Cleaner production is the constant application of integrated preventive environment strategy applied on processes, products and services. It mostly emphasizes on the more efficient utilization of natural resources for minimizing the waste and pollution in the environment. UNEP (United Nation Environment Program) Governing council has taken broader initiatives for cleaner production from the year 1989. Cleaner production is also the company specific and preventive environment protection initiatives. These initiatives are intended towards minimizing waste and emission and maximizing product output. According to Park and Behera, (2014), organizations mostly analyze the flow of energy and materials in their production and tries recognize the options for minimizing the emission and waste in the industrial process. It is mostly reduced through source reduction strategies. On the other hand, Winter et al., (2014) opined that organizational improvement and technological advancement can also suggest best strategies for reducing waste and emission in industrial production process.
Based on the clean production concept, four primary case studies have been chosen to analyze from different industries. The cases are related to carpet manufacturing sector, ethylene production process, truck industry and Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturers. This literature review will highlight the different ways taken by these industries to ensure clean manufacturing process. The ways by which the sectors have able to reduce their resource consumption will be discussed and finally will be concluded by highlighting the main outcomes.
According to Gautam et al., (2008), the carpet manufacturing industry of Nepal has achieved a huge growth in the recent years and has become the biggest industrial support to the country’s economy. It must also be said that the carpet industry of Nepal currently contributes to 10% of the global carpet market. Considering the Carpet and Wool Development Board, which exports carpet globally is consisted of more than 700 manufacturers of carpet in Nepal. However, at present, the industry is facing downfall associated with several problems such as mismanagement, pollution, lack of coordination, poor planning and negative publicity. Such situation can be improvised in future by taking suitable strategies for pollution prevention, which will be discussed later.
According to Gautam et al., (2008), in case of processes, cleaner production incorporates conservation of raw materials and energy and elimination of the use of toxic materials for reducing overall toxic emission and waste. As per Sotayo et al., (2015), in case of product, cleaner production means reducing the negative impact of the product throughout its product life cycle. It is mostly done through the extraction of raw materials properly from the ultimate disposal of the product. The carpet manufacturing process is facing certain challenges regarding clean production however the associated companies have taken certain small measures to reduce pollution.
Considering each of the above phases in the above process, the industry is facing several issues. The crude wool is packaged in several sizes, however the waste generated from such packaging is generally sold to local recycling companies so that waste is reduced. Wool sorting process is facing issues related to washing and identifying the quality of water. The main reason for such issue is poor facility and quality parameter quantification that can identify the groundwater resources and surface pollution. In carding, air borne solid woolen particles is manufactured however this leads to indoor air pollution. Spinning process generates solid yarn pieces from waste stream however the companies mostly recycle such pieces to manufacture inferior quality carpets so that least waste is generated.
The most challenge is faced from dyeing process as the wastewater includes toxic chemicals such as sulfuric acid, acetic acid and heavy chemicals, which are disposed in the nearby rivers. In trimming, fiber cuttings generate maximum waste, which are again re-used to manufacture inferior quality carpets to reduce waste. Therefore, from the analysis, it can be said that the carpet industry has taken small steps in reducing wastes and ensure clean production.
The article gave clear idea of the issues that carpet manufacturing industry is facing:
It has been found that the largest contributing country of carpet manufacturing, Nepal is facing water leakage issues, which can be reduced by the following ways:
Associated companies can limit the usage of freshwater at every time by identifying the ways by which wastewater can be treated. For this reduce, reuse and recycle methods can be utilized. TSS content in the wastewater can be reduced by letting those settle down at the bottom of the basins (Gautam et al., 2008). Also, such process will not take huge investment and freshwater can be collected from the surface portion of basins.
Manufacturing companies need to identify the temperature that is impacting the washing and carry out certain tests so that hot water can be used at washing procedure. This will eventually reduce the use of cold freshwater and even reduce the washing cycle contact time. In this way resources can be reduced. Also, if nozzles are recycled, then water required for washing can be reduced.
The carpet manufacturing companies can ensure the use of automatic process controlling devices to limit the quantity of dyes that are used for coloring process. These devices will help the technicians to change the cycle process and limit water content in dyes. Therefore, it can be said that the carpet manufacturing sector needs to invest more on such devices and equipments.
