of PE, PP,
paper, and jute (that for jute includes spinning and weaving). If
you multiply these
values by the masses, taking 100 bags as the unit of study, you
get the numbers in
the fifth column. Divide these by the value for the single-use
bag, and you get the
number of times the others must be used to provide containment
at lower carbon
per use than Bag I-last column.
Now you must make your own judgment. Would you re-use a
paper bag six or
more times? Unlikely-they tear easily and get soggy when wet.

If you don't, Bag 1
wins. Would you use the green Bag 5 more than fourteen times?
I have one and it has
already been used more than that, so it looks like a winner.
Finally Bag 6, the thinking
person's eco-bag, is less good than plastic until you've used it
19 times. Not impossi-
ble, provided nothing leaks or breaks inside it, causing terminal
contamination.
So from a carbon and energy point of view, single-use bags are
not necessarily
bad-it depends how meticulous you are about reusing any of the
others. The real
problem with plastic is its negligible value (so people discard it
without a thought)
and its long life, causing it to accumulate on land, in rivers and
lakes, and in the
sea where it disfigures the countryside and harms wildlife.
Further reading
Edwards, C. and Fry, J.M. (2011), "Life-cycleassessment of
supermarket carrier bags,"
Report: SC030148, The Environment Agency, Bristol, UK.
www.environment-
agency.gov.ul<lstaticidocumentslResearchiCarrier
_Bags_final_18-02-11.pdf.
Accessed January 2011. (An exemplar of LCA at its most LCA-
liRe)

MEE 6201, Advanced Pollution Prevention 1
Course Learning Outcomes for Unit III
Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:
3. Explain pollution prevention audits.
Reading Assignment
Chapter 7:
Eco-audits and eco-audit tools
Chapter 8:
Case studies: eco-audits
In order to access the resources below, you must first log into
the myCSU Student Portal and access the
Academic OneFile database within the CSU Online Library.
Cheremisinoff, N. P. (2002). How to conduct a pollution
prevention audit – Part 1: Do an audit in-house and
avoid surprises. Pollution Engineering, 34(3), 24-28.
Cheremisinoff, N. P. (2002). Conduct a pollution prevention
audit – Part 2: Do an audit in-house and avoid
surprises. Pollution Engineering, 34(4), 16-19.
Unit Lesson

Nice job progressing through Units I and II. In Unit III, we'll
study audits. Chapters 7 and 8 in the textbook
discuss eco-audits. This lecture will teach pollution prevention
audits. An eco-audit tends to focus on reducing
energy use and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. If
non-fossil energy sources are used, then CO2
emissions are automatically eliminated, and the focus is on
energy reduction to conserve resources. If fossil
sources are used for energy, then the challenge, though
somewhat the same, moves more toward CO2
reduction, which can occur from reducing energy consumption.
While eco-audits focus on reducing energy
consumption and reducing CO2 emissions, the P2 audit
encompasses more than energy and has an ultimate
goal of source reduction.
Though the Pollution Prevention Act focuses on source
reduction, over the years, businesses have
broadened what they consider as pollution prevention (P2).
According to Cheremisinoff (2002a):
P2 is any practice that:
contaminant reentering any
waste stream or otherwise released into the environment prior to
recycling, treatment and
disposal.
associated with the release of
such substances, pollutants or contaminants.

increased efficiency in the use of
raw materials or through protection of natural resources by
conservation. (p. 24)
Cheremisinoff (2002b) includes the corporate bottom line, "A
P2 investment must be able to stand up to every
other funding request and effectively compete for money on its
own merits" (p. 16). Thus, though companies
must comply with the laws listed in the Unit I lecture (often
seen as costs rather than benefits to management)
UNIT III STUDY GUIDE
Pollution Prevention Audits
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
as they conduct their business, it behooves companies to look at
P2. Not only is P2 helpful to the
environment, good P2 programs benefit a company's finances.
In Unit II, you were introduced to life cycle analysis (LCA).
Understanding the life cycle of a product enables
the P2 manager to locate P2 possibilities, such as fixing leaky
pipes or using more efficient fuel sources. The
textbook reading for Unit III covers eco-audits, while the

