CLEANER PRODUCTION IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION

The chemical sector in India has been registering the highest growth rate in the country since
independence. The chemical industry accounts for the highest industrial weighting of 12.51
% in the index of industrial production. The latter also makes the largest contribution to the
gross industrial production which is about 15 %.

THE CLEANER PRODUCTION METHODOLOGY

Acetyl Sulfonyl Chloride (ASC) is a product having wide application in dyes and dye-
intermediate as well as in the drugs and pharmaceutical sector.

The main objective of the study was to identify and prove the techno-economically feasible
Cleaner Production (CP) measures to reduce the generation of waste from the production
process of ASC. The step-by-step approach, ensured to implement the methodology to
achieve Cleaner Production in this factory is described.

1. GETTING STARTED

The CP study started with the CP team formation. The team comprised of the following plant
personnel:

Managing Director, Process In charges, Operator Maintenance, In-charge Environmental

engineer.

2. ANALYSING PROCESS STEPS

• Material Balance

The stoichiometric calculations were done for each chemical process in order to find out the
percent excess of reactants and percent yield of the products.

• Waste Sources, Quantification, Characterisation and Costing

The waste generation from the process step is detailed under:

a) Waste water: Filtration and sludge washing operations are the sources of waste water
generation. It has been estimated that about 46.3 mᶟ wastewater is generated from sulfonation
stage.

b) Gaseous Emission: The sources of air pollution are as follows:

i) HCl gas from the sulfonation vessel.

ii) HCl gas from the drowning vessel.

c) Cause Analysis

Based on the detailed process study, critical observations, mass balance and results of
stoichiometric calculations, the causes were assigned to each type of waste streams including
spillages from the different handling activities. Poor raw material quality, poor process or
equipment design was the causes of the waste generation.

3. GENERATION OF CLEANER PRODUCTION OPPORTUNITIES

Based on the source analysis, the CP options were identified. About 28 options are identified
in the sulfonation stage. Of these 28 options 6 are for energy conservation. The unit operation
wise break-up of the options is presented below.

4. SELECTION OF CLEANER PRODUCTION SOLUTIONS

An option was termed as a solution when the Technical Feasibility, Economic Viability and
Environmental sustainability were verified. These options were subjected techno-economic
viability as well as environmental aspects evaluation to select the measures for
implementation.
14 options were identified as the techno-economically viable and environmentally suitable
measures. Since, the impacts of implementation for some of the options were inter-related,
they were implemented in groups. The implemented CP solution in each process step is listed
below:

5. RESULTS OF CP

The summary of the major results and the estimated benefits after the implementation of all
the options are presented below. The group wise economic viability of the major solutions are
presented below:

Pollution Prevention
The environmental benefits of the solutions are as follows:

Hydraulic load reduction = 71 %

Acidity Reduction = 85 %

COD load Reduction = 90 %

The recovery of by-products from the waste streams is:

224 kg Hydro chloric acid per batch

200 kg sulfanilic acid per batch

8800 kg 70 % sulfuric acid per batch

CONCLUSION

CP programs for the chemical industries of India are currently in the elemental stage and the
following factors require careful considerations for the successful implementation of the
programs:

Multiplication factor of the program

Attitudinal barriers of the concerned persons

Technological support to the demonstration units

International support in the form of experts and technologies

PLAGIARISM CHECK