CHEMICAL WASTE

Ing. Jitka Fikarová

2016

CONTENT1. WHAT DOES THE WORD „WASTE“ MEAN?..............................................................32. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK (CHEMICAL INDUSTRY)..........................................33. CLASSIFICATION OF THE CHEMICAL WASTE.........................................................44. CHEMICAL WASTE.........................................................................................................45. HAZARDOUS PROPERTIES OF WASTE......................................................................56. CHOSEN TYPES OF WASTE..........................................................................................6

WASTE FROM THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY.......................................................................6Waste from inorganic chemical processes..........................................................................6Waste from organic chemical processes.............................................................................7Pesticides.............................................................................................................................8Detergents and cosmetics....................................................................................................9Waste from the production of dyes and paints..................................................................10

WASTE FROM AGRICULTURE..........................................................................................11Waste from livestock production......................................................................................11Arable farming..................................................................................................................12

WASTE FROM CONSTRUCTION WORK...........................................................................13WASTE FROM MINING AND QUARRYING.......................................................................14WASTE FROM FORESTRY AND WOOD PRODUCTION..................................................15WASTE FROM THE MANUFACTURE, PROCESSING AND USE OF PAPER AND PAPERBOARD.....................................................................................................................17WASTE FROM LEATHER PRODUCTION..........................................................................19WASTE FROM THE PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING OF TEXTILE MATERIALS.....22WASTE FROM EXTRACTION, PROCESSING AND UTILIZATION OF OIL....................25

Waste from drilling and oil extraction..............................................................................25Waste generated during transportation and storage of oil and petroleum products..........26Waste generated during oil processing.............................................................................26Waste arising from the use of petroleum products...........................................................28

WASTE FROM MECHANICAL ENGINEERING.................................................................29WASTE FROM THE MANUFACTURE, PROCESSING AND USE OF GLASS AND GLASS PRODUCTS..........................................................................................................................30WASTE FROM POWER ENGINEERING............................................................................31

7. FINAL SUMMARY.........................................................................................................328. LITERARY SOURCES....................................................................................................39

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1. WHAT DOES THE WORD „WASTE“ MEAN? By law no.185/2001 Coll. the waste is:

„every movable thing, a person disposes of or intends to dispose of and belongs to one of the

groups listed in the Annex to this Law“

2. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK (CHEMICAL INDUSTRY) Law no. 185/2001 Coll. on waste and amending certain other laws

Law no. 477/2001 Coll. on packaging and amending certain other laws (Law on

Packaging)

Law no. 350/2011 Coll. on chemical substances and mixtures and amending

certain laws (Chemical Law).

Law no. 224/2015 Coll. on the prevention of major accidents caused by

dangerous chemical substances and chemical mixtures and on amendment to

Law no. 634/2004 Coll., on administrative fees, as amended (the Law on

prevention of major accidents)

Law no. 76/2002 on integrated pollution prevention and control, on the

integrated pollution register.

Law no. 282/1991 Coll. the Czech Environmental Inspectorate and its

authority in forest protection.

Law no. 114/1992 Coll. on nature and landscape protection.

Law no. 17/1992 Coll. on the environment.

Law no. 201/2012 Coll. on air protection.

Law no. 254/2001 Coll. on water and amending certain other laws (Water law)

Law no. 123/1998 Coll. on the right to information about the environment.

Law no. 100/2001 Coll. on the environmental impact assessment

Law no. 156/1998 Coll. on fertilizers.

Regulation of the European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) no.

1907/2006 concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and

Restriction of Chemicals, establishing the European Chemicals Agency

(REACH).

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Regulation of the European Parliament and Council Regulation

(EC) no. 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances

and mixtures (CLP).

3. CLASSIFICATION OF THE CHEMICAL WASTE = industrial waste (waste from industrial activities resulting from the manufacturing

and non-manufacturing processes in industrial plants) characterized by a high

proportion of hazardous waste

It may include waste from these sectors:

Chemical industry (waste from the manufacture of chemical products (acids,

bases, solvents and others)) => a considerable amount of waste, especially

hazardous ones. (Source: secondary chemical reactions)

Mechanical engineering (waste from the operation of machinery and

equipment (waste oil, contaminated rags and filters, coolant, metal waste, paint

residues etc.)

Power industry (waste of all types of energy production (thermal power plants,

heating, boiler) e.g. Ash, fly ash or slag).

waste from agriculture (e.g. packaging from stains of seeds and other agro-

chemicals, manure), waste from the textile industry (chemicals, bleaching

agents)

Oil extraction (waste from petroleum products (drilling mud, soils from the well,

used chemicals, refinery sludge) and wood (sawdust, cuttings, bark)

Food industry(waste from meat processing, food and alcoholic and non-

alcoholic beverages (clay of beet for the production of sugar beets, raw materials

unsuitable for processing, skins of fruit and vegetable, waste from distillation and

others))

Construction (waste from demolition and construction work (rubble, concrete,

bricks, wood, metals, excavated soil and others)).

4. CHEMICAL WASTE Most of the industrial waste can be categorized as hazardous.

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In accordance with hazardous properties (15) that are listed in the

second Annex to the Law no. 185/2001 on waste.

Before further processing, the following characteristics and risks resulting from them

have to be minimized in various procedures (mostly physico-chemical methods).

The entire process is extremely technologically and financially demanding.

5. HAZARDOUS PROPERTIES OF WASTE

Code Properties

H1 Explosive

H2 Oxidising

H3-A Highly flammable

H3-B Flammable

H4 Irritant

H5 Harmful

H6 Toxic

H7 Carcinogenic

H8 Corrosive

H9 Infectious

H10 Teratogenic

H11 Mutagenic

H12

Substances and preparations which release

toxic or very toxic gases in contact with

water, air or an acid.

H13 Sensibility

H14 Ecotoxic

H15

Substances and preparations which are able

to release hazardous substances into the

environment during or after their disposal.

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6. CHOSEN TYPES OF WASTE

WASTE FROM THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

Waste from inorganic chemical processesInorganic chemicals form the most important part of the production in chemical

industry. The most difficult and the most important inorganic chemicals include

sulphuric acid, hydroxide sodium, chlorine, phosphoric acid, nitric acid and other

chemicals derived from them. They mean a great danger to human health and the

environment. Dangerous substances include some inorganic pigments and their

modification (chrome yellow, zinc and titanium white etc.).

Waste resulting from chemical production can be divided according to the state into

gaseous, liquid and solid waste.

The gaseous waste can come either directly from technology manufacturing processes

(Chlorine, hydrogen sulphide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, fluorine and its

compounds, etc.), or from energy units (sulphur dioxide, sulphur trioxide and nitrogen

oxides).

Liquid waste consists mainly of technological waste water. Its contamination depends

on the species production and technical level of the technological process. It is polluted

by organic substances, dissolved and suspended solids of inorganic origin. They are

mainly cooling and technological water. Water should be always purified in industrial

wastewater treatment plant before discharging into recipient.

The production of sulphuric acid has the most significant share in the production of

chemicals. Total annual production in the world is estimated at about 150 million tons.

Sulphuric acid is used the most in the production of fertilizers. Besides it is also used in

oil refining, the manufacture of pigments, pickling of steel, non-ferrous metal extraction,

manufacturing of explosives, plastics, etc. Sulphuric acid is produced from sulphur

dioxide that is usually obtained by burning of elemental sulphur.

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Large amounts of sulphur dioxide arise in productions of non-ferrous

metals. For ore roasting and smelting, large quantities of waste gases are generated in

which the concentration of SO3 is so high that they may be used directly for the

production of sulphuric acid as a byproduct. Quantities of sulphuric acid plants have

been recently built in metallurgical plants to use waste source of sulphur dioxide, which

has also a positive impact on the environment.

From the environmental point of view solid waste from the chemical industry is a

problem too. More than 50 % of the total production of solid waste from inorganic

chemical makes up only a few types of waste: waste gypsum, green vitriol, sodium

sulphate, limestone butts, acidic wastes from the production of titanium dioxide, the

waste from the production of soda, carbide lime, clays, sludge from waste water

treatment and purification of brine etc. Only a portion of the chemical inorganic industry

is used as a secondary raw material. The remaining portion is disposed of in landfills or

by incineration with organic matter.

Generally, the process of waste chemicals can be summed up in a few basic steps (they

occur most often in the form of solutions):

a) neutralization - of acid by bases, and vice versa, salts are precipitated,

b) sedimentation - sludge components, then some substances can be still used, unusable

if they have toxic properties, so the incineration in hazardous waste incinerator is the

best way how to dispose of the waste, it can be stored in a secure landfill.

Waste from organic chemical processesThe organic industry involves several major productions (oil refining, petrochemistry,

chemical use of coal) and manufacturing of special materials (surfactants, detergents,

soaps, paints and varnishes, solvents, flammable monomers for production of polymeric

resins, organic dyes and pigments, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, additives in polymers),

production of pulp and paper.

Organic chemical production is particularly a source of liquid, often complicated

composition and toxic character. Waste water must be cleaned especially biologically,

but some types of water are hardly degradable by microorganisms. Sludge is other

typical waste of organic technologies. Their storage in lagoons causes huge problems.

The current trend is aimed at the incineration of these materials in industrial waste

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incinerators with a perfect flue gas purification and storing of slag in

landfills.

Polymer waste is one of the major groups of solid waste. This is waste of plastics

processing and waste from processing of rubber and caoutchouc.

Plastics are polymeric materials (synthetic, semisynthetic, or natural), which are divided

into thermoplastics and resin hardening by heating. To obtain specific product

properties (e.g. plasticizers, catalysts, stabilizers, pigments, fillers), various additives are

added into them. Rubber is produced by vulcanization of the caoutchouc.

Waste plastic materials can arise during the production and processing (cuttings,

waster), and also in their use in various industries (packaging, electronics

manufacturing, engineering, making toys, photographic industry, and others.). Waste

rubber is found mainly in manufacture and the use of tires, shoes, as a part of some old

equipment and devices (seals, belts, cables, hoses, conveyor belts, etc.), floor coverings

(carpets, mats, floor tiles), adhesives, sealants, school supplies, personal protective

equipment.

Polymeric waste contains various carcinogenic and toxic substances, which can be

released by landfilling or incineration in the environment. They are also characterized

by a very slow and difficult biodegradability.

Disposal of plastic waste can be done either by landfilling, which is not too

environmentally friendly due to the difficult and lengthy biodegradation of plastic

materials, or by incineration where the value of waste is increased energetically, but

disposal of ash and capturing of unwanted emissions must be solved.

For several years, the research focuses on the production of lightweight and

biodegradable plastics, which are degradable thanks to various degradation factors

(ultraviolet radiation, atmospheric oxygen, microorganisms). These plastics, however,

do not meet the functional requirements that should have.

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PesticidesPesticides are chemically or biologically active substances which are used against

harmful animals, weeds and parasitic fungi or fungi that threaten agriculture, garden

and forest plants, supplies of agricultural products and food, industrial materials (wood,

leather, textiles), farm animals and man himself.

Pesticides by using are divided into:

insecticides (products against insect)

herbicides (products against weed )

rodenticides (products against rodents)

fungicides (products against fungi and moulds), etc.

Pesticide residues from production represent a wide variety of liquid or powder

products which for various reasons cannot be used. Organic pesticides can be reliably

destroyed only by combustion at a temperature higher than 1100 ° C, by

hydrometallurgy or by sodification.

Because waste pesticides represent a source of risk and environmental hazard, it is

necessary to practical treatment of this waste to develop a systematic collection of these

types of waste (e.g. pharmaceutical products), to avoid their dispersion in municipal

waste.

Detergents and cosmeticsTo this group of waste, they are included:

Waste detergents (detergents and cleaning agents)

Beauty products with expired warranty period,

Waste from the manufacture of cosmetics,

Residues from the production of detergents,

Waste liquid surfactants,

Solid waste surfactants,

Waste plasticizers and solvents.

