Author: Muhammad Ahmad

Sulfur is often considered one of the four basic raw materials in the chemical industry. It can be recovered as a by‐product from sulfur removal and recovery processes (Kirk and Othmer 2004). Historically, sulfur recovery processes focus on the removal and conversion of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) to elemental sulfur, as these species…

Methanol, formed during the pulping of wood and is contaminated with reduced sulfur compounds and terpenes, is the largest single source of VOC emissions from kraft pulp mills, accounting for 70–80% of total emissions. The Cluster Rule (Cluster Rule Regulation: 40CFR Part 63 1998) limits methanol emissions for all pulp mills in the United States. Canada…

A cost comparison was made for two most promising processes – replacing chromate conversion coating and zinc phosphatizing. These were chosen based on the potential cost savings that industry could achieve. There would appear to be a significant economic incentive to migrate existing practice to this new technology, based on the significant capital and annual…

The USEPA recently completed a study of the proprietary Picklex process. Picklex® is a “‘non‐polluting’ pretreatment/conversion coat which replaces chromate conversion coating and zinc & iron phosphatizing in powder coating, paint and other organic finish applications” (Ferguson and Monzyk 2003; Ferguson et al. 2001). Description Metal pretreatment is crucial for cleaning and oxide removal to obtain proper…

Moving Toward the Zero Discharge Goal A highly desirable “state” for environmental protection would be Zero Discharge of pollutants to the air, water, and land. Today, this is a goal not yet realized. However, “approaching” Zero Discharge has been found to be realistic, as demonstrated by the continual improvement in environmental performance achieved in the…

Surface finishing of metal products is a major manufacturing operation performed in thousands of production shops to provide weather‐resistant, wear‐resistant, and aesthetically pleasing finishes for thousands of manufactured products.1 Surface‐finishing technology involves direct atom‐to‐atom bonding between a base material (such as steel, aluminum, brass, or plastics) and a metal or organic surface top coating that provides…

A critical element of an interim strategy is enhanced recovery. This can be approached from two directions: reuse of products and recycling of materials. Reuse of products includes return, reconditioning, and remanufacturing. The energy required for reuse and recycling is one of the key factors determining recoverability of a product. The closer the recovered product is…

As companies incorporate pollution prevention approaches in their strategic planning, capital investment priorities, and process design decisions, it is vital that they understand both the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of assessing pollution prevention projects. These projects tend to reduce or eliminate costs that may not be captured in cursory financial analyses due to the way…

A complete financial analysis requires the inclusion of CF. On a year‐by‐year basis, the CF from a manufacturing investment is determined through calculations of cash costs, total costs, and cost‐effectiveness. Cash costs, those associated with operating and overhead, include raw materials (chemicals, catalysts, solvent, etc.) utilities (steam, electricity, natural gas, water, etc.), maintenance materials and…

Technology evaluation encompasses not only technical feasibility of a particular technology but also the economics of its implementation. While there are many measures of economic merit, two measures – investment and net present value (NPV) – provide a complete set of information on which to base an informed, economic decision. “Investment” refers to the money…