With the help of general biological methodologies in the industrial site, vegetable dyes can be easily biodegraded, which will impose less environmental concern while comparing to readably available chemical dyes (Bryson & Ronayne, 2014). Also, such vegetable dyes can be manufactured locally, which makes it readily available and reducing the cost of supply.
Katmandu Valley has Balaju Industrial Development Estate (BIDE), which contains multiple small industries such as battery, iron, metal and chemical fertilizer, which can help the carpet industry in recycling the waste. This will also reduce the cost of supply and resource allocation and even all the industries can reap the cumulative benefits.
With the help of life cycle assessment, raw material acquisition can be limited. Manufacturing, processing and disposal of waste can be reduced. On the other hand, with the help of laboratories, the manufacturing companies can identify and measure the quality parameters (Gautam et al., 2008). This process and very less cost effective and equipments can be bought from local suppliers. In this way disposal of waste and chemical utilization can be reduced.
Chemical industry produces immense varieties of products, which impinges virtually on every aspect of our lives. It is one of the largest manufacturing industries in all developing and developed countries of the world. Most common products provided by this industry are soaps, perfumes and detergents (Asgher et al., 2014). The industry mostly uses variety of raw materials from air and minerals to oil. The industry also uses various acids, petrochemicals, specialty chemicals and other consumer chemicals. The estimated sale of chemicals is estimated to over $3500 billion.
Cleaner production approaches actually improve production process with little cost. It improves both profitability of the organization and environmental performance. It has turned out to be an efficient ways of improving production process and improving environmental condition. Global ethylene production has been estimated to 141 million tons in the year 2012. It has become the mostly produced chemical products in this industry. Both naphtha and ethane are used for producing this chemical product. According to Ghannadzadeh and Sadeqzadeh, (2016), the feeds are heated in furnace for braking down and cracking the molecules into ethylene hydrogen and other by products. Subsequent cooling stops the reaction and the mixture of gases is compressed, chilled and separated as the series of distillation towers. This production process needs high exergy consumption and emission of pollutant gas in the environment, which causes environmental pollution (Kurepin et al., 2016). In a manufacturing process of ethylene, the flowsheet is comprised of four functional blocks, which are cracking, compression, refrigeration and separation & purification.
The traditional methods of ethylene production have several limitations such as poor tools and equipments that can help in identifying the diagnosis process in accordance to energetic criteria. The operational criteria are not maintained and feasible proposals are not taken into consideration. In the user-friendly processes, which are commercially utilized have not yet adopted the process simulation (Asgher et al., 2014). This has led to application limitation in the industry and has never proved any realistic approach to ensuring clean production. However, with the help of energetic process diagnosis, the clean production can be ensured.
The complete methodology was identified through the role of solution panel. For reducing the exergy loss internally, thermodynamically reversibility process was found to be most suitable. It was identified that all the process driving forces should be at zero at all points and times. In order to operate in finite time and cost, it was essential to have driving forces which was finite. Therefore, the process designer in commercial purposes must have the goal to use the exergy wisely for achieving technological goals. It was identified that large driving forces expends higher energy from what is necessary for optimizing waste energy resources. After ensuring that driving forces are kept uniform, economic investment and constraints must be understood and analyzed at the time of commercial purposes.
After considering the above analysis, it has to be noted that driving force reduction might be necessary but not sufficient to lower energy loss. Ultimately, the four functional blocks, which are cracking, compression, refrigeration and separation & purification, were analyzed and exergy loss was recorded.
It has been identified that each of the blocks are emitting huge exergy, and therefore there is requirement of huge improvement. It has been also identified that amount of exergy loss is more through internal sources rather than external sources. The cracking block has been found to have the highest exergy loss, which needed improvement. After that each of the exergy blocks were examined to identify the other sources of exergy loss.
While diagnosing the cracking block, each of the unit operations were examined, which were cracking furnace, transfer furnace, boiler feed water, transfer line exchanger, water cooler, and steam generator, cooler, pump, and flow splitters. Similarly each of the other blocks was examined to identify the main sources of exergy loss. After the examination, following points were identified:
The global truck industry is on the edge of major change. It has faced consistent as well as volatile growth over the past decades. The global truck market for both heavy and medium duty truck is expected to grow by 4.8% by the year 2020 (Berggren et al., 2015). The developing economic situations are assumed to drive truck manufacturing development in various regions. China is the largest market in the world for manufacturing trucks. Asia is the engine of global truck demand with increasing truck manufacturing. Moreover, with the demand of trades and transportation of goods, the demand of truck industry is ultimately increasing.