Waste detergents, detergents and cleaning products are not regenerated, not recycled

because the active components are already consumed, or diluted so that the

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regeneration is impossible. Waste from production or residual stocks of

detergents and cleaning products can be used for some less demanding purposes

(cleaning or degreasing of surfaces in industry and the like).

Wastes from the production of cosmetics can be used for some less demanding purposes

in chemical industry. Waste disposal of these products provides methods of physical,

chemical and thermal disposal, with using contained energy.

Phosphates of detergent contained in the waste water (from the use of these products)

can be precipitated and separated by filtration and separated sludge can be disposed of

by incineration or solidification.

Solid wastes from the manufacture, distribution and use of detergents, cleaners and

cosmetic products that cannot be used for any reason, have to be disposed of by burning

in the incinerator. Storing them in a landfill without prior treatment, e.g. solidification is

dangerous for the environment. Organic residues from the manufacture of the above

mentioned preparations (plants) and the like can be successfully composted and

thereby returning the biomass again into the natural environment.

Waste from the production of dyes and paintsCoating compositions are generally materials designed for the application on objects to

be conserved and protected against unfavourable effects for the environment. They are

applied by various aids in liquid or powder form with the help of diluents (solvents)

which subsequently volatilize or dry out and thereby coating dye dries, or for some

materials must be hardened e.g. burning at higher temperatures.

Ecological harmfulness of paints results from their composition. All waste generated

during manufacturing, transportation, sale and the application of paints is hazardous

waste. Water-dilutable paints are the least harmful to the environment. Materials

diluted by organic solvents are highly flammable, volatile solvents contribute to

deepening the effect of oxygen and sometimes deplete the ozone layer of the

atmosphere of the Earth.

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Ecological problems of waste paints, lacquers and paints are equally

serious. Waste resulting in the production presents waste of individual components,

leaking of paints, varnishes, pigments and other substances in the treatment and the

materials which absorb them during their disposal, unfit and degraded remnants of

these materials and containers, tools, equipment etc.

The spent solution can be recovered and recycled, water-dilutable paints may be

collected, empty cans of contaminated paints are disposed of as iron scrap or they are

thermally used in the incinerator of hazardous waste, as well as contaminated brushes

and other coating aids and fabric.

Questions1st: Characterize basic inorganic chemical productions and species of dangerous waste

generated during their operation.

2nd: Identify ways of reprocessing and treatment of this waste.

3rd: Characterize basic organic technology and describe the types of waste generated in

them.

4th: Describe methods of treatment of organic waste.

WASTE FROM AGRICULTURE

Waste from agriculture consists of waste from primary agricultural and horticultural

production.

Waste from livestock production

The source of the waste is a factory farming of livestock, slaughterhouses, meat

processing industry, processing of fish and game, processing of feathers. The manures

are produced in livestock breeding (cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry etc.):

dung - a mixture of litter, solid excrements, urine, water, residues of feed and

small quantities of agents used in the housing, e.g. for the treatment of animals

and debugging and disinfection of stable space,

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slurry – a liquid mixture of solid excrements, urine, technological

water, which may contain unwanted residues of feed and substances used in

housing,

manure - organic fertilizers produced by maturation of dung in the dunghill,

liquid manure - a mixture of urine livestock with water.

The dung is valuable agricultural fertilizer after the correct fermentation. Controlled

fermentation is the use of dung while collecting and using of arising biogas.

Arable farming

In arable farming, considerable quantity of biomass arises, which is necessary after

obtaining products, to process or remove. Waste consists mainly of straw, remnants of

different leaves, beet tops, corn stalks, waste from cleaning of crops, etc. The most

common means of using plant material is feeding either fresh or after processing by

ensilaging or into feeding meal. Straw is a valuable byproduct used as an organic

fertilizer or feed. There is a possibility of energy utilization of straw. From arable

farming there is other waste that may have hazardous properties and hence it should be

treated.

The main hazardous waste from arable farming is:

Waste from pickling of seed with remnants of stains containing mercury

Containers made of plastics and paper contaminated by stains containing Hg

Residual stocks of inorganic agricultural chemicals containing heavy metals and

toxic

elements (Cu, As)

Organic residues of pesticides and other agrochemicals

Ways of processing of this waste is not solved systematically, e.g. there are methods of

processing residues of stained seeds and their packaging in an incinerator specially

equipped to capture mercury vapours.

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Other waste generated during the processing of agricultural crops which

can be considered as combustible material e.g. sunflower hulls, cotton hulls, rice hulls,

molasses, fruit cores, etc.

Questions1st: Describe the activities in animal and arable farming.

2nd: Name and characterize the types of waste generated by the plant and animal

agricultural production.

3rd: What are the methods of processing of certain agricultural waste both from the plant, as well as from agricultural production?

WASTE FROM CONSTRUCTION WORK

The formation of construction waste accompanies any kind of construction,

reconstruction and reparation of buildings, maintenance of buildings, maintenance and

reconstruction of technology operations, reconstruction and construction of roads,

highways, railways, their security systems and stations, waste from building of water

works and line construction (pipelines, oil pipelines, steam systems, etc.) and suchlike.

Waste from construction activities can be categorized by the type of construction and by

the type of materials:

- Waste from buildings,

- Waste from traffic and engineering constructions and their operations,

- Waste from the manufacture of construction materials.

Other waste that may arise in connection with construction activities: packaging

materials (PET film, paper, tins, spray cans), paints, adhesives, paperboards, used

cleaning textiles, used paintbrushes, chemical residues of various substances etc. This

waste is mainly inert, which does not react to the outside surrounding (waste in the

landfill unit).

If the construction waste is in the mixture, as it was arisen during the demolition of old

buildings, or how the waste was collected after the construction work, it is called mixed

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construction waste and demolition waste and it must be treated as

hazardous waste.

The main possibility of using soil excavation and materials is directly on site for

backfilling trenches, using for creating anti-noise banks and roads, etc. At the landfill this

material can be advantageously used for overlapping of layered waste or the

reclamation.

Adjusting of the construction rubble is economically beneficial only then if competitive

products arise from this waste. Brick and concrete rubbles can be conveniently reused

into concrete. This use, however, requires a previous classification by species. Road

demolition materials may be reused as a material for the construction of anti-noise

banks without prior sorting, into the road body like a layer of substructure road.

Construction waste from construction sites, all residues and raw materials, can mostly

be reused on another site, unusable remainder (about 10 %) can be stored in a landfill. A

prerequisite for reusing of residual materials is keeping their technical quality of

primary construction materials.

Of the total amount of rubble 40 % can be used as an inert material, about 10 % of other

materials is sorted out (wood, glass, metal, plastic), the rest is a share which is

unsuitable for using in the construction process. 40 % of sorted construction rubble can

be processed into sorting devices.

Questions1st: Describe the main construction activities, which produce waste.

2nd: Describe the basic types of waste generated during these activities.

3rd: Provide basic treatment and recovery of such waste.

WASTE FROM MINING AND QUARRYING

Waste production in the mining sector is quite significant for us. The largest source is

coal mining, in lesser extent it is the mining of limestone, feldspar, kaolin, gypsum, sand,

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clay, cement raw materials, basalt, graphite, fluorite, gravel, brick raw

materials etc. The waste arises in different operations of extractive and processing

plants, transportation, and there are also overburdens (a mixture of different rocks -

soil, clay, sand), gangues and aggregates polluted by the rest of flotation reagents, coal

sludge, residual quarries.

With respect to the environment, this waste is a burden because of its large capacity,

small use and difficult destruction. As a result of weathering and leaching of rain water,

it leads to the release of heavy metals and other pollutants into the environment. Some

waste may be used as a raw material for the production of bricks, porous aggregates

(gangue), during reclamations, fuel (coal dust and sludge), when producing fertilizers.

Disposal of waste from mining and quarrying is mostly done by landfilling or physical

and chemical methods. Flotation sludge is disposed of in the sludge lagoons.

Coal dust and sludge may adversely affect the environment. Nowadays, ongoing

research focused on the use of sludge from coal laundries and partly utilization of coal

sludge for the production of light artificial aggregate.

Questions1st: Describe the basic types of waste generated during the mining and processing

mineral resources.

2nd: Describe the negative impact of this waste on the environment.

WASTE FROM FORESTRY AND WOOD PRODUCTION

In wood processing plants a significant amount of solid wood waste arises, of which the

structure is following:

Industrial cuttings and grafts (40 %)

Sawdust and shavings (about 30 %)

Other waste (about 30 %)

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Currently, waste from wood processing industry is utilized by various

ways. The option of the procedure depends on the properties of the wood, its

composition and its occurrence. Among the most important areas use of waste produced

during wood processing, energy recovery, forage area and biochemistry is included.

These areas can be mutually overlapped. Waste material of fibrous character is

processed into wood fibre materials or to certain types of pulp, cardboard or paper.

Sawdust becomes suitable raw material for certain chemical and biochemical

production.

During the logging, waste wood material arises in the forest at the mine site, which

represents tree tops, branches and trunks with a diameter less than 7 cm, pruning, tree

stumps, bark and leaves. It is possible to process this wood mass into chips, which can

be further used in various ways (production of cellulose, fuels, chipboard etc.), when

using the special equipment on site. Forest chips contain both fractions of wood and

bark share, including assimilation organs (leaves, needles), flower fruits (cones) and

mechanical impurities. The shares of these components of forest chips vary depending

on the type of logging, season and other factors.

It is necessary to sort forest chips when using them in some technological ways. For

example, for the extraction of essential oils from the chlorophyll, it is necessary to sort

only that fraction. This chlorophyll can also serve for the production of chlorophyll paste

or granules. Unless a chipper is available, wood waste is disposed of by incineration rule.

Sawmill production consumes the largest volume of round wood. The round wood is

made into both, worked and unworked sawn timber, sleepers, etc. The products of this

industry are either intermediate products of further processing or final products

particularly in construction, mining, but also in traffic engineering. In the wood-

processing plants and sawmills, a large amount of bark arises. Its use primarily is in

composting as a substitute for peat as an overlay substrate.

Waste in sawmills is on average about 35 % mainly end cuttings of round wood, chips,

sawdust and cuttings of sawn timbers. Sawdust is a specific type of wood waste

generated by longitudinal and transverse cutting of wood. Their small size - generally

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from 3 to 7 mm, and a high proportion of wood dust are typical. They

have a high sorption capacity and therefore they can be used e.g. in local releases of

petroleum products, while soaked sawdust is then incinerated. Sawdust is also suitable

for the production of bio-briquettes or pellets.

Shavings, cuttings and boards are usually used energetically, if they are not

contaminated by pollutants (adhesives, varnishes). Otherwise it has to be burned

together with other hazardous waste from wood impregnation in facilities for the

disposal of hazardous waste.

Production of veneers also occupies a very important place among the branches of

wood processing industry. This branch mainly characterizes the manufacture of

agglomerated products, which is the common name especially for chipboard and wood-

fibre board, which can be further distinguished by technical parameters. They are

mainly used in the manufacture of furniture, construction or joinery.

Waste from joinery and carpentry production (manufacture of windows, doors, door

frames, roof constructions of houses and cottages) consists mainly of residues of wood

boards, planks, then splinters and sawdust. The bulk of the waste is burned directly in

companies, chemically treated and treated wood is processed e.g. into solid alternative

waste.

Manufacture of furniture in the Czech Republic, as well as the wood processing

industry has a long tradition and largely uses domestic raw materials. Production area

includes the production of sitting furniture, furniture for offices and shops, , but also the

manufacture of mattresses etc.

Questions1st: Describe the basic composition of waste from wood processing factories.

2nd: Provide basic types of waste generated during logging, processing in sawmill

factories, in carpentry and joinery manufacturing and furniture.

3rd: Indicate ways of use of this waste.

