Chemical Engineering: new paradigms and environmental syllabus F.Gutiérrez, M.A.Sanchiz, M.T.Hernández, E.Atanes DPT. QUIMICA INDUSTRIAL Y POLIMEROS, TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY (UPM), MADRID - SPAIN Chemical Engineering: new paradigms and environmental syllabus F.Gutiérrez, M.A.Sanchiz, M.T.Hernández, E.Atanes DPT. QUIMICA INDUSTRIAL Y POLIMEROS, TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY (UPM), MADRID - SPAIN Re-orient ChE education to promote the new paradigm of sustainability, moving beyond basics and environmental engineering, and translate `abstract ideas´ into definite problems where engineering´ science can be put into action (solving skills) Environmental problems are systemic and thus require a `systems approach´, at different levels, that provides a holistic view of connections between industrial practices and human activities, making them easier to identify and solve: key issues include the use of resources, ecological and human health, and environmental equity (both intergenerational and intersocietal) 1) Define sustainability scores (social, environmental & economical) Increasing economy and quality of life, while decreasing resource consumption and pollution: F Uncoupling between a growing welfare and the use of nature (factor x) operationalizedappropiate strategies F Targets for improvement to be operationalized by appropiate strategies Problem analysis (sources, effects) and solutions (options, actions) going “up the pipe” from the discharge to the production processes, even further to the supply operations, and ultimately to the design of products themselves; the systems using the inputs and creating the wastes are analized for opportunities to reduce them by improving efficiency, training, purchase or other, and these are implemented based on technical and economical feasibility, while CP or P2 have expanded to include the full life cycles and the use of whatever method works With increasing population and material standard of life, the demand of products of humankind seem to increase by a factor of 5 or more over the next 50 years (the task is to increase efficiency to fulfil these needs, i.e. reduce the demand, resource consumption and impacts per service provided). specific actions by individual firms Polution prevention (P2): focus in use of materials, processes or practices that mitigate the pollutants in origin, and refers to specific actions by individual firms, rather than collective activities of the industrial system as a whole (industrial ecology). linear nature cyclical system Industrial ecology studies the interaction between industrial and ecological systems, with the goal of changing its linear nature (raw materials, products and wastes) to a cyclical system (where processes are integrated and by-products are optimized by reusing wastes as energy or material inputs for another products). Life Cycle concepts Design for environment (DfE), Life cycle design (LCD) and similar initiatives, are the system-oriented strategies to sustainable products based on Life Cycle concepts and the “design for X” approach, where X represent a downstream design consideration (eg. reliability). Substantial activity is directed at the production levels using tools as LCA/LCD and strategies such as P2 (micro, meso & macro-scale options); but current approaches rely heavily on `engineered-technical solutions´ to enviro-problems: changing industrial systems must be balanced properly with changes in social patterns. 2) Evaluate problems to obtain indexes for specific activities Manufacturing industry raw materials and energy is needed to effect transformationswaste is produced Manufacturing industry is concerned with processing materials and the laws of science govern these operations. Two consecuences follow from this: raw materials and energy is needed to effect transformations and waste is produced. describe the situation that currently existimprovements u The best that can be achieved is to minimize the use of resources and reduce waste production; and the 1 st step in this attempting is to describe the situation that currently exist because this is the basis against which any future improvements will be judged. Life cycle inventories: taught at level of engineering fundamentals (mass and energy balances) Characterization and valuation of impacts 3) Select and implement solutions Yielding options for the redesign of a process or a product, in combination with cost and technological feasibility Classification of environmental innovations.- Assess and weighting technical and economic performance of opportunities to save materials, energy and water, and to reduce emissions, effluents and wastes, form compounded-priority classes ranking from radical to low efficient techs MINIMIZATION HYERARCHY: Improvement measures can follow the demand-supply chain at the different hierarchical-synergic levels:  Demand of products can be reduced  Prod´s are redeveloped -ecodesign- to decrease production and use efforts (volumes, energy and/or hazardous)  Production can be re-engineered to reduce process efforts by integration (e.g. industrial symbiosis)  Individual processes are re-designed using cleaner techs to decrease its environmental interchanges and treatment efforts. Integrated pollution prevention and control: Address sustainable consumption patterns by providing customer satisfaction through systems integrating products and services with net reduction of the use and impacts during life cycle (i.e. supplier of paints) Product-service systems, p.stewardship: Address sustainable consumption patterns by providing customer satisfaction through systems integrating products and services with net reduction of the use and impacts during life cycle (i.e. supplier of paints) Chemical management services (CMS) rather than physical products or volume as basis of supplier compensation by: dematerialization, use intensification, life extension, ecodesign, and, in general, alternative f. fulfilment (AFF) critical analysis of the current solutions, the underlying needs, the way they are fulfilled, and generate innovative concepts: four hieralchical stages of eco-design and innovation; i.e. cars Product strategies into increased design spaces: critical analysis of the current solutions, the underlying needs, the way they are fulfilled, and generate innovative concepts: four hieralchical stages of eco-design and innovation; i.e. cars