Trucks are mostly manufactured by assembling different component parts. Most of the parts are made through the injection mould technique. Moreover, towards steel casting moulds very high pressured liquid materials are injected (Timmer et al., 2015). This process also needs 3D drawing techniques for perfect manufacturing of the trucks. Moreover, heavy metals are melted for producing truck having huge strength.
Environmental impact of transport is highly significant through its usage of energy and burning out petroleum. Truck industry is the major source of environmental pollution among the whole automotive industry. According to de Oliveira Neto et al., (2016), truck industry creates air pollution through nitrous oxide and other particulates. This industry is the largest contributor in the global warming through emitting carbon dioxide. Emission of hydrocarbon, methane, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and water vapor actually contributes in the global climate change. On the other hand, MacDuffie, (2013) opined that traffic is the major source of noise in truck industry. Apart from being unpleasant, the noise from trucks actually causes health issues like sleep disturbance, stress, hearing loss and cardio-vascular disease. More often, the noise level goes beyond 65 dB(A), which is considered as unacceptable and incompatible with the hearing ability of the people. In this way, the high level of noise is actually creating health and environmental damage to the human beings.
According to de Oliveira Neto et al., (2016), road accidents of trucks can cause water pollution, which can damage the biodiversity life. Road accidents and vehicle exhaust are the sources of oil and hazardous chemicals into the ground and surface water. On the other hand, Berggren et al., (2015) opined that truck washing terminals also causes water pollution. Furthermore, de Oliveira Neto et al., (2016) stated that the manufacturing of rubber tyres and other parts also causes emission of carbon dioxide the leads used in batteries can also causes serious environmental damage. Moreover, the extraction of pollutant gases through burning of rubbers and other metals leads to climate change. All these green house gases, leads and metals actually drive global warming and serious environmental damage, which in turn damage human life. Apart from that, during the production process of truck industry, accidents are likely to happen without proper safety measures for the people. Fire, heat and hazardous materials are more likely to cause accidents in manufacturing centre of trucks.
Towards cleaner production, the United Nations has established National Cleaner Production Centres, which incentivize continuous application of environment prevention and integrated strategies in the processes, services and products. Cleaner production involves full scale ideas towards sustainable strategies and prevention of environmental losses. Management initiatives such as good housekeeping and regular maintenance can reduce the waste of the truck industry. However, it also needs good quality control towards genuinely reducing amount of waste. Towards complying with the cleaner production, the truck industry has also started to use recycling and reusing strategies for the waste, packaging and wooden pallets (de Oliveira Neto et al., 2016). The application of clean production is also used for gaining economic advantage. The adoption of clean production is targeted towards gaining economic advantage through reducing cost. While considering General Motor’s Electro-Motive, it has been found that cost is reduced through acquisition of various types of cooling fluids utilized in machining. This organization has also adopted new procedures of bacteria controlling activity through PH adjustment for reducing coolant fluid consumption. Over the year, this process has been used by several organizations for reducing fluid consumption, fuel utilization and decreasing hazardous materials.
Eco-efficient utilization of water by Spain Automotive companies has resulted in reduction of 95% residual contaminants and 33% water economy as a result of closed loop implementation de Oliveira Neto et al., 2016). Most importantly, the automotive industries has started to use alternative fuels like hybrid vehicles, hydrogen and bio fuels for reducing the emission of green house gases during driving. The companies like BMW, Toyota, Honda, General Motors, Volkswagen and Mitsubishi are the most important name of companies, which have adopted this technology towards implementing clean production. General Motors also provide training to its employees for securing their health during production process of the trucks. It has strict policies to be maintained towards running a secure and safety production process.
The truck industry should be more concerned about the environmental protection in its near future. The organizations should incorporate non-hazardous and environment friendly components in the production process of trucks. Moreover, the noise level of the trucks should be reduced for reduction noise pollution in the environment. The sources of alternative fuels should be increased towards reducing the green house gas emission from the trucks de Oliveira Neto et al., 2016). Moreover, the organizations should strictly follow the ecological guidelines towards minimizing environmental impacts.