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WASTE FROM THE MANUFACTURE, PROCESSING AND USE OF PAPER AND PAPERBOARD

Pulp, semi-chemical pulp, waste paper, ground wood and sometimes rag pulp are used

as the basic raw material for paper. The paper is cohesive layer mainly of plant fibres. It

is formed by combining the individual fibres by secondary bonds. The fibres, which are

after the mechanical processing in aqueous suspension, dewater, and dry out in a paper

machine.

Pulp (also cellulose) is a fibre made chemically from plant raw materials containing both

cellulose and the remains of incrustation substances. The lignin and other substances

contained in wood are dissolved when using the suitable chemicals during the

production of pulp.

For pulp production, nowadays, different kinds of deciduous and coniferous trees are

used. First of all, wood must be debarked and chopped into chips of desired size (length

10 to 30 mm and thickness 2-5 mm). Woodchips are put on high piles 15-25 meters,

where they must be deposited for six weeks to occur to decompose the resins during

spontaneous heating. Then chips move to the process of boiling. The production of pulp

is possible in several ways according to the chemicals used for the boiling solution. The

basic division is on sulphite (acid) and alkaline processes both can be further

subdivided.

Waste from the paper industry includes various paper sludge and bark. Scraps, residues

and waste from the press arise mainly during the processing of paper and cardboard.

The largest production of paper waste is from the use of paper and cardboard (used

packaging, printed materials, waste coloured paper, photographic paper, paper oil

filters, etc.).

The source of this waste is almost in all sectors of activity (production and processing of

paper and cardboard, chemical industry, filtration processes, bookbinding, production

and use of photographic material, reprographics, trade, administration, municipalities

and others).

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Waste paper may jeopardize the environment if it is contaminated by pollutants, which

in case of landfilling may release leaching or they cause excessive formation of

undesirable emissions during the combustion. The presence of these contaminants also

reduces the possibility recycling waste paper.

Waste from the paper industry can be composted, energetically used or landfilled. Waste

paper and paperboard are commonly treated as a secondary raw material for

production of newsprint, cardboard, wrapping paper, insulation materials, wallpaper,

furniture, gardening containers, packaging materials and containers. The prerequisite

for further possible use is consistent sorting of waste paper according to the standard

(CSN 501990).

For waste containing dopants of various pollutants (laminated paper, toilet paper, tar

cardboard, cartons, containers with aluminium foil, carbon paper, hygienically defective

paper from medical devices, oil filters, etc.) according to the nature of impurities it is

performed composting, incineration or landfill where necessary.

Questions:1st: Provide basic raw material for paper production, and their methods of production.

2nd: Describe the types of waste generated during the production and processing of

paper and their potential utilization.

3rd: Explain the possible negative impacts of waste generated during the production and

processing of paper environmental components.

WASTE FROM LEATHER PRODUCTION

At the initial processing of raw materials in the leather and textile industries, a whole

range of waste arises, whose use or disposal is difficult and economically challenging.

At the initial processing of leather to usable material - hides for the manufacture of

footwear, protective aids and equipment, gloves, garments, belts, sealing bags, etc., it

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uses a variety of mechanical, chemical and combined methods. Raw

leathers before further processing are conserved then are subsequently soaked, tanned,

coloured, lubricated and adjusted to the final form of the leather production.

From this technological process large quantities of waste baths are produced from

conservation, decalcification with admixture of a variety of chemical substances that are

partially used in the process. They create new chemical compounds, which are polluted

by the waste from leather and they are not environment-friendly due to the high content

of acids, bases, salts of metals (Cr, Zn, Al), dyes, pigments of tannins, fats and oils, and

the like. The largest number of these waste substances is concentrated in waste water,

where additionally high concentrations of hardly biodegradable surfactants are.

Produced waste has mostly character of hazardous waste.

Tannery and processing of dry hides, manufacture of footwear and other leather

products, discarded shoes and leather goods are the source of the waste. Discarded

leather products become part of municipal waste. Environmental harmfulness of waste

from leather industry and waste of hides and leather is significant because of its

diversity, content of chemicals and chromium.

With respect to the environment, waste fat and waste from tanneries, fur and non-

chrome tanning hides are the least harmful waste, other waste from soaking rawhide in

lye and chrome tanning of leather are dangerous due to its content of ammonium salts,

sulphides, chromium salts, dyes, sulphide lubricants, boron compounds, organic and

inorganic acids, oxalates, oils, barium salts and surfactants, the content of pathogenic

organisms is also problematic. The presence of chromium salts in sewage sludge and

waste water poses a risk of the oxidation to toxic and carcinogenic hexavalent chromium

in water treatment.

The amount of waste produced by the leather industry and their quality is directly

dependent on technological process of soaking rawhide in lye. Currently, most of waste

from tanned leather is landfilled, other waste from the production of other chemicals are

tried to be modified chemically so that they are not toxic and can properly be applied to

other technological processes or disposed without high costs.

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The main problems of waste in the leather industry are the use of stocks of chrome

tanning hides put in landfill, which can be processed as follows:

- using fine particles as a filter material for purifying gases,

- adjusting the alkaline hydrolysis using calcium hydroxide or oxide magnesium, when

the solid waste is converted to proteinous water-soluble substrate readily separable

from chromium complexes,

- adjusting the acidic hydrolysis (ineffective); proteinous hydrolyzate and chromium

complexes are separated poorly, because chromium compounds are very well soluble in

water,

- modifying the enzymatic hydrolysis, which is practiced in the USA and Denmark; in the

first stage of the reaction, it is obtained a gelling fraction, in the next step residues are

treated by a mixture of alkaline agents with the addition of a proteolytic enzyme and

then there is a complete breakdown of chrome tanning waste. The mixture is filtered in

hot conditions and a proteinous hydrolyzate arises (can be composted or used as an

additive compound for feed) and the filter cake (can be re-used to prepare tanning

slurries for tanning leather).

Shavings from chrome tanning of leather can be used for producing of adhesives for

textile and paper industry, or in a mixture with natural rubber and styrene butadiene

rubber latex to the production of leather substitutes. The protein hydrolyzate is used as

an agent in the manufacture of laundry detergent.

Pyrolysis of tanned waste takes place at a temperature of 500 to 600 ° C without access

of media containing oxygen (air, water vapour, carbon dioxide). Under these conditions,

waste chars and organic matter is not burned to carbon dioxide. If pyrolysis is included

as the first stage of thermal treatment, then the volume of combustion gases is roughly

halved in a two stage-combustion unit. It will then have a positive effect on the size of

the required equipment for flue gases purification.

The second stage of thermal treatment is performed at a temperature of about 1200 º

C in the oxygen. In this case, combustion gases are burned, carbonaceous ash formed in

the first step. At temperatures higher than 1200 º C unwanted oxides nitrogen do not

21

arise. Combustion products are cooled and heat is used typically for

water heating.

Thermal treatment of tanned leather waste is often applied in practice, mostly in

incinerators of industrial waste. The pyrolysis station are also operated for processing

mostly of tanned waste. The advantage of pyrolysis is the concentration of heavy metals

in the solid residue. Extraction of these metals is small unlike combustion.

Questions1st: Describe methods for processing of hides and leather and indicate waste materials

that arise at this machining process.

2nd: Describe the negative impacts mainly liquid waste from the processing of hides on

the environment.

3rd: Identify possible ways to treat this waste.

WASTE FROM THE PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING OF TEXTILE MATERIALS

Textile is a collective term for industrial processing plant, animal or synthetic fibres,

fabrics or products made from them.

Textile waste includes:

Spoiled or damaged textile raw materials,

Waste of semi-finished and finished products from the textile industry,

Textiles discarded from the operation or from the consumption due to end of life,

changes of technology, changes of the quality requirements and quality fabrics.

Textile waste can be either unpolluted by other dopants or contaminated by impurities

then it is classified either according to the polluting media or technology, which it serves

in.

Textile and garment industry produce mainly:

22

- uncontaminated waste by pollutants such as input raw materials,

semi-finished products from spinning mills, weaving mills, unsuccessful batches,

fabric clippings, etc.

- waste collecting textiles – worn clothing and discarded carpets from people,

depreciated bed linen and clothes from health, social institutions etc.,

- discarded textile floor coverings and carpets

- protective textiles - unpolluted.

These above-mentioned types of textile waste are mostly clean, uncontaminated by

pollutants. They can be predominantly recycled (reprocessed) to products of the same

or lower aesthetic and other utility value (e.g. the reprocessing of old clothes on

geotextiles, usable in construction, agriculture, ecology, etc.) or may be incinerated with

using of energy content.

The textile waste can also include waste technical fabrics polluted by contaminants

according to the used technology, in which technical fabric is installed as a cleaning

cloth, filter material, protective fabric and the like. Their thermal utilization of waste

incineration is the easiest and the most reliable way of disposal this textile waste.

A considerable volume of imported second-hand clothing and selling second-hand

causes an increase of textile colleting waste. The biggest danger for the environment is

that the unsaleable part of second-hand is disposed of by burning out of the device for

this purpose, eventually by taking it to unsecured landfill.

Textile waste may be processed by mechanical, thermomechanical and chemical

methods. When waste is processed by mechanical methods, its nature does not change.

The fibres are re-used as a material for the production of nonwoven fabrics or rags in

the manufacture of paper and paperboard. At thermomechanical and chemical methods

for processing textile waste, it loses its character (chopping, granulating, milling and

other non-destructive editing) or significant changes (e.g. hydrolysis or other

destructive treatment).

Destructive methods for the disposal or recovery of textile waste include:

23

regranulation and depolymerization of waste of synthetic fibres,

biochemical recovery (composting, fertilizer production, animal feed) of waste of

plant fibres - flax, cotton, hemp, etc.,

other applications, production of ceramics, adhesives and binders, carbonization

on charcoal.

Uncontaminated textile waste can be re-processed to products, but usually of lower

quality. Waste from spinning mill of some operations is returned to production as a part

of the raw material. Waste from yarns, fabrics, knitted fabrics, etc. from tearing machine

is added back as one of the components of the effluent. Padding, cleaning wool, wadding

material, and filling material are made from non-woven materials, but also in the

construction industry, for example as insulating filler for concretes.

Thermal and acoustic insulation materials for construction, filling materials for fur,

furniture, upholstery and automotive industry, insulation pads under carpets and floor

coverings, etc. can be produced from regenerated textile waste. Untreated remains of

waste the above mentioned can be stored in landfills or use thermally in waste

incineration plants. Each method of disposal has its advantages and disadvantages.

Landfilling has a number of economic and environmental drawbacks:

a significant claim of land due to the large volume of waste,

fees for landfill continue to grow

synthetic fabric are hardly degradable,

release of pollutants into the air, water and soil.

From an environmental, economic and social viewpoint the incineration can be

recommended, preferably in small incinerators at the source of waste in textile

manufacturing, or a spare capacity of urban household waste incinerators can be used.

Incineration of textile waste compared to landfilling has many advantages:

significant reduction of waste volume,

use of high calorific value of textile waste (12-25 MJ.kg-1)

easier disposal of the solid residues from the combustion,

environmentally reasonable method, provided that it is equipped by an

incinerator with

24

capturing, decomposition or modification of toxic pollutants from

combustion (CO, H2SO4, SO2, NH3, HCl, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, furans,

dioxins, etc.).

Questions1st: Indicate the types of waste that arise in the textile industry.

2nd: Describe the second contaminants occurring in the textile industry.

3rd: Characterize the third method used for processing textile waste.

WASTE FROM EXTRACTION, PROCESSING AND UTILIZATION OF OIL

At each treatment starting on exploratory wells and ending on using petroleum

products, gas, liquid and solid waste are produced (waste from drilling work and oil

extraction, oil processing, waste resulting from the use of petroleum products).

The sources of waste are oil processing, gas purification and oil refining, transportation

and storage of oil and petroleum products, various industries (e.g. chemical industry,

mechanical engineering, textile industry etc.), as well as construction, power

engineering, long-distance transport of oil and gas, petrol stations of fuel, storage tanks,

car repair shops, machining of metals, agriculture and municipal sphere.

