A new Hazardous Waste Index.
TL;DR: A new Hazardous Waste Index (HWI) is proposed in this paper, which measures hazards related to flammability, reactivity, toxicity and corrosivity as well as the pH value for a hazardous waste.
Abstract: Hazardous wastes, once generated, have to be stored, transported, treated, disposed off, recycled, depending upon the situation. With laws being tightened, all of the above operations have to be done safely without causing harm to people and environment. Before any operation is carried out, it is vital to know the hazardous characteristics of the waste to be handled. Because waste, generally, is a mixture instead of a pure compound, its hazardous characteristics are difficult to determine and generalize because each waste is specific. A new Hazardous Waste Index (HWI) is proposed in this paper. The index measures hazards related to flammability, reactivity, toxicity and corrosivity as well as the pH value for a hazardous waste. Two examples are given for its use. The index can be modified to include radioactive or mixed waste.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: A new automated algorithm for waste classification that takes into account physicochemical and toxicity effects of the constituent chemicals to humans and ecosystems, in addition, to the exposure potency and waste quantity is proposed.
Abstract: In the literature on hazardous waste classification, the criteria used are mostly based on physical properties, such as quantity (weight), form (solids, liquid, aqueous or gaseous), the type of processes generating them, or a set of predefined lists. Such classification criteria are inherently inadequate to account for the influence of toxic and hazard characteristics of the constituent chemicals in the wastes, as well as their exposure potency in multimedia environments, terrestrial mammals and other biota. Second, none of these algorithms in the literature has explicitly presented waste classification by examining the contribution of individual constituent components of the composite wastes. In this two-part paper, we propose a new automated algorithm for waste classification that takes into account physicochemical and toxicity effects of the constituent chemicals to humans and ecosystems, in addition, to the exposure potency and waste quantity. In part I, available data on the physicochemical and toxicity properties of individual chemicals in humans and ecosystems, their exposure potency in environmental systems and the effect of waste quantity are described, because they fundamentally contribute to the final waste ranking. Knowledge acquisition in this study was accomplished through the extensive review of published and specialized literature to establish facts necessary for the development of fuzzy rule-bases. Owing to the uncertainty and imprecision of various forms of data (both quantitative and qualitative) essential for waste classification, and the complexity resulting from knowledge incompleteness, the use of fuzzy set theory for the aggregation and computation of waste classification ranking index is proposed. A computer-aided intelligent decision tool is described in part II of this paper and the functionality of the fuzzy waste classification algorithm is illustrated through nine worked examples.
39 citations
TL;DR: A framework for risk assessment due to offsite transportation of hazardous wastes is designed based on the type of event that can be triggered from an accident of a hazardous waste carrier and computes the impacts due to a volatile cloud explosion based on TNO Multi-energy model.
Abstract: A framework for risk assessment due to offsite transportation of hazardous wastes is designed based on the type of event that can be triggered from an accident of a hazardous waste carrier. The objective of this study is to design a framework for computing the risk to population associated with offsite transportation of inflammable and volatile wastes. The framework is based on traditional definition of risk and is designed for conditions where accident databases are not available. The probability based variable in risk assessment framework is substituted by a composite accident index proposed in this study. The framework computes the impacts due to a volatile cloud explosion based on TNO Multi-energy model. The methodology also estimates the vulnerable population in terms of disability adjusted life years (DALY) which takes into consideration the demographic profile of the population and the degree of injury on mortality and morbidity sustained. The methodology is illustrated using a case study of a pharmaceutical industry in the Kolkata metropolitan area.
37 citations
TL;DR: The results demonstrate that the fuzzy algorithm can be useful in aiding policy and decision-makers in conducting comprehensive initial evaluation of the status of waste hazardous status without the need for costly laboratory experiments.
Abstract: In this paper, a fuzzy waste index for evaluating the hazard posed by composite wastes generated from industrial processes is proposed. Within this methodology, a fuzzy index as a measure of hazardousness of a given composite waste is derived from the crisp inputs of its component's flammability, corrosivity, toxicity and reactivity attributes based on the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) hazard rankings. The novelty of this work lies in establishing an integrated fuzzy hazardous waste index (FHWI) which provides a single-value representing the hazard ranking of a composite waste. This is contrary to current techniques which do not provide a final aggregated hazard index. The efficacy of the new proposed approach is illustrated through several worked examples. The results demonstrate that the fuzzy algorithm can be useful in aiding policy and decision-makers in conducting comprehensive initial evaluation of the status of waste hazardous status without the need for costly laboratory experiments. As such, the approach offers a robust and transparent decision-making methodology.
28 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, an overall Safety/Hazard Index (SHI) is introduced and defined in the same way as the previously described benign index (BI) covering various environmental impacts, including the following potential hazards: corrosive gas (CGP), corrosive liquid/solid (CLP), flammability (FP), oxygen balance (OBP) applied to combustion reactions and oxidation reactions, hydrogen gas generation (HGP), explosive vapour (XVP), explosive strength (XSP), impact sensitivity (ISP), risk phrase (RPP), occupational exposure limit (O
Abstract: An overall Safety/Hazard Index (SHI) is introduced and defined in the same way as the previously described benign index (BI) covering various environmental impacts. Following the same themes and symbolism usage found in the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 704 code, SHI covers the following safety-hazard potentials: corrosive gas (CGP), corrosive liquid/solid (CLP), flammability (FP), oxygen balance (OBP) applied to combustion reactions and oxidation reactions, hydrogen gas generation (HGP), explosive vapour (XVP), explosive strength (XSP), impact sensitivity (ISP), risk phrase (RPP), occupational exposure limit (OELP), maximum allowable concentration (MACP), dermal absorption (DAP), and skin dose (SDP). In addition, reaction temperature hazard (RTHI) and reaction pressure hazard (RPHI) indices are defined with respect to reference ambient reaction conditions of 25 °C and 1 atm. All three indices vary in value between 0 and 1 to confo...
26 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a study of the synthesis of 1-bromobutane at macro- → microscale (109.3 → 10.9 g of the limiting reagent, butan-1-ol) showed that green chemistry mass metrics (AE, atom economy; RME, reaction mass efficiency; MI, mass intensity; E-factor, environmental factor; CEE, carbon efficiency) are unsuitable for evaluating the advantages of micro- versus macroscale.
Abstract: The different ways microscale and green chemistry allow reducing the deleterious impacts of chemistry on human health and the environment are discussed in terms of their different basic paradigms: green chemistry follows the ecologic paradigm and microscale the risk paradigm. A study of the synthesis of 1-bromobutane at macro- → microscale (109.3 → 10.9 g of the limiting reagent, butan-1-ol) showed that green chemistry mass metrics (AE, atom economy; RME, reaction mass efficiency; MI, mass intensity; E-factor, environmental factor; CEE, carbon efficiency) are unsuitable for evaluating the advantages of micro- versus macroscale. Poorer values of mass metrics at the microscale and the same green star at both scales showed that green metrics do not recognize that microscale improves safety. As so far no metrics have been proposed for evaluating this purpose, a new risk index (scale risk index, SRI) was developed for assessing the improvement of safety on downsizing the scale of synthesis experiments in chemi...
23 citations