supplemental readings cover P2 audits. What is the
difference? An eco-audit focuses on energy use and carbon
dioxide (CO2) emissions with the goal being to
reduce those two quantities.
While a P2 audit will locate production areas where energy
usage can be reduced, it doesn't have the same
focus on reducing CO2 emissions as in an eco-audit. A P2 audit
looks at all types of pollution produced,
excess energy used, and protection of resources. Thus, it is
broader than an eco-audit. The LCA and P2 audit
tend to overlap in coverage but differ in when they are
conducted. An LCA is often conducted before a
process is built, while a P2 audit is conducted during operation.
Cheremisinoff (2002b) outlines the elements of a P2 audit. The
primary phases are:
1. Phase I: Pre-assessment for audit preparation.
2. Phase II: The in-plant assessment.
3. Phase III: Synthesis, benchmarking, and corrective actions.
(p. 17)
Table 1 shows the steps within each phase of a P2 audit.
Phase I: The Pre-assessment (quoted from
Cheremisinoff, 2002b)
Step 1 Audit Focus and Preparation
Step 1.1 Get Ready

Step 1.2 Assemble the Audit Team
Step 1.3 Identify and Allocate Additional Resources
Step 1.4 Select the Subject Facility
Step 1.5 Define the Audit Objectives
Step 1.6 Review Documentation
Step 1.7 Gain Employee Buy-in and Participation
Step 2 List the Unit Operations
Step 2.1 Refine Our Initial Checklist
Step 2.2 Conduct an Initial Walk-through
Step 3 Constructing Process Flow Sheets
Step4 Preliminary Assessment and Next Steps
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Phase II: The In-plant Assessment

Step 5 Determining the Inputs
Step 5.1 Determine the Total Inputs
Step 5.2 Determine the Inputs to Unit Operations
Step 5.3 Consider the Energy Inputs
Step 5.4 Record Information on Process Flow Sheets
Step 6 Accounting for Water Usage
Step 7 Measuring Current Levels of Water Use and Recycling
Step 8 Quantifying Process Outputs
Step 9 Accounting for Wastewater Flows
Step 9.1 Identify the Effluent Discharge Points
Step 9.2 Plan and Implement a Monitoring Program
Step 9.3 Reconciling Wastewater Flows
Step 9.4 Determine the Concentrations of Contaminants
Step 9.5 Tabulate Flows and Concentrations
Step 10 Accounting for Gaseous Emissions
Step 10.1 Quantify the Gaseous Emissions
Step 10.2 Tabulate Flows and Concentrations
Step 11 Accounting for Off-Site Wastes

Step 12 Final Preparation for the Material-Balance System
Step 13 Construct a Material Balance Information Sheet
Step 14 Evaluating Material Balances
Step 14.1 Classify the Material Balances
Step 14.2 Determine the Gaps and Inaccuracies
Step 15 Refine the Material Balances
Phase III: Synthesis, Benchmarking, and Corrective
Actions
Step 16 Low-cost/No-cost Recommendations
Step 17 Targeting and Characterizing Problem Wastes
Step 18 Segregation
Step 19 Developing Long-Term Waste-reduction Options
Step 20 Environmental and Economic Evaluation of P2 Options
Step 21 Developing and Implementing the Action Plan (p. 17)
Table 1 is a good outline of a P2 audit. Specific industries or
processes may have other steps, however.
Several sections of the audit will be presented as examples. As
an example, consider a fictitious company
called ALref that refines aluminum. Recall from Unit II that a

refinery separates aluminum oxide from bauxite
rock and creates alumina. Alumina chemically is Al2O3 and
looks like white powder.
Example of Step 1.1
Step 1.1 Get Ready:
April 11, 2016: Have staff in place for audit. Begin Phase I.
May 6, 2016: Have Phase I completed.
May 9-20, 2016: Discuss Phase I. Modify Phase II and III as
needed.
May 23, 2016: Begin Phase II.
July 22, 2016: Have Phase II completed.
July 25 - Aug 5, 2016: Discuss Phase II. Modify Phase III as
needed.
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
Aug. 8, 2016: Begin Phase III.
Nov. 18, 2016: Complete Phase III.
Nov. 21 - Dec. 9, 2016: Discuss Phase III.
Example of Step 1.7
Step 1.7 Gain Employee Buy-in and Participation:

Set up incentive program for employees to report leaks, suggest
where there are inefficiencies, suggest
alternative energy sources, and suggest P2 opportunities that
they spot. Do not chastise employees for trying
to change anything. Encourage them to find and discuss
possibilities for improvement. Provide $20 gift cards
to lower-level staff who propose ideas that get implemented.
Example of Step 2 (unit operations from Advameg, 2015)
Step 2. Listing the Unit Operations:
water to the crushed rock to dissolve it
and create liquid slurry containing small-sized ore particles.
lets it digest for an hour or so, then
depressurize and reduce the temperature. Result is a mixture of
suspended solids.
waste products called "red mud" (sand, iron
oxides and trace elements from the bauxite). The liquid in the
tanks has a consistency of coffee and
is filtered. Material on the filters is aluminum oxide but is not
yet the finished product.
precipitation tank where aluminum oxide crystals
are added as a seed to the wet aluminum oxide. The wet
aluminum oxide gathers on the seed
making bigger crystals. The crystals settle out.

process are heated to dry them. The
result is the final alumina product.
The unit operations are the key to a P2 audit since they will
lead to P2 opportunities that can be listed in
Phase III. As a student preparing a P2 audit for our course, you
will likely have references (such as the ones
listed in this lecture) due to unfamiliarity with the processes.
However, as a real employee of a company
preparing a P2 audit, you will be familiar with the unit
operations and thus would not have references.
As you move into Phase II of the P2 audit, useful information
for Steps 5 ("Determining the Inputs") and 6
("Accounting for Water Usage") can be found in Chapter 15 of
our textbook. The chapter has over 100 pages
of energy and water requirements to produce various products.
Example of Phase II's Step 13 Material Balance
Using flow meters, measure flow rate Q1 (gpm, i.e. gallons per
minute) of water into the grinding process.
From stoichiometry and heat balances, determine how much
water is used in the process (Q2). Measure Q3,
which is the flow of water (gpm) out of the process. Ideally,
Q3=Q1+Q2. If the computed Q3 and measured Q3
are different by over 10%, then look for leaks in the system.
List material balances for all processes. This lecture presents a
P2 audit outline with examples of some of the
sections as well. Please refer to Chapter 8 of our textbook,
"Case studies: eco-audits," for examples of eco-
audits. Some of the information from an eco-audit (e.g. energy

usage, materials used, and water
consumption) can be used in a P2 audit. The recommendations
in Phase III of the P2 audit should be very
specific. As an ALref P2 manager, you will have walked around
the alumina refinery numerous times,
becoming very familiar with the workers and processes. That
familiarity, along with math computations of
material and energy balances, will provide you with knowledge
of where source reduction and other P2
options can be implemented. Chapter 8 of our textbook gives
very specific numbers for energy use, material
quantities, water consumption, and other items. That type of
detail should be in a P2 audit. Cheremisinoff
(2002a) provides additional examples of P2 audits.
UNIT x STUDY GUIDE
Title
This lecture has contained a lot of information. You now have
an idea of the aspects of a P2 audit. Now, it's
time to go to work and prepare an audit!
References
Advameg, Inc. (2015). How products are made: Volume 5 –

aluminum. Retrieved from
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Aluminum.html
Ashby, M. F. (2013). Materials and the environment: Eco-
informed material choice (2nd ed.). Waltham, MA:
Butterworth-Heinemann.
Cheremisinoff, N. P. (2002a). How to conduct a pollution
prevention audit – Part 1: Do an audit in-house and
avoid surprises. Pollution Engineering, 34(3), 24-28.
Cheremisinoff, N. P. (2002b). Conduct a pollution prevention
audit – Part 2: Do an audit in-house and avoid
surprises. Pollution Engineering, 34(4), 16-19.
Suggested Reading
The following reading addresses eco-data.
Chapter 6:
Eco-data: values, sources, precision
The chapter includes detailed costs, mechanical, thermal,
electrical, and eco properties of many materials,
which are useful to a P2 analysis and/or audit.
Chapter 15:
Material profiles