Waste from drilling and oil extractionPetroleum reservoirs are opened and mined by deep oil wells from which the oil itself

rises or draws. During the drawing, gas pressure is mostly used, which is accumulated in

the upper part of the reservoir below an impermeable layer of rocks. Oil wells for oil

extraction go through various rocks with different hardness and cohesion. Drilling can

be either done by dry way or by flushing. Flushing is a high-density fluid that cools the

drilling tool. Into the well, it is injected from the surface and drained again. In this way

crushed rock is removed from the bottom of the well and thus the well is continuously

purified. When drilling in the dry way, grit has to be taken out by a special container

with a hinged bottom.

The main sources of contamination are:

25

Contaminated soil from the borehole and its surroundings (the

drilled soil that is taken out of the well by flushing oily liquids)

Liquid waste streams from oil extraction,

Auxiliary chemicals and gaseous exhalation of natural gas, hydrogen sulphide and

hydrocarbons,

Oil spill in seas caused by accidents during the oil extraction at sea.

Contaminated soil from the well and its surroundings is mostly landfilled in

impermeable disposal site.

Waste generated during transportation and storage of oil and petroleum productsThe increasing density of shipping, as the most important form of oil transportation

among continents, there are often accidents and consequent ecological damage caused

by the oil spilling. Flushing sewage and ballast water from tankers, which is

considerably higher (80 %) than the pollution at tanker accidents is a larger problem.

Oil pipelines are the most important mode of transport on the mainland. Pipelines are

line sources of pollution of surface and groundwater. Pollution is mainly caused by

sewage sludge on pump stations. Road and rail transport can result in a crash of local

pollution of groundwater and surface water.

When storing oil and petroleum products, it leads to their leakage from storage tanks,

tankers and other containers due to the poor condition of storage facilities and improper

treatment of them.

Oil sludge generated during the transportation and the storage of oil and petroleum

products are granulated or briquetted and then properly disposed of by incineration.

Use of oil sludge can be done by oxidation to form similar products applicable to

construction and insulation purposes.

In case of accidents on bodies of water and water flows, special scumboards or floating

barriers are used for the removal of oil substances that enclose the oil spill and oil

products are mechanically collected into containers. Used loose adsorbent materials

26

(sawdust, Vapex, sand, chalk, fibroil fabrics) are usually disposed of in

an incinerator of hazardous waste.

Waste generated during oil processingFor every million tons of crude oil processed in European refineries (capacity of Europe

refineries ranges from 0.5 million tons of oil per year to more than 20 million tons of oil

per year) refineries emit and produce:

• 20 000 to 820 000 tons of CO2

• 60-700 tons of NOx

• 10 - 3000 tons of dust particles

• 30 - 6,000 tons of SO2

• 50 - 6000 tons of VOC

• 0.1-5,000,000 tons of waste water

• 10 - 2000 tons of solid waste

The amount of waste produced in refineries is relatively small compared to the amount

of passing the raw materials and the amount of produced products. In particular, the

following types of waste:

• refinery waste of petroleum oils,

• the spent filter clays and other filter materials,

• deactivated catalysts

• coatings and encrustation from storage tanks (rust)

• dust from air filters,

• contaminated soil,

• other wastes,

• residues of various liquid and solid or semisolid waste

• spent refining reagents and chemicals,

• emissions of gases and vapours in oil processing, technological processes and the

storage and treatment of oil and oil products (smoke emissions, dust, soot and,

hydrocarbons, oxides of nitrogen and sulphur, etc.).

• refinery sludge (e.g. sludge from the treatment of oily water and sludge from

dewatering and desalting of oil, sludge from the treatment of cooling water,

sludge from the raw material and product tanks etc.).

27

Refinery sludge can be briquetted or granulated for using in facilities for solid fuels or

may be used as a secondary liquid fuel. Obtaining of the individual components

contained in sludge (sulphuric acid, oil shares etc.) is slightly more challenging. Acid

refining waste can be used in the manufacture of keramzite (for lightweight ceramic

sand for adsorption, insulating and decorative purposes).

Decontamination of soil contaminated by oil products is done either on the site of

pollution by absorption into a suitable absorbent or pulling away the contaminated layer

and its transport to secure decontamination area where degradation of oil products is

practiced by special microorganisms.

From used whitewash, it is possible to separate contained oil by extraction and water

vapour or used it as a filler in rubber processing.

Used catalysts that cannot be regenerated, are processed directly in a refinery and if

they contain rare metals, they are usually returned to the manufacturer or other

specialized companies.

Waste arising from the use of petroleum productsThere are mainly heavy organic substances that escape into the air by motor

transportation, operation of petrol stations, the use of solvents, etc., and spent

lubricating oils (SLO). SLO are a typical example of oil products, which after exhausting

their utility value are returned to the refinery for reprocessing to rebuild their desirable

qualities. Nowadays SLO as a very effective secondary raw material can be collected,

processed and redistributed to use environmentally clean way in all stages of this

process. If, however, SLO are discarded unwanted impurities of other substances or

solid impurities need to be burned in the incinerator of hazardous waste.

Most of this waste contains organic compounds (PCB, tars, etc.)., heavy metals and other

toxic organic substances that pose a threat to groundwater and surface water, plants,

animals and human populations. Motor, compressor and bearing oils, technical petrol

and aviation turbine fuel are the most toxic.

28

Waste mineral oils are produced by discarding lubricating, hydraulic,

transformer or thermal oils, from service at the end of their lifetime period due to their

pollution caused by mechanical substances, water, operating fluids or degradation

products of original oils and their additives, so they usually contain various additives,

e.g. residues of fuel and brake fluids, machining fluids, soot, metal particles, dust,

remains of varnishes, chlorinated hydrocarbons, PCBs, etc.

Waste oils are toxic to aquatic life, and to vegetation in high concentrations. They can

also endanger the health by their vapours (they irritate the eyes, respiratory tract, skin

and digestive paths). Part of the waste oil is burned in cement rotary kilns, another part

is exported to abroad.

Questions1st: Describe the processes in oil extraction and characterize waste emerging in these

procedures.

2nd: Describe the possible waste generated during transportation and storage of oil and

oil products.

3rd: Could you describe the negative impacts of operations at processing petroleum

products (oil refineries).

4th: Describe the types of waste generated by the use of petroleum products, including

waste oils, and ways of dealing with them.

WASTE FROM MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

In mechanical engineering there is a lot of waste of metal materials, chemicals and

contaminated equipment.

In metal production, a whole range of waste, waste of paints, varnishes, solvents and

containers of these substances, contaminated textiles, paper and metal filters soaked by

oils, garbage from machining contaminated by cutting and drilling emulsions, waste of

these emulsions, degreasers and containers from degreasers etc.

29

Most of metallic waste and waste from machining or other processing, and metal

treatment is included in the hazardous waste due to their hazardous properties

(toxicity, carcinogenicity). Since this waste contains various amount and form a series of

non-ferrous metals, is economically very interesting. It is a valuable secondary raw

material, because it allows obtaining pure metals at more favourable economic

conditions than the primary raw materials.

Slags can be used as a substitute aggregate provided that they are not extractable and

don’t become eroded, metal parts of amortization waste can be reprocessed by

remelting (iron and non-ferrous scrap), spent acid staining baths can be neutralized by

lime or lyes and possibly use in other chemical processes or deposit on a secured landfill

as a form of sludges, the lead plates extracted in processing of lead-acid batteries can be

recasted to lead, oil and other organic waste and nitrite, nitrate, cyanide, barium

compounds can be further processed.

Questions1st: Characterize types of waste generated in mechanical devices.

2nd: Describe possible methods of processing and utilization of engineering waste.

WASTE FROM THE MANUFACTURE, PROCESSING AND USE OF GLASS AND GLASS PRODUCTS

Waste from the glass industry mainly includes waste materials from the demolition of

furnaces, glass waste from grinding plants and shards. Waste from furnaces represents

dinas and chamotte masonry, remains of electro-smelting refractories, the remains of

magnesite bricks and various deposits.

Shards of glass industry together with waste collecting glass are added to the batch and

in terms of the Waste Law they are therefore not waste. Glass waste from municipal

sector contains various shards of used glass products, products with glass components,

glass containers, etc. Furthermore, there are the shards of glass products combined with

other materials (e.g. metal, plastic etc.).´

30

Waste from the demolition of glass furnaces are usually harmless and are therefore

landfilled. The most common and most effective use of shards is their reuse in glass

production. The largest amount of waste glass is obtained by separated collection from

the population, in which the emphasis is on colour sorting.

Questions1st: Characterize the possible wastes generated in the glass industry and describe

options of their processing.

WASTE FROM POWER ENGINEERING

Wastes from power engineering represent solid inorganic wastes that are directly

related to the process of production of heat and electricity, including flue gas

purification.

Characteristic waste, for this sector, is ash from electrostatic precipitators,

cinders/clinker and slag from the combustion of coal, energo-gypsum, solid reaction

products from flue gas purification, a product of coal burning in fluidized bed boilers

with desulphurization, the product of dry additive method of desulphurization. Waste

from power engineering is serious from the environmental point of view, because it

contains various toxic or carcinogenic metals, furans, dioxins, and may also be

radioactive.

The source of waste described above is furnaces and combustion equipment for coal and

lignite, coke, wood (boiler plants, heating plants, power plants, industrial facilities, etc.).

The vast majority of wastes from power engineering is disposed of by landfilling.

Utilization of fly ash for other purposes is around 5%. The ash is used in mines,

reclamation and others. Ashes are used mainly in the construction industry when

producing cement (add with mortars and plasters), concrete, cement of light concretes,

lightweight fillers to concrete, building blocks, floor tiles, wall tiles, thermally insulating

materials and in road construction. This use is limited by hygienic regulations

31

(especially limiting amounts of heavy metals, PCB, formaldehyde, and

other toxic substances). Technically, the most common way use of the fly ash is its

processing in the production of aerated concrete. The ash and slag may also be used for

wastewater treatment, where they help eliminate phenols, cyanides, pesticides,

mercaptans etc.

Slag is used as a construction material for the preparation of concrete mixes for different

types of cinder concrete, namely for the manufacture of filler, insulating or supporting

concrete elements, during the winter gritting of roads and in terrain and road

modifications. Currently, ash material is collected by dry way from most of plants. When

mixing the ash and the products of flue gas desulfurization, a stabilized product arises.

The stabilized product can be used for consolidating the terrain, the seal and closure of

landfill of municipal waste.

Energo-gypsum is a full-fledged substitute for natural gypsum in cement plants, where it

is used as an additive for granulation of cement solidification. It can be used in the

manufacture of Portland cement, as a regulator of solidification.

Questions1st: Characterize types of waste generated in power plants.

2nd: Describe the possible methods of processing and utilization of energy waste.

7. FINAL SUMMARY

Chemical industry

production of basic organic and inorganic chemicals (e.g., benzene, sulphuric

acid (H2SO4), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), ammonia (NH3))

production of fertilizers, plant protection products, artificial textile fibres,

plastics, detergents and painting compositions

connected to other industries, such as food, textiles, paper, pharmaceuticals and

many other industries

dependent on mineral resources, skilled labour force, and its plants need plenty

of water and energy.

32

Wastes from inorganic productions

With current technologies it is practically impossible to prevent the generation of

these wastes.

Solid waste in the chemical industry usually represent less risk from the point of

view of the environment than liquid and gaseous waste, but their amount is

getting higher.

Gaseous waste - mainly of gaseous emissions of SO2 , SO3 and NOx in the flue

gases, as well as Cl, H2S, HCl, HF, F and its compounds

Liquid waste - industrial waste water (containing in addition to organic

substances, as well as soluble and insoluble inorganics)

Solid wastes - waste gypsum, copperas, sodium sulphate, waste from the

manufacture of soda, carbide lime, various clays, sludge. Extremely serious are

wastes containing cyanides arising primarily from mechanical engineering and

metal industry.

