Pollution Prevention

Book excerpt: Pollution Prevention: Fundamentals and Practice provides a thorough foundation in pollution prevention concepts and methods. It fills an important role in the engineering curriculum by giving engineers in all disciplines the tools to incorporate environmental consequences in decision making in the same way that economic and safety factors are considered. The wealth of background information included makes this an ideal choice for those new to the field as well as for environmental engineering or chemical engineering majors and practitioners. Starting with an introduction to pollution prevention, the author progresses through a review of pollution and its consequences and describes the regulatory framework under which the industry must operate. Later chapters emphasize the sources of industrial pollution and how these can be minimized, the methodology for conducting life-cycle assessments and developing successful pollution prevention plans, and technological means for minimizing the use of water, energy, and reagents in manufacturing. Materials selection, process and product design, and packaging also are addressed. Throughout the text, example problems provide abundant opportunities to apply the concepts learned.