Course Description
An in-depth study of advanced pollution prevention practices
with the preparation of a pollution prevention management
plan. Emphasizes methodologies that achieve environmental
compliance through less expensive pollution
control methods.
Course Textbook
Ashby, M. F. (2013). Materials and the environment: Eco-
informed material choice (2nd ed.). Waltham, MA: Butterworth-
Heinemann.
Course Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Describe federal laws related to pollution prevention.
2. Conduct life cycle analyses.
3. Explain pollution prevention audits.
4. Evaluate economics of pollution prevention strategies.
5. Examine impact of corporate philosophy on pollution

prevention.
6. Describe pollution prevention strategies for various
industries.
7. Identify best available technologies for various industries.
8. Evaluate the impact of pollution prevention on ecosystems
and biological communities.
Credits
Upon completion of this course, the students will earn three (3)
hours of college credit.
Course Structure
1. Study Guide: Each unit contains a Study Guide that provides
students with the learning outcomes, unit lesson,
required reading assignments, and supplemental resources.
2. Learning Outcomes: Each unit contains Learning Outcomes
that specify the measurable skills and knowledge
students should gain upon completion of the unit.
3. Unit Lesson: Each unit contains a Unit Lesson, which
discusses lesson material.
4. Reading Assignments: Each unit contains Reading
Assignments from one or more chapters from the textbook.
5. Suggested Reading: Suggested Readings are listed in Units I-
VI and Unit VIII study guides. Students are
encouraged to read the resources listed if the opportunity arises,
but they will not be tested on their knowledge of
the Suggested Readings.

6. Discussion Boards: Discussion Boards are part of all CSU
term courses. More information and specifications
can be found in the Student Resources link listed in the Course
Menu bar.
7. Unit Assignments: Students are required to submit for
grading Unit Assignments in Units I-VIII. Specific
information and instructions regarding these assignments are
provided below. Grading rubrics are included with
each assignment. Specific information about accessing these
rubrics is provided below.
MEE 6201, Advanced
Pollution Prevention
Course Syllabus
8. Ask the Professor: This communication forum provides you
with an opportunity to ask your professor general or
course content related questions.
9. Student Break Room: This communication forum allows for
casual conversation with your classmates.
CSU Online Library
The CSU Online Library is available to support your courses
and programs. The online library includes databases,
journals, e-books, and research guides. These resources are
always accessible and can be reached through the library

webpage. To access the library, log into the myCSU Student
Portal, and click on “CSU Online Library.” You can also
access the CSU Online Library from the “My Library” button on
the course menu for each course in Blackboard.
The CSU Online Library offers several reference services. E-
mail ([email protected]) and telephone
(1.877.268.8046) assistance is available Monday – Thursday
from 8 am to 5 pm and Friday from 8 am to 3 pm. The
library’s chat reference service, Ask a Librarian, is available
24/7; look for the chat box on the online library page.
Librarians can help you develop your research plan or assist you
in finding relevant, appropriate, and timely information.
Reference requests can include customized keyword search
strategies, links to articles, database help, and other
services.
Unit Assignments
Unit I Scholarly Activity
Select two out of the three writing prompts listed below. Your
responses to your two chosen prompts should be at least
500 words each. No title page is needed, but be sure to indicate
which writing prompts you are addressing at the top of
each response. Each response needs its own reference page.
Writing Prompts (respond to two only):
1. Explain the origin of the federal Pollution Prevention Act,
including the year it was passed, events leading to its
passage, politics leading up to its passage, by how wide of a

vote it was passed, and which president signed it.
Please use the CSU Online Library, the Internet, the textbook,
and/or other resources to respond. Please cite and
reference all sources used.
2. In Chapters 1 and 2 of the course textbook, Ashby (2013)
discusses materials and energy. After studying the
chapters, select four items total (materials and/or energy) where
minimal cost pollution prevention efforts can
provide the most gain in environmental benefit. Also, discuss
which of the laws listed in the Unit I Lesson apply to
your selections.
3. Address one of the five principles described on page 102 of
the textbook. In your essay, include the date that the
principle was initiated, events that led to the creation of the
principle, the purpose of the principle, your thoughts
about the usefulness of the principle, and any recent
developments that occurred as a result of the principle.
You are required to use at least your textbook as source material
for both of your responses. All sources used, including
the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted
material must have accompanying citations.
Information about accessing the Blackboard Grading Rubric for
this assignment is provided below.
Unit II Scholarly Activity
Select two out of the three writing prompts listed below. Your

responses to your two chosen prompts should be at least
500 words each. No title page is needed, but be sure to indicate
which writing prompts you are addressing at the top of
each response. Each response needs its own reference page.
Writing Prompts (respond to two only):
1. Using the life cycle concepts discussed in Chapter 3, select a
product, and describe its life cycle.
mailto:[email protected]
2. Imagine that you broke a compact disk (CD) that had music
on it. Please respond to the following questions in
paragraph form:
would be needed in your community in order to
have the best end of life option, which is reuse? If reuse is not
possible, discuss re-engineering, recycling, or
combustion as options instead of disposal in a landfill.
4.1, is recycling a possibility?