Wastes from organic productions

the largest and most complex problem - liquid waste.

basic productions (crude oil processing, petrochemical, chemical, coal)

production of final special substances (surfactants and detergents, organic dyes

and pigments, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, additives for polymers, etc.)

production of paper and wood processing requires numerous hazardous

chemicals (e.g. phenol and formaldehyde for the production of the resins or

sodium hydroxide in the pulp processing)

valuable secondary raw material is waste paper (remade to technical cardboard,

or toilet paper).

Detergents, Surfactants

Surfactants = surface-active agents

Anionic (alkali metal salts (e.g. alkali salts of higher fatty acids), cationic (organic

nitrogen compounds), amphoteric, non-ionic

dissolve in water, accumulate in the surface layer and reduce surface tension

33

detergents and various cleaning agents, textile industry

(cleaning, colouring), mechanical engineering (cleaning, degreasing agents), the

production and processing of crude oil (petroleum demulsifiers emulsion), the

processing of plastics (emulsifiers), food industry (emulsifiers for fats),

processing of leather and fur (wetting agents, detergents, emulsifiers).

Detergents = preparations for washing and cleaning

in addition to surfactants contain other components such as builders

(polyphosphates, silicates, starch and cellulose derivatives, polycarboxylic acids

and other substances), fillers (sodium sulphate), special ingredients (optical

brighteners, bleaches, colorants, perfumes)

average content of surfactants in detergents is approximately 20 %

solid (powdered), liquid, pasty.

Waste detergents and cleaning agents can be disposed by incineration and

chemical processes.

Waste solvents

halogenated and mixtures - chlorobenzene, chloroform, etc.

non-halogenated and mixtures - waste acetone, ethylene glycol, benzene,

toluene, xylene, methanol

sludge and cleaning agents containing solvents

source:

o production and refining solvents, degreasing surfaces, rubber,

pharmaceutical, petrochemical, chemical, textile industry, the

manufacture and use of paints, in surface metal treatment

Perspective replacing of chlorinated hydrocarbons are aliphatic petroleum

hydrocarbons and mixtures with water and surfactants = degreasing agents

based on petroleum hydrocarbons

Recovery and disposal of waste solvents

Recovery

34

regeneration - DISTILLATION + Reduces the volume of waste +

Eliminates the formation of CO2 which is formed during combustion + Saves

energy and raw materials needed to manufacture new solvents + Distillate purity

reaching 99.9%.

the procedure:

removing solid impurities (sedimentation, filtration, centrifugation)

removal of liquid contaminants and separation of mixtures (adsorption,

evaporation, distillation, rectification, extraction, membrane processes)

capture solvent vapours from waste gases (sorption, biological filtration). In the

absorption column steam pass to the wash solution. The regeneration solution is

performed by desorption, rectification.

Disposal

Incineration with wet scrubbing of flue gases (at high temperatures and

sufficiently long)

Freons are burned in an oxygen atmosphere with a wet scrubbing flue gas.

Chlorinated organic solvents are also disposed in the plasma torch by pyrolysis

or decomposition with superheated steam.

Both procedures are virtually 100% efficiency.

Waste waters

From the pulp production

Sulphate pulp

o water from dilution of timber (mechanical impurities, fibres)

o condensate from the off-gas from the boiler (turpentine, thiols,

disulphides)

o condensate of evaporation of leaching

o last wash water (about 10 % of the substances contained in the black

liquor)

o water from the evaporator and the caustification

o water from bleaching (alkaline, chlorine hypochlorite, oxidation products,

fibres)

o water from the pulp drainage (fibres)

35

o condensates of off - gasses from boiler (SO2, turpentine,

acetone, acetic acid, formic acid)

Sulphite pulp

o water from the preparation of the boiling acid (acidic inorganic nature,

SO2)

o water from dilution of timber (mechanical impurities, fibres)

o condensates of off - gases from boiler (SO2, turpentine, acetone, acetic acid,

formic acid)

o condensate of evaporation of leaching

o water from bleaching (alkaline, chlorine, hypochlorite, oxidation products,

fibres)

From the pre-treatment of surfaces

o containing oil products (degreasing)

o with phosphate

o containing CrVI

o Alkaline-acid containing heavy metals

o with colour components and sludge

Wastewater treatment

From pulp production - removing fibres - pressure flotation, sedimentation +

precipitation with Ca(OH)2

-colloid, the colour materials and fine suspensions - coagulation with the salts of Fe and

Al => forms poorly dewatered sludge

-=> + lime + carbonation CO2 - formed calcium-organic sludge well dewatered and can

be incinerated.

Wastewater from the production of sulphite pulp containing

o biologically easily degradable carbohydrates

o biologically non-biodegradable lignins, lignin sulphonic acid and its salts.

Dominated by hard-biodegradable substances.

o Biological secondary treatment and stabilization of these waters is done

by activation. Before a tributary to biological activation sewage, fibre

36

content must be reduced below 50 mg 1-1 and

wastewater must be neutralized to pH ~ 7.

Wastewater from the production of sulphate pulp

o Organic pollutants are alkalilignin, phenols, fatty acids and resin soap.

These materials are biodegradable.

Recovery and disposal of waste water

Recovery of waste waters from pulp production

Sulphite leaching - a plasticizer, filler, sealant, adhesive and binder. Chemically it

acquires vanillin, oxalic acid. It can be obtained ethanol and fodder yeast by

fermentation processes.

Production of Biohumus - biotechnological processing of lignocellulosic wastes

(sludge from WWTPs) in the bioreactor can obtain organic fertilizer - Biohumus.

Waste water disposal of pulp production

All combustion suitable concentrated extracts, concentrated with an evaporator.

Also used to wet oxidation at a temperature of 270-300 ° C and a pressure of 10

MPa

Wastewater containing oil products

physical methods (ultrafiltration, microfiltration)

chemical methods (acid breaking of emulsions and secondary treatment by

coagulation)

combustion (in combination with physical methods)

Wastewater from the process of phosphating

by precipitation with Ca (OH)2, an insoluble calcium phosphate precipitate the

heavy metals.

Waste water containing CrVI

first necessary to reduce CrVI to CrIII (at alkaline pH to precipitate and separate as

OH)

Waste water alkaline-acid containing heavy metals

precipitation-coagulation.

37

Waste water and sludge colour components

contain pigments, sludge, organic solvents

remove solid particles on the mechanical filter (cartridge wood shavings, coke), then

accumulating in the sump or in the reactor and the subsequent processing:

microfiltration

clarification - using aluminum or ferric coagulants or process combined with

sorption,

incineration.

Solid and liquid waste from tanning industry

waste with a high chromium content:

tanning the leather is soaked in solutions of basic compounds of chromium,

especially sulphates

chromium bound to the collagen component of leather produces waste

„shavings“.

Recovery

after separation of sewage sludge to obtain proteins by condensation with

mineral acids at pH 4 and subsequent separation by centrifugation - poultry

feed.

waste solutions after vegetable tanning contain unused tannins, which go partly

back into production.

Waste solutions of chrome - chromium can be obtained by condensation or

separation of the ion exchangers. Tanning solutions are again prepared from the

obtained chromium.

Disposal

landfilling, incineration and biological processes. After burning the ash formed

with chromium content up to 30 %.

solvents contained in the waste gases from the leather industry are disposed of

by burning at 800 ° C in a column packed with ceramic bodies.

Motivation

38

Responsibility for the disturbances of the environment and its

balance.

The main task should be:

o to reduce the hazardous nature of the waste

o to separate the waste into its individual components, some or all of which

can then be put to further use/treatment

o to reduce the amount of waste which has to be finally sent for disposal

o to transform the waste into a useful material

This can save primary energy and resources.

For each type of waste is necessary to choose the most appropriate method of

processing or disposal.

8. LITERARY SOURCES

1. Kuraš M. a kol. Technologie zpracování odpadů. ES VŠCHT Praha, 1993.

2. Hlavatá M. Odpadové hospodářství. ES VŠB – TU Ostrava, 2004.

3. Fiedor J. Odpadové hospodářství I. VŠB – TU Ostrava, 2012.

4. Filip J. a kol. Odpadové hospodářství. ES MZLU Brno, 2002.

5. Kepák F. Průmyslové odpady FŽP UJEP, Ústí nad Labem, 2005.

39

JAN EVANGELISTA PURKYNĚ UNIVERSITY IN ÚSTÍ NAD LABEM

FACULTY OF ENVIRONMENT

Social Sciences Dept.

___________________________________________________________________________

Understanding the concept of resource efficiency

(for the course Innovative Waste Utilization)

Josef Seják

ÚSTÍ NAD LABEM 2015

Understandingthe concept of resource efficiency

(for the course The innovative blended learning concept for resource efficiency)

40

While global resource consumption in the world is growing and putting the

environment under enormous pressure, resource scarcity may have severe consequences for

the economy. This is why the sparing and efficient use of natural resources (raw materials and

energy sources, biomass or minerals) is one of the key strategies for sustainable development

in the EU.

Resource efficiency according to the EU approaches means using the Earth's limited

resources in a sustainable manner while minimising impacts on the environment. It allows us

to create more with less and to deliver greater value with less input.

The resource-efficient Europe flagship initiative is part of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the

EU's growth strategy for a smart, inclusive and sustainable economy. It supports the shift

towards sustainable growth via a resource-efficient, low-carbon economy. The European

Resource Efficiency Platform (Platform's objective is to provide high-level guidance to the

European Commission, Members States and private actors on the transition to a more

resource-efficient economy) calls Europe to double its resource productivity by 2030 – at

least – in order to boost competitiveness of our industry and maintain a high quality of life for

citizens.

The Roadmap to a resource efficient Europe is one of the main building blocks of the

resource efficiency flagship initiative. The Roadmap sets out a framework for the design and

implementation of future actions. It also outlines the structural and technological changes

needed by 2050, including milestones to be reached by 2020.

The Communication "Towards a Circular Economy" further promotes a fundamental

transition in the EU, away from a linear economy where resources are not simply extracted,

used and thrown away, but are put back in the loop so they can stay in use for longer. It sets

out measures driving a more efficient use of resources and waste minimisation

(http://ec.europa.eu/environment/resource_efficiency). The Commission is aiming to present a

new, more ambitious circular economy strategy late in 2015, to transform Europe into a more

competitive resource-efficient economy, addressing a range of economic sectors, including

waste. The new strategy will include a new legislative proposal on waste targets. Since the

industrial revolution, waste has constantly grown. This is because our economies have used a

41

“take-make-consume and dispose” pattern of growth - a linear model

which assumes that resources are abundant, available and cheap to dispose of.

What we need is a more circular economy.  This means re-using, repairing, refurbishing

and recycling existing materials and products. What used to be regarded as ‘waste’ can be

turned into a resource. The aim is to look beyond waste and to close the loop of the circular

economy. All resources need to be managed more efficiently throughout their life cycle.

Using resources more efficiently will also bring new growth and job opportunities. Better

eco-design, waste prevention and reuse can bring net savings for EU businesses of up to EUR

600 billion, while also reducing total annual greenhouse gas emissions. Additional measures

to increase resource productivity by 30% by 2030 could boost GDP by nearly 1%, while

creating 2 million additional jobs (http://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-economy/index_en.htm).

Moving towards a circular economy is at the heart of the resource efficiency agenda

established under the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The

main ideas on how to do more with less are being taken further in the EU's "Environment

Action Programme to 2020." http://ec.europa.eu/environment/newprg/index.htm

A green transition to a world without waste is not just wishful thinking. It is an ambitious goal

to reduce our environmental impact. The point is that it pays to recycle! Danish incineration

facilities are among the most efficient and clean in the world and play an important part in our

heat and power production, but recycling is still more profitable and we can continuously

increase the environmental and economic value of recycling. It can be done through waste

prevention, collection, sorting and treatment. Waste is not just waste - waste is a resource.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eS7pYaW2DEY

'Re-Thinking Progress' explores how through a change in perspective we can re-design the

way our economy works - designing products that can be 'made to be made again' and

powering the system with renewable energy. It questions whether with creativity and

innovation we can build a restorative economy. Find out more about the circular economy at

http://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org.