Pharmaceutical industry is the most popular and recognizable industry in china. It covers synthetic drugs and chemicals, medical devices, Chinese medicines and other pharmaceutical machineries. China is the largest producer of pharma ingredients and second largest pharma market in the world. As per the survey of 2016, it has been projected to have staggering $158 billion worldwide (Perri et al., 2017). With the increasing investment from the Government, the pharmaceutical industry of China has received huge opportunity to grow in among the world.
It is evident that material inputs are the first step in the production process of pharmaceutical industry. After that, the materials are prepared into ingredients and mixture. With water consumption, this mixture is brewed and blended. After that, it is prepared for filling with high level of energy consumption. Furthermore, the prepared drugs are filled and packed, capped and sealed. Lastly, it is labeled and packaged for selling in the market.
Pharmaceutical industry of China has been identified as having red category activities in its production process. The production process of this industry owes to hazardous wastes. It generates unique waste in the production process like residue waste and solvent water at the end of the production process. As per Li and Hamblin, (2016), most of the drugs and medicines or intermediates contain some chemical compounds, which are toxic in nature and can pollute the environment. Some untreated or inadequately treated pharmaceutical waste often causes land or water pollution. Improperly disposed medication is always likely to contribute more toxic waste that properly disposed medication. It can have direct impact on drinking water and negatively influence wildlife, human life and agriculture. Roschangar et al., (2015) pointed out that higher concentration of antibiotics leads to alteration in microbial community structure. In this way, it ultimately influences the food chain of human life. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are often detected in ground water, which causes water pollution.
The waste water is generated from the production process of Pharmaceutical industry of China, which is solid, biodegradable and non biodegradable organic compound. These effluents are discharged in the rivers and streams and affect the aquatic habitats. Complex pharmaceutical mixture over biota often results in chronic and acute damage in human life. It can also cause accumulation of tissues, inhibition of cell proliferation, reproductive damage and many more. On the other hand, fishes are also influenced through expose to waste water, which causes reproductive abnormalities. The non-disposable packaging materials of this industry also cause serious environmental issues with the landfills and water (Li & Hamblin, 2016). The lids made from aluminum containers are actually damaging the landfill and causing serious environmental damage. It is actually damaging the fertilizing abilities of the lands, which is preventing agricultural production.
The pharmaceutical industry in China has adopted ISO14001 certification for making more sustainable approach. In this certification, the organizations are more likely improve its market position through better corporate image. It improves the environmental sustainable practices and employee awareness for environmental issues. This certification also enhances economic sustainability of the organizations in this industry. Li and Hamblin, (2016) opined that ISO14001 certification has positive impact on the clean production process of this industry. The pharmaceutical industry of Tianjin, China has adopted the strategy for development of green products. These products actually reduce the energy and material usage and prevent pollution throughout its product life cycle. The industry has adopted integrated ESH programs for developing more environment friendly products. It has also considered eco-innovation for the production process, where eco-friendly products are used for reducing environmental impact. Moreover, the organizations are adopting clean manufacturing and pollution prevention practices. Most of the pharmaceutical organizations are using recycling and reusing strategies for minimizing material usage and protecting environment. On the other hand, the company such as Tianjin Pharmaceuticals Group Co., Ltd is using energy and water conservation for environmental protection as well as cost saving (Lee et al., 2015). In this way, the industry is actually protecting the environment and saving cost for gaining economical advantage.
The industry should be more concerned with the reviewing the product life cycle of the drugs for assessing their environmental impact and taking proper measures for reducing environmental impacts. The industry should also be more concerned with the material reduction and recycling process towards better waste management.
Conclusion
While concluding the study, all the carpet industry, truck industry, chemical industry and pharmaceutical industry have their negative impact on the environment. However, these industries are highly concerned about protecting its environment through clean production process. Most common of all among all the industries, are the energy and material saving. Chemical and pharmaceutical industries are more concerned with recycling and reusing their waste materials for environment protection and cost saving. On the other hand, chemical industry is highly concerned about incorporating non-hazardous material in the products. Furthermore, truck industry is more concentrated on reducing the material usage for environmental protection.
Reference List
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