3. Imagine that you have a smart phone that has been crushed
and is no longer usable. Please respond to the
following questions in paragraph form:
mart
phones?
would be needed in your community in order to
have the best end of life option, which is reuse? If reuse is not
possible, discuss re-engineering, recycling,
combustion as options instead of disposal in a landfill.
Table 4.1, is recycling a possibility?
Unit III Case Study
Select one of the products described in the eco-audit case study
in Chapter 8 of your textbook (e.g., cups, grocery bags,
electric kettle). Using the data in the textbook from the eco-
audit, additional data from Chapter 15 (as necessary), and any
additional resources that you find helpful, prepare a pollution
prevention audit for the product that you have selected. Base
your P2 audit on the steps shown in the Unit III Lesson.

You do not need to use all of the P2 audit steps shown in the
Unit III Lesson, but use at least three major steps from each
phase (a major step being Step 5 rather than Step 5.1). Since
you will not be using all of the steps shown in the Unit
Lesson, you may re-number them if you wish so that your audit
proceeds sequentially without skipping numbers. Your
audit should include an introductory paragraph explaining both
the purpose of a P2 audit and the reasons for including the
steps that you have selected.
Your case study must be at least two full pages in length. All
sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced;
paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying
citations. All references and citations used must be in APA
style. The introduction should be formatted in paragraph form,
and the steps can be formatted as a list.
Unit IV Scholarly Activity
Address all three of the following writing prompts. Your
responses to your three chosen prompts should be at least 350
words each. No title page is needed, but be sure to indicate
which writing prompts you are addressing at the top of each
response. Each response needs its own reference page.
Writing Prompts (respond to all three):
1. Review the Reading Assignment titled as "Pollution
Prevention Practices in Oregon's Electronics Industry" by
Harding and Jones. In your review, include:

industry,
tions discussed in the article,
2. Review the Reading Assignment titled as "Optimal
Deployment of Emissions Reduction Technologies for
Construction Equipment" by Barl, Zietsman, Quadrifoglio, and
Farzaneh. In your review:
t (HE), selective catalytic
reduction (SCR), and fuel additive (FA) technologies.
FA, including a discussion of costs.
the best technology? Explain.

technology (HE, SCR, and/or FA) should be used, or
should none be used?
3. Review the Reading Assignment titled as "Flue Gas
Desulfurization: The State of the Art" by Srivastava and
Jozewicz. In your review:
-fired power
plants and why it is used.
-through process and one
regenerable process.
mmarize the section titled "The MEL [magnesium
enhanced slurry] Cost Model."
manager.
Available Technology (BAT) and whether any of the
FGD processes described in the article are considered BATs.
for all of your responses. All sources used, including the
textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material
must have accompanying citations.

Unit V Essay
Please write an essay about pollution prevention in the dry
cleaning and hydraulic fracturing industries. Include the
following items:
1. one-paragraph introduction;
2. five-paragraph review of the Sinshelmer, Grout, Namkoong,
Gottlieb, and Latif (2007) dry cleaning article,
including an explanation of the common dry cleaning process
using perchloroethylene (PCE), problems with PCE,
and a review of options to PCE presented in the paper;
3. five-paragraph review (total—not five paragraphs for each
article) of the Heywood (2012) article and the Chen, Al-
Wadei, Kennedy, and Terry (2014) article on hydraulic
fracturing, including environmental issues with hydraulic
fracturing and the P2 solutions presented in each of the two
articles (include the use of liquid carbon dioxide);
4. five-paragraph review of the Taylor, Carbonell, and
Desimone (2010) article on using liquid carbon dioxide for P2,
focusing on how liquid carbon dioxide can be used as a
substitute in the dry cleaning industry and in the hydraulic
fracturing industry; and a
5. two-paragraph summary to include your overall thoughts
about P2 in the dry cleaning and hydraulic fracturing
industries, and specifically whether liquid carbon dioxide is a
reasonable, cost-effective, and environmentally-
friendly alternative to traditional methods.