Short history of resource efficiency

Concept of resource efficiency is as old as human history because at all times humans and

their groups, families and communities, in order to survive, were made to allocate resources

42

rationally or efficiently, minimizing costs and maximizing benefits in

satisfying basic material human needs. Rational allocation of resources is the core of

economics (the word economics is derived from the Greek oikos = household, nomos =

management). So, it is rather surprising that in most of existing definitions of economics as

scientific discipline you cannot find the words rational, rationality or efficiency. Most of

definitions offer that economics is defined as a science that deals with the making,

distributing, selling and purchasing of goods and services, or that it is on allocation of scarce

resources, but no word on rational allocation, efficiency or rationality. And of course, in all

periods of human history, the level of rationality depended on who was deciding on the use of

natural resources, whether it was tribe or family or whether it is the self-interest (profit) of the

firm’s owner or satisfaction of majority of inhabitants in some national economy.

As stressed by Gowdy, the representative of coevolutionary economics: “For about 99

percent of the time humans have been on the planet we lived as hunter-gatherers. A major

punctuation in our coevolutionary relationship with the rest of the biosphere was the adoption

of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. This change led to the dependence on stocks of

environmental resources rather than on day-to-day flows, and led to increasing social

divisions based on an unequal distribution of economic goods…The third epoch began with

the industrial revolution which further increased the dependence of human species on stocks

of natural resources…“ (Gowdy, 1994). Let us note that the new archaeological finds of

seeds show that agricultural epoch probably lasted longer than 10,000 years.

While the hunting and gathering societies are generally considered as the lowest form of

human existence, where the most important form of capital was knowledge as the communal

ownership, at the same time, they were compatible with the long-run sustainability of our

ancestors and, it was a way of life egalitarian to an extent unknown in the present agricultural

or industrial societies.

Egalitarian genetic heritage from this decisively long epoch of human history is currently

confirmed repeatedly by the modern psychological research that proves the dominating part of

human population as co-operators that refuse the self-interested behaviour of human

individuals, evaluate them as evil people and are even willing to pay against their egoistic

behaviour (Daly, Farley, 2011). It also gives good prospects for the future transition of

neoliberal market economies from the self-interested economic model toward more

cooperative alternatives.

43

Remaining last one percent of human history up to the beginning of industrial revolution is

characterized by the domination of agricultural societies, peasant villages and rural

communities. Georgescu-Roegen described the peasant rules of distribution as equalitarian

(equality of opportunity as opposed to egalitarian as equality of result), where (1) labour was

the basis for sharing income and (2) equal opportunity for all, not equal income. Individuals

did not own land, the right to keep a field remained restricted to the period during which the

field was bearing a crop. Once the crop was harvested, the field became communitarian land

again (Georgescu-Roegen, 1972). The movement from self-sufficient agricultural

communities or very simple peasant communities to the industrial age has taken some 10,000

years.

It was the appearance of the market economy as the basis of social organization that not only

disrupted social patterns that traditionally emphasized social equity, but also destroyed

environmental sustainability (Gowdy, 1994).

New incentives for resource efficiency were created and became an important research

question especially in the period of industrial revolution (last 250-300 years) when fossil

energy machines together with economic freedom of individuals, and for the first time in

human history, also the self-interest of economic agent and legality to accumulate the

personal material wealth, stimulated massive production of goods and services for anonymous

markets and consumers.

There are several explanations, why the aspect of rationality and efficiency started to be

underlined only at the end of 19th century. First, only at the end of 19th century the

marginalism and the formal, mathematically supported economic optimization tasks were

introduced into economic thinking (marginalism attempts to explain the discrepancy in the

value of goods and services by reference to their secondary, or marginal, infinitesimally small

utility; frequently, economic analysis concerns the marginal values associated with a change

of one unit of a resource). So, it is possible to assume that in ancient and medieval traditional

societies the rationality of human decision-making was derived from the long-term

experiences (best practices) accumulated by former generations. Second, in most of human

history, human individuals were living in collectivist systems, where common property

dominated and the most decisive questions were tied with ethics of individual in his/her group

and community.

44

Industrial revolution started to write the new history of the so called modern economics.

Origins are tied with the work of classical English political economist Adam Smith, who

introduced the economic theory of self-interest, the criterion of self-interest of human

individual in economic activities, ie. the criterion of profit motive and individual's wealth

accumulation and systematized the argument for the importance of markets in allocating

resources, the belief in the efficacy of the market mechanism as a fundamental organising

principle in economics(the invisible hand doctrine). Smith’s complete statement in The

Wealth of Nations is as follows:

(The economic agent) intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other cases, led

by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the

worst for the society that it was no part o fit. By pursuing his own interest he frequently

promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it (Smith,

1776).

One of the most radical disciples of Adam Smith’s invisible hand doctrine was the Prussian

civil servant Hermann Heinrich Gossen (1810-1858), who raised egoism of human individual

to a divine principle and declared it the root of all that is good, not only in the economic

sphere but for the entire social domain as well (Lutz, Lux, 1988).

It is worth to mention that the recent modern studies from behavioural sciences do not

confirm the selfishness as the positive individual’s characteristics on which the healthy

economic systems could prosper. On the contrary, majorities of people perceive the selfishly

behaving individuals as bad ones and are even willing to pay for their punishment. Studies

from behavioural economics suggest that about 20-30 % of people are purely selfish by nature

(expressing thus behaviour of Homo oeconomicus), about 50 % are conditional co-operators

(Homo reciprocans) and about 20-30 % are very pro-social (Homo communicus) (Meier,

2007).

In this direction, orientation on profit motive in economic activities, that reigns in market

economies for around two or three hundred years, is valued by some thinkers as a historical

failure, the failure of profit motive experiment, that should be replaced by some new

motivations of production democracy. Schumacher showed, that it is really an experiment

because this is the first time in the vast human history that a society attempted to live without

45

motives and principles that were higher than the material or economic, that

is, without some form of the transcendental. Schumacher proposed that this experiment is a

failure because in its brief history modern society is well on its way to destroying both the

natural and the social world (Schumacher, 1977).

For example, Kenneth Lux in his article in Ecological Economics makes the claim that the

replacement of the profit motive does not require a change in human nature, but a restoration

of human nature. In this restoration, the profit motive will be replaced by a concern for the

common good (which can be seen as a practical implementation of the transcendental). Let us

note that common goods are defined in economics as goods which are rivalrous and non-

excludable. As an illustration of how this can be brought about, it is shown that the

motivational principle of the common good can be instituted through two policies: a

maximum wage that is a ratio of the minimum wage, and the statutory transformation of all

companies into non profit. Then we have: Common good Non profit Sustainability

(Lux, 2003).

In modern economics, the term ‘resources’ is used synonymously with the factors of

production it means inputs without which the production of goods and services could not take

place. Most often the inputs of land, labour and capital are used (Sejak, 2014, p. 6).

Under the land as production factor the modern economics understands all natural resources

that are (or can be) used as profitable production factors in production of goods and services.

In more common sense, the land describes any resource that biosphere and her nature offers to

humans and to other heterotrophic species. At the same time, at the beginning of industrial

revolution when the number of humans was at about one tenth of today level, the focus was

on only those natural resources that could bring most efficient results in the production of

goods and services demanded. So, early classical economists were addressing only those

natural resources (agricultural lands, forests, mineral deposits, water resources) that were

decisive for feeding the nations and satisfying several other basic material human needs, they

solved mainly the problem of agricultural land scarcity and diminishing returns from its use.

They treated land not only as a space alone, but also as a source of food production with the

biological growth potential.

46

Classical economists of 18th and 19th centuries (A. Smith, D. Ricardo, J.S.

Mill), who stayed relatively pessimistic in the question of the possibility of a long-term

growth, did not treat only the impact of land scarcity on the long-term development. Another

problem for them was the fixation of prices or setting the values of different reproducible

commodities. Emanated at the same time from labour theory of value, according to which

price and value are determined by the quantity of work necessary to create specific

commodities (value and price are determined by the production costs).

While classical political economy saw value as arising from the labour power embodied

(directly or indirectly) in output (i.e. it was concentrated on the supply side only), neoclassical

economics (that creates the economic substance of Western civilization) envisaged value as

being determined in exchange by the utility or scarcity of resources (looked at price from the

demand side).

Neoclassical economics that was formed since the 1870s [S. Jevons (1835-1882), K. Menger

(1840-1921), L. Walras (1834-1910), A. Marshall (1842-1924)] introduced a new concept of

economic value as an expression of marginal utility (utility of the last unit of product

consumed). This paved the way for the development of welfare economics, in which values

could be measured in terms of consumer preferences. The paradigm of neoclassical system

(especially welfare economics) upon which the current natural resource economics is based, is

individual utilitarianism and libertarianism, i.e. an approach to human individual as a free and

rationally acting individual (with his/her individual rights and liberties undisturbed) who

maximizes his/her own self-interest. The basic neoclassical libertarian approaches come from

the axiom of minimal state, i.e. they want the state to intervene on free markets only in the

cases of a market failure, i.e. when a market does not ensure an optimal allocation of

resources.

This school assessed the problem of using natural resources as a part of a general system of

using scarce resources. The classical problem of absolute scarcity was replaced by a relative

concept of scarcity. Exhaustion of natural resources was not treated for a long period as a

serious economic problem (and many economists in market economies still hold a similar

approach even now), because, according to its principles, with the growing resource scarcity

the price is growing as well, which stimulates looking for cheaper substitutes. Many

neoclassical growth models are characterized by the absence of land or any wider category of

natural resources from the production function underlying growth models (Sejak, 2014, p.

12).

47

Effectiveness is about doing or using the right things — things that yield

positive results. Efficiency is simply about doing things right — i.e., completing a task

cheaper or faster Ideally, individuals and companies find ways to be effective and efficient,

but it is possible to be effective, but not efficient, or vice versa, or neither. For example, if a

company is not doing well it may decide to train its workforce to use a new technology. The

training may go well, with employees learning the new technology in record time, but if

overall productivity doesn't improve following the implementation of this new technology, the

company's strategy was efficient but not effective.

(http://www.diffen.com/difference/Effectiveness_vs_Efficiency).

Efficiency vs Effectiveness see the following videoclip https://www.youtube.com/watch?

feature=player_embedded&v=B4QQZvqRtzA

Basics of resource efficiency (Sejak, 2014)

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, utilitarian philosophy has perceived natural resources as the flows of services (flows of benefits and costs) which these resources can bring in some time horizons. For the valuation of natural resources as a sum of expected future benefits (gains) from their usage, a decisive role is played, beside the magnitude of the above mentioned gains, by the so called time factor which expresses the rate of unequality of benefits and costs in time. Let us note that in the following text the concept of price will be taken as synonymous with the value concept, i.e. it will be understood as a common or standard market price.

Time Factor (discounting)

An economic analysis in market economies expresses the fact that people value present economic magnitudes (today’s benefits and costs) higher than the same magnitudes in future (future benefits and costs). One Euro today is valued more than one Euro next year; people have positive time preference (“One Euro today is worth more to me than one Euro next year.”). Such intertemporal decrease of value is known as discounting (discounting is any process of revaluing a future event, condition, service or product to give a present equivalent – present value). The process of discounting is known not only from financial markets (where it is known as a part of “financial aritmetics”), but practically in all economic activities.

Discounting in market economies is a standard part of cost-benefit analysis, i.e. it is a standard part of economic efficiency. Discounting implies that the future has less importance than the present. In all such cases it is necessary to quantify how much better it is to have a good thing now in comparison with its future disposal.