In order to access the resources below, you must first log into
the myCSU Student Portal and access the Academic
Search Complete database within the CSU Online Library.
Use at least the following references:
Chen, J., Al-Wadei, M. H., Kennedy, C. M., & Terry, P. D.
(2014). Hydraulic fracturing: Paving the way for a sustainable
future? Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 1-10.
Heywood, P. (2012, April). Fracking safer and greener? TCE:
The Chemical Engineer, 850, 42-45.
Sinshelmer, P., Grout, C., Namkoong, A., Gottlieb, R., & Latif,
A. (2007). The viability of professional wet cleaning as a
pollution prevention alternative to perchloroethylene dry
cleaning. Air and Waste Management Association, 57,
172-178.
Taylor, D. K., Carbonell, R., & Desimone, J. M. (2010).
Opportunities for pollution prevention and energy efficiency
enabled by the carbon dioxide technology platform. Annual
Review of Energy and the Environment, 25(1),
115-148.
Your paper must be at least three full pages in length, not

including the title page and reference page. All sources used,
including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and
quoted material must have accompanying citations. All
references and citations used must be in APA style.
Unit VI Scholarly Activity
Address both of the following writing prompts. Your responses
to both of your chosen prompts should be at least 500
Writing Prompts (respond to both):
1. Review the Reading Assignment titled as "The Greening of a
Pulp and Paper Mill" by Hill, Saviello, and Groves. In
your review, describe:
built, the strike, number of employees, and amount
of paper produced,
ng process,
technologies, and economics, and

mill from an environmental problem to an
environmental success.
2. Review the Reading Assignment titled as "Greenhouse Gas
Emissions Reduction Opportunities for Concrete
Pavements" by Santero, Loojos, and Ochsendorf. In your
review, describe:
on of
pavements,
embodied emissions, albedo, carbonation, and
vehicle fuel consumption,
861,
lated to concrete paving, and
Unit VII Scholarly Activity
Address both of the following writing prompts. Your responses

to both of your chosen prompts should be at least 500
Writing Prompts (respond to both):
1. Review the Reading Assignment titled as "Designing a Low-
Cost Pollution Prevention Plan to Pay Off at the
University of Houston" by Bialowas, Sullivan, and Schneller. In
your review, describe:
P2 plan,
modifications, and cost savings,
about the university's P2 program.
2. Review the Reading Assignment titled as "Effectiveness of
State Pollution Prevention Programs and Policies" by
Donna Harrington. In your review, describe:

leases Inventory (TRI) and its impact on P2,
conclusions.
Unit VIII Research Paper
Please write a research paper addressing the following:
How important is corporate philosophy to a company's pollution
prevention efforts? Please use an example of one or more
companies to support your position.
The completed assignment must be a minimum of 4-5 pages in
length, not including the title page and reference page.
The paper should have a minimum of three sections: an
introduction, a body, and a conclusion. A minimum of three
references should be used, and at least one of these must be
from a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal. All sources used,
including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and
quoted material must have accompanying citations. You
may use articles cited in previous portions of the course but you
must write new, unique content that was not in any of

your previous submissions in this (or any other) course.
APA Guidelines
The application of the APA writing style shall be practical,
functional, and appropriate to each academic level, with the
primary purpose being the documentation (citation) of sources.
CSU requires that students use APA style for certain
papers and projects. Students should always carefully read and
follow assignment directions and review the associated
grading rubric when available. Students can find CSU’s Citation
Guide by clicking here. This document includes examples
and sample papers and provides information on how to contact
the CSU Success Center.
Grading Rubrics
This course utilizes analytic grading rubrics as tools for your
professor in assigning grades for all learning activities. Each
rubric serves as a guide that communicates the expectations of
the learning activity and describes the criteria for each
level of achievement. In addition, a rubric is a reference tool
that lists evaluation criteria and can help you organize your
efforts to meet the requirements of that learning activity. It is
imperative for you to familiarize yourself with these rubrics
because these are the primary tools your professor uses for
assessing learning activities.
Rubric categories include: (1) Discussion Board, (2) Assessment