In order to compare some good things or some amounts in time, we use the concept of present value, which is used to give an equivalent of a future value at present (t=0). Let it be considered “10 % better” to have the thing (or amount) now rather than in a year’s time:

[a good thing now] is equivalent to [a good thing in a year] + 10 % x [a good thing in a year]

The process of discounting can be expressed in a simple mathematical form:

48

Present value of some future benefit, revenue or cost = imputed future value x discount factor

where discount factor (time factor) is invariably presumed to be less than one, and for one year time period specifically it is 1/1+i, where i is annual discount rate in hundredths (in percentages). If i is a positive number, then the discount factor is evidently less than one. The discount factor shows the present value of a monetary unit that will be gained in one year’s time.

If €1 is worth €1(1+i)5 in five years time at a rate of interest of i per cent, then €1 in five years time must be worth €1/(1+i)5 now. This is the present value of €1 in five years time. More generally, the present value of €1 in year t is: €1/(1+i)t.

Discounting for a number of time periods can be commonly expressed in the general form:

Ko= Kt / (1+i)t

where Ko = present value of a benefit, cost or revenue Kt, expected t years after some reference date, Kt = is a benefit, cost or revenue expected t years after some reference date, i = is the discount rate in hundredths (in percentages),1/(1+i)t = discount factor for t periods.

Having the present value in cash at the reference date (when t is 0) is just as good as having the cash value of Kt in t years time.

The process of discounting can best be understood by looking at the mechanism of compound interest (capitalization). While under simple interest running, the net revenue in the form of interest at the end of every year is withdrawn from the bank and at the beginning of any year the amount capitalized is the same, under compound interest running, the revenues from the interest are added to the original amount, i.e. in any new period the amount capitalized is growing.

If we invest for example €100 now, then at 5% interest rate annually we will have an amount of €115,76 after three years.

100 105 110,25 115,76 1st year 2nd year 3rd year

At the end of the first year we will have an amount of €100 + (100 x 0.05) = 105, at the end of the second year then €100 + (100 x 0.05) + (100 + 100 x 0.05) x 0.05 = 110.25, at the end of the third year we will have the amount from the end of the second year plus the same amount multiplied by interest rate, it means

100 + (100 x 0.05) + (100 + 100 x 0.05) x 0,05 + /100 + (100 x 0.05) + (100 + 100 x 0.05) x 0.05/ x 0.05 = €115.76.

This seemingly complicated process can be expressed in a much more simple form. If we indicate the original investment Ko and the interest rate as i, then the total amount at the end of the first year is Ko + Koi. That can be written as Ko(1+i), which will be supplemented at the end of the second year by Ko(1+i)i. It means that at the end of the second year the total amount will be Ko(1+i) + Ko(1+i)i, i.e. Ko(1+i)(1+i), which can be written as Ko(1+i)2. Similarly, the total amount at the end of the third year will be Ko(1+i)3. This generalized

49

formula for compound interest running (capitalization) can be written, for the initial amount Ko, discount rate i and number of periods n, as

Kn = Ko (1+i)n (1)

Discounting is the reverse of capitalization, discounting is really only compound interest back-to-front.

Kn Ko = = Kn 1 / (1+i)n (2) (1+i)n

where Ko is a present value of Kn, which we will have in period n. The discount factor 1 /

(1+i)n expresses the present value of one Euro that can be obtained after n years with the discount rate i.

For example, in case we will have €1,000 in one year period, then under a 10% interest rate the present value is €909.0909. In other words, if we invest an amount of €909.10 with a 10% interest rate, in one year period we will have an amount of €1,000. The effect of discounting on the future value of €1,000 in the period of 10 years under a 10% discount rate is showed in the next chart. The present value of one thousand Euro in one year (t = 1) is €909 (exactly €909.09), the present value of one thousand Euro in a ten years period is only €386 (see chart 1).

Chart 1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 100

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1000

909

826

751683

621564

513467

424386

Effect of time on discounted value of Eur 1000 with discount rate 10 %

year

Eur

As we can see, with the 10% discount rate only around one third is left from €1000 in ten years (exactly €385.54). We test this by depositing the amount of €385.54 with the 10% interest rate; according to the formula (1), 1000 = 385.54 (1.1)10. The present value of €1000 that we will have in ten years is only €385.54. Having the present value in cash at the

50

reference date (when t=0) is just as good as having the cash value of X t in t years time.A graph of 1/(1+i)t against time is shown as a solid line in figure 2.2. This reveals the powerful effect of discounting on value, the more so the longer the period and the higher the discount rate. The discount factor declines more or less rapidly towards zero, but it never actually reaches it (see chart 2). Chart 2

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 10000.10.20.30.40.50.60.70.80.91

Impacts of discount rates on decrease of unity in time

0,10%

2%

3%

6%

10%

20%

Number of years

Decr

ease

of 1

From both charts it is clear that discounting has a powerful effect on value reduction in time. With a discount rate of 20 %, 1000 is reduced in twenty years to only about Euro 26. In other words, the present value of €1000 that we will have in twenty years, with the discount rate of 20 %, is only €26. With high discount rates, the time horizon for decision-making is necessarily very short. The time horizon is inversely proportional to the discount rate level.

From chart 2.1. we can see that with a discount rate of 10 %, the original amount loses around one half after seven years; from chart 2.2. we can similarly see that with a 10 % discount rate it has no sense to take into account a time horizon that is longer than 15 or 20 years (in twenty years the original amount loses around 85 % of the value). With lower discount rates, the rate of depreciation or devaluation retards. Chart 2.2. shows that under a 2 % discount rate, we still have around 40 % of the original amount after 50 years (in other words, the present value of €1 after 50 years is around 40 cents). Sustainability principles request to take into account the long-term impacts of human activities, like impacts of global climate change on future generations. This is reflected by the use of a very low discount rate. Chart 2.2. shows that under a 0.1% discount rate, we have around 90 % of the original amount after 100 years (used in Stern review, 2006).

Why do positive discount and interest rates exist and arise? There are two substantial reasons. First, individuals attach less weight to a benefit or cost in the future than they do to a benefit or cost now, people discount future as they prefer to have benefits now rather than later and costs later rather than now, they prefer present gains against future ones. This expresses what we call impatience or time preference. Human individuals are impatient. If we accept an assumption that human preferences are relevant, we must also accept that people prefer nowadays to future.

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Second, as another reason for a positive discount rate is the productivity of capital, €1 worth of resources now will generate more than a €1 worth of goods and resources in the future. Hence an entrepreneur would be willing to pay more than €1 in the future to acquire €1 worth of these resources now. Presently available money can gain interest or dividends; presently owned resources can be used to form profit-yielding investments; presently possessed land offers immediate rental value. The basic fact is that if we invest some money instead of spending them for consumption, we expect that the investment will bring us a higher consumption in the future period. We will make such investment if we expect that its future benefits will be higher than the costs of impatience (rate of time preference). This argument for discounting is referred to as the “marginal productivity of capital” argument, the use of the word “marginal” indicating that it is the productivity of additional units of capital that is relevant.

There is a clear independency among both the reasons of positive discount and interest rates. For the process of investing, it should be valid that the “marginal productivity of capital” should be higher than the “marginal time preference”, in other words, a process of investing can continue up to the moment when the benefit from marginal unit of investment is not lower than the marginal time preference.

Inflation is very often quoted as the reason for discounting. It is clear that inflation - a general increase in the prices of goods, services and resources – is pervasive. The relations between inflation and discounting are extensively discussed in economic literature and the conclusions of individual authors are far from being uniform. Undoubtedly, inflation must be taken into account in discounting and over time. Generally, it may be said that inflation, in the evaluation of future, need not be a great problem, provided that inflation is expected and flexible exchange rates are enforced. At the same time, it is obvious that nominal discount rate should be higher than the rate of inflation, because in the opposite case there would be a decrease of real values over time. Note that the relationship of interest rates and inflation is not precisely additive. If money

interest is to compensate fully for inflation, the appropriate rate is given by ialignl¿ n ¿¿ ¿ =

. This precise formulation is not always recognized in literature, and the difference from the approximate form money interest rate in = real interest rate ir + inflation rate I

can become important in high-inflation economies.

In discounting, it is thus necessary to carefully differentiate among nominal (money interest rate) and real discount rate. A nominal discount rate expresses the total rate including inflation, while a real rate means the net discount rate after a subtraction of inflation. The relations can be put followingly:

= where in = nominal discount rate, ir = real discount rate, I = rate of inflation. With a negligible error, nominal rate can be written as a sum of real discount rate and rate of inflation.

Discounting generally implies that the future has less importance than the present. Discounting was introduced in market economies only in the last two centuries. It is possible to say that discounting contributed to the unsustainability of current market economies. If discounting is applied on the activities of a long-term character, like education, scientific research etc., but also on the economic activities of a long-term character (like forest management and generally ecological functions of nature), it leads to preferring only the

52

short-term measurements and it practically hinders the possibilities of long-term actions.

If in natural resource extraction the capital is allocated on the actions that are profitable under discounting, then it leads to the preference of short-term investments and it threatens the existence of freely accessible natural resources. It is typical for fishery in international waters, where the efforts of the capital to obtain immediate profit reduced many fish species near extinction or even destroyed them.

Ecologist Paul Ehrlich once asked a Japanese journalist why the Japanese whaling industry is busily exterminating the very source of its wealth. The answer: “You are thinking of the whaling industry as an organization interested in maintaining whales. Actually it is better viewed as a huge quantity of capital attempting to earn the highest possible return. If it can exterminate whales in ten years and make 15 percent profit, but it could only make 10 percent with a sustainable harvest, then it will exterminate them in ten years. After that, the money will be moved to exterminate some other resource.” (Meadows D., 1990)

It is thus necessary for any democratic system to prevent the long-term interest of citizens, i.e. to protect also the quality of the environment. A. C. Pigou introduced this request in 1929 in the following way: “There is wide agreement that the State should protect the interests of the future in some degree against the effects of our irrational discounting...” (Pigou, 1929, p. 29)

For example, at one time the British Forestry Commission was using 10 % as a discount rate for the decisions on crop harvesting method, 7.5 % for the decisions on commercial recreation, 5 % for the decisions on silvicultural practice, 3 % for the decisions on land acquision, and as low as 1 % when forestry activity had a social justification (Price, 1993, p. 118).

The protection of future interests was also the reason why in former Czechoslovakia the state determined a 2% discount rate in forestry as the highest permissible rate.

It must be said that the problem of discounting and selection of discount rates is not an entirely clear area in economic theory. The question whether the rate of discount is proper or not, can be answered only depending on the purpose of intertemporal comparisons. If the aim is an evaluation of economic efficiency (whose part is an evaluation of cost and benefits of natural resources), then the use of a positive discount rate is correct. Conventional discounting is correct in private investments where the self-interest from alternative investment strategies is estimated. Any such individual uses a discount rate level according to his/her individual conditions and expectations.

As a convenient level of discount rate it is possible to take for example the rate of return from the best opportunity lost. From the investor’s viewpoint, for those who want to buy some land or other natural resources, opportunity lost is the interest rate that could be gained if the investment was allocated into a bank. Generally, as the bottom limit for the discount rate, a discount rate of the central bank can be used for which money are lent to commercial banks.

In public projects, costs and benefits should be discounted by public discount rates that are generally lower in comparison with private rates (they do not contain private risks).

The use of discounting implicitly assumes that all benefits are fully reinvested. This is a difficult assumption that does not take place in many practical cases. Discounting is then improper. Discounting also comes from the assumption that the future value of some evaluated resource will be decreasing, that its marginal utility will decrease; it means that its volume will increase. Some products or resources can keep the same quality or even improve it over time. The discount rates should then be zero or even negative. Generally, negative

53

rates of discount produce nonlogical results in economics because discounted magnitudes grow with time.

Many environmental economists seem to argue that the only ethically defensible discount rate for the projects whose effects spread over several generations is zero. It means that in many cases it can be proper to evaluate itertemporal magnitudes under a zero discount rate.

In the next two parts, we show how the time factor influences the economic efficiency of human activities and the values of natural resources.

Cost-benefit Analysis

Everyone is used to taking decisions on the basis of a balance of gains (benefits) and losses (costs), advantages and disadvantages in choosing the greatest net gain. Such comparison in economics is called cost-benefit analysis (CBA).

The basic cost-benefit rule is very simple and it means that a project, policy or programme is effective if the total benefits are higher than the total costs. The difference between benefits and costs is called net value. The flows of costs and benefits over time are discounted and the result is expressed as a net present value number, or as a discounted benefit-cost ratio. A positive net present value and the ratio of benefits and costs >1 express an economically effective project, policy or programme.

CBA distinguishes among the costs and benefits of an individual and the social costs and benefits. An individual’s costs and benefits are defined according to the satisfaction of wants, or preferences. If something meets a want, then it is a benefit. If it detracts from wants, it is a cost. An individual should accept a proposal to change to situation A if

(BA - CA) > 0

where B is benefit and C is cost.

Social costs and benefits can simply be expressed as a sum of costs and benefits of individuals.

The conversion of costs and benefits of different time periods on the present value is done by discounting or by capitalisation, as it was described by (2) a (1) in the preceding part.

The basic formula for computing a net present value (NPV) is T Bt - Ct NPV = (3) t=0 (1+i)t

The CBA rule then is that for any policy or project, the NPV should be positive.

To illustrate the above rule, consider a project that has the following sequence of costs and benefits:

year 0 year 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 cost 30 10 0 0 0 benefit 0 5 15 15 15 net benefit -30 -5 15 15 15

Note that the costs appear as minuses and the benefits as pluses. Year 0 expresses the present period, in which the valuation is done.

Suppose the discount rate is 10 % (which is written as 0.1), the NPV is:

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-30 -5 15 15 15

----- + ----- + ------ + ------- + ------ = - 30 - 4,5 + 12,4 + 11,3 + 10,2 = -0,6 1 1.1 (1.1)2 (1.1)3 (1.1)4

The NPV is negative and therefore the project is not worthwhile. Note that without the discounting procedure, the benefits of 50 exceed the costs of 40. Discounting can therefore make a big difference to the ultimate decision to accept or reject a project.

Let us consider an industrial project that is based on the use of agricultural land and that will lead to the pollution of an ecologically valuable region. An important question here is what society is losing in the form of a changed agricultural land and in the form of polluting an ecologically valuable region. We need to know what the total economic value of the lost nature services is. Such value comprises a use value (tourism, nature viewing, hunting etc.) and an existence value (the local inhabitants and visitors can value naturally a valuable territory independently on the use). In the assessment of the above mentioned project, all forms of use and non-use value of respective nature must be taken into account (details in chapter 4). The project can be valued as economically effective only in case the benefits (economic gains) are higher than the full social costs.

In practice, project evaluation can be even more complicated by the aspect of uncertainty. From the viewpoint of nature conservation, uncertainty exists whether an ecologically valuable territory will be saved. It is not clear whether industrial emissions do not destroy or damage the region. Alternatively, it is necessary to evaluate the prospects for the restoration of the respective region or for the creation of a new ecosystem. Inclusion of uncertainty means an incorporation of option value that expresses some kind of insurance that individuals are willing to pay for future use and access to an environmentally valuable region. The total project cost thus includes the losses from the use, option and existence value caused by the project.

The basic CBA rule for accepting a project is thus the following:

Accept the project if the sum of discounted net benefits is higher than 0

(Vt- Nt - Et) 1/(1+i)t > 0 (4)

where Et are the total environmental costs of the project.

Such environmental costs include the total economic value of nature services lost in the form of use, optional and existence value, or the costs necessary for the restoration of such services. These problems are described in detail in chapter 4 that presents an overview of non-market valuation methods.

The concept of efficiency and optimality in the neoclassical welfare economics has been used

in a special way of Pareto efficient criterion. In a Pareto efficient situation there is no

possibility to make anyone better off without making at least one person worse off. There are

no market transaction possibilities that are mutually beneficial to all parties affected by the

transaction. This criterion of efficiency is attractive for some economists especially as it

carries no ethical content, it answers question of efficiency conditionally on a given

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distribution of income and wealth. But the given distribution may or may not

be a fair one (Perman et al., 1996, p. 9). If in the small society of two producing individuals,

the first one possesses nearly all resources and the second almost none, situation may be

Pareto efficient (if there is no space for making one individual better off without making the

second person worse off), but this efficient situation is far from being optimal from the social

viewpoint.

Only during the 20th century economists revealed that markets can assure efficient and optimal

allocation of resources just in the very specific conditions of perfect competition that are

characterized by the following institutional arrangements:

1) markets exist for all goods and services,

2) all markets are perfectly competitive (there are many agents on both supply and demand

sides),

3) no externalities exist (very unrealistic assumption),

4) all goods and services are private goods, there are no public goods (most of ecosystem

services are offered as public goods),

5) property rights are fully assigned,

6) all transactions have perfect information,

7) all firms are profit maximisers and all individuals utility maximisers,

8) long-run average costs are non-decreasing,

9) transactions costs are zero,

10) all relevant functions satisfy convexity conditions (Perman et al., 1996, p. 93).

Currently it is generally well-known among economists that the above mentioned conditions

for effective resource allocation by markets are not met in the nowadays market economies.

This means that markets function efficiently only with a narrow class of goods, practically in

all market economies there are externalities and public goods, there is no perfect information

and there is such high concentration of productions that many producers and distributors have

power to dictate the prices. In all these cases markets as efficient allocators of resources fail

(Sejak, 2014, p. 24).

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Markets do not exist and cannot exist for all goods and services. None of the

goods and services provided by natural capital has all the characteristics required for efficient

allocation by the market. Decisive part of nature’s services are non-excludable, open access

public goods (the air of specific structure with 21 % of oxygen that each human body needs

with each breath, the ozone layer without which the life on continents would not be possible,

ability of natural vegetation to keep the water inside the ecosystem, etc.). It is often possible

to establish exclusive property rights to an ecosystem fund (e.g., a forest) but impossible to

establish such rights to the services the fund provides (e.g., regional climate regulation). All

the main supporting and regulating ecosystem services offer freely the indirect use values that

are decisive for life as the critical life-supporting conditions.

A second characteristic that a good or service must have if it is to be efficiently produced and

distributed by markets is rivalness (using of a unit of good or service by one person prohibits

use of the same unit at the same time by another).

There is a clear rivalry between markets and public goods in case of supporting and regulating

ecosystem services. These services are most efficiently produced by natural ecosystems which

on continents are very often natural forests. As ecosystem services are public goods that are

delivered by nature freely, the owner of the forest has no income from their delivering.

Although the level of ecosystem services annually delivered may be estimated at the level of

at least thousand dollars, the owner will prefer to cut the forest as he/she may make a one-

time profit for the timber, let us say $100/hectare and may earn annually couple of dozens of

dollars from the agricultural use of the land.

People live on a finite planet. We have finite resources of soils, minerals, fossil fuels and

biotic resources. We also have a steady influx of solar energy, but the rate of its arriving is

also fixed and finite. How useful the sun energy is, it depends on ability of capturing it, and at

present all of that capture is performed by a finite stock of photosynthesizing organisms

(Daly, Farley, 2011). The second important source of sun energy capturing is water with its

ability to capture the energy and transport it by means of ocean streams moving heated waters

from equator toward both poles. And finally, water changes from liquid to vapour and

consequential condensation are also transformers of solar energy that help to mitigate the

temperature extremes inside the biosphere.

What is resource efficiency according to the European Commission?

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So far, the resource efficiency concepts adopted at the EU member state

level tend to be rather narrow with a focus on raising the efficiency of use of material (input)

resources, especially natural resources such as fossil fuels, rare earths and water throughout

the national economy.

Under the Resource-Efficient Europe flagship initiative the European Commission is

elaborating on the conceptualization of resource efficiency, adopting a much broader

conceptual framework. The Commission proposes a strategic and integrated approach that

seeks to optimize synergies and to address trade-offs. The Commission defines resources to

encompass all natural resources that are inputs to our economy, including both physical

resources and ecosystem services. The Commission has identified the following main

categories of resources: metals, minerals, fuels, fish, timber, water, soil, clean air, biomass,

biodiversity and land and sea. Resource efficiency is a way to deliver more with less (natural

resources). It increases aggregate economic value through more productive use of resources,

taking their whole life cycle into account. Cases in point are e.g. the upstream effects outside

the EU of consuming biofuels or resource-intensive consumer goods, made in low-wage

countries. Resource efficiency requires extracting and using natural resources in a sustainable

way, within the planet’s long-term boundaries. It also includes minimizing impacts of the use

of one resource on other natural resources. For example, demand for energy can have

implications for virtually all resource domains: not only for the quality of essential eco-system

services such as an atmosphere with sustainable GHG concentrations, clean air, and for fossil

fuels, but also for other physical resources such as timber, biomass, water and metals.

Resource efficiency as microeconomic and the macroeconomic problem

From the above text can be concluded that we have to differentiate between the resource

efficiency on microeconomic and macroeconomic levels:

1. On microeconomic level the analysis of resource efficiency of basic economic agents

(business individuals, business companies, households etc.) can be done. In standard

mainstream economics it is supposed that the business agents are maximizing the

utility function in the form of profit maximization, while families and their households

maximize the utility in the final consumption in the form of satisfying basic material

human needs.

2. On macroeconomic level the resource efficiency problem has more dimensions, as the

resource efficiency depends not only on resource allocations in production and

consumption, but also on the social fairness in distribution (allocation) of incomes and

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resources and on the total national level (volume) of production and

consumption relative to the containing ecosystem. Macroeconomic level contains also

the estimations of national economic aggregates, such as GDP, GNP or net national

income and different corrected versions like ISEW etc.

When we want to do some resource efficiency analysis at the microeconomic level, we have

to incorporate all forms of externalities that are (or at least should be) internalized in the

production costs of respective economic agent and we should also incorporate all aspects

through which the biosphere’s ecosystem services as public goods are touched, reduced or

damaged by the production analysed, as shown by the Et in formula (4).

Analysis of resource efficiency on the macroeconomic level and macro-allocation is the

problem how to allocate resources between the provision of market and nonmarket goods.

The government plays an important role in providing nonmarket goods and influencing the

demand for market goods by taxes. One serious problem is the lack of information regarding

non-market goods and services. It is much more complex task as it should contain, beside the

private costs and benefits of respective producers, also the total external social and

environmental costs evoked by such production activities (see Seják, 2014, chapter 3) that are

not yet internalized in the costs of producers.

References:

GOWDY, J. (1994) Coevolutionary Economics, The Economy, Society and the Environment, Kluwer Academic Publishers.LUTZ, M.A., LUX, K. (1988) Humanistic Economics, The New Challenge, New York, The Bootstrap PressMEIER, S. (2007) A Survey of Economic Theories and Field Evidence on Pro-Social Behavior, in: FREY, B., STUTZER, A. eds., Economics and Psychology: A promising New Cross-Disciplinary Field, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007.PERMAN, R.; MA, Y.; MCGILVRAY (1996) Natural Resource & Environmental Economics. New York : Longman Ltd.Resource Efficiency: What does it mean and why is it relevant? http://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2013/o13004.pdf

SEJAK, J. (2014) Sustainable Environmental and Natural Resource Economics, Univerzita J.E. Purkyne in Usti nad Labem, Faculty of Environment.

SCHUMACHER, E.F. (1977) A Guide for the Perplexed, Harper and Row, New York.

SMITH, A. (1776) The Wealth of Nations, New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973

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