(Written Response), and (3) Assignment.
However, it is possible that not all of the listed rubric types will
be used in a single course (e.g., some courses may
not have Assessments).
The Discussion Board rubric can be found within Unit I’s
Discussion Board submission instructions.
The Assessment (Written Response) rubric can be found
embedded in a link within the directions for each Unit
Assessment. However, these rubrics will only be used when
written-response questions appear within the Assessment.
http://www.columbiasouthern.edu/downloads/pdf/success/citatio
n-guide
Each Assignment type (e.g., article critique, case study,
research paper) will have its own rubric. The Assignment
rubrics
are built into Blackboard, allowing students to review them
prior to beginning the Assignment and again once the
Assignment has been scored. This rubric can be accessed via the
Assignment link located within the unit where it is to be
submitted. Students may also access the rubric through the
course menu by selecting “Tools” and then “My Grades.”
Again, it is vitally important for you to become familiar with
these rubrics because their application to your
Discussion Boards, Assessments, and Assignments is the
method by which your instructor assigns all grades.

Communication Forums
These are non-graded discussion forums that allow you to
communicate with your professor and other students.
Participation in these discussion forums is encouraged, but not
required. You can access these forums with the buttons in
the Course Menu. Instructions for subscribing/unsubscribing to
these forums are provided below.
Click here for instructions on how to subscribe/unsubscribe and
post to the Communication Forums.
Ask the Professor
This communication forum provides you with an opportunity to
ask your professor general or course content questions.
Questions may focus on Blackboard locations of online course
components, textbook or course content elaboration,
additional guidance on assessment requirements, or general
advice from other students.
Questions that are specific in nature, such as inquiries regarding
assessment/assignment grades or personal
accommodation requests, are NOT to be posted on this forum. If
you have questions, comments, or concerns of a non-
public nature, please feel free to email your professor.
Responses to your post will be addressed or emailed by the
professor within 48 hours.
Before posting, please ensure that you have read all relevant
course documentation, including the syllabus,
assessment/assignment instructions, faculty feedback, and other
important information.
Student Break Room

This communication forum allows for casual conversation with
your classmates. Communication on this forum should
always maintain a standard of appropriateness and respect for
your fellow classmates. This forum should NOT be used to
share assessment answers.
Grading
Discussion Boards (8 @ 2%) = 16%
Scholarly Activities (5 @ 9%) = 45%
Unit III Case Study = 12%
Unit V Essay = 12%
Unit VIII Research Paper = 15%
Total = 100%
Course Schedule/Checklist (PLEASE PRINT)
The following pages contain a printable Course Schedule to
assist you through this course. By following this schedule,
you will be assured that you will complete the course within the
time allotted.
https://online.columbiasouthern.edu/CSU_Content/common_file
s/instructions/DB/Create_New_Thread_Subscribe.pdf

MEE 6201, Advanced Pollution Prevention Course Schedule
By following this schedule, you will be assured that you will
complete the course within the time allotted. Please keep this
schedule for reference as you progress through your course.
Unit I Introduction to Pollution Prevention
Read:
ide
Discuss:
Discussion Board question by
Saturday,11:59 p.m (Central Time)
Discussion Board response by
Tuesday,11:59 p.m (Central Time)
Time)
Notes/Goals:

Unit II Life Cycle Assessment as it Relates to Pollution
Prevention
Read:
The material life cycle
Discuss:
Time)
Notes/Goals:

Unit III Pollution Prevention Audits
Read:
-audits and eco-audit tools
ase studies: eco-audits
Discuss:
cussion Board Comment: Comment on another student’s
Notes/Goals:

Unit IV
Pollution Prevention in Specific Industries – Construction,
Electronics, and Coal-Fired Power
Plants
Read:
Discuss:
Time)
Notes/Goals:
Unit V Pollution Prevention in Specific Industries – Dry

Cleaning and Hydraulic Fracturing
Read:
Discuss:
e: Submit your response to the
(Central Time)
Notes/Goals:
Unit VI Pollution Prevention in Specific Industries – Pulp and

Paper Milling and Concrete Paving
Review:
Read:
Discuss:
oard Comment: Comment on another student’s
Time)
Notes/Goals:
Unit VII Pollution Prevention Economics
t Study Guide
Discuss:

Time)
Notes/Goals:
Unit VIII Corporate Philosophy
Read:
Guide
Discuss:

Notes/Goals:

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