Question: ( 2 0 % ) A gaseous waste stream is generated within a plastic film processing operation from a drying step. The stream ( 1

(20%) A gaseous waste stream is generated within a plastic film
processing operation from a drying step. The stream (12,000scfm)
is currently being vented to the atmosphere and it contains 0.5%vol.
of total VOCs of equal amount of toluene and ethyl acetate. An
absorption column and a distillation column are proposed to recover
the toluene and ethyl acetate. In the absorption tower, tetradecane is
used as the absorption oil. CO,CO2,NO2 and SO2 are emitted
from reboilers burning #4 heating oil. The recovery efficiency can
be improved by increasing the flow rate of absorption oil flow rate
(i.e. n-tetradeane flow rate), which however, will increase the
energy requirement, leading to higher combustion emissions. A
waste audit based on process flowsheet estimates all pollutant
emission rates from the process as shown in Table 2 for the base
case without solvent recovery, the case with 99% toluene recovery,
and the case with 99% reduction of both toluene and ethyl acetate.
a.(10%) Calculate the percentage reduction in overall global
warming impacts of the waste streams from this process for the
proposed options over one year period (300 days in operation).
Assuming all hydrocarbons are oxidized to CO2 after their
releases, using IPCC5100year GWP
b.(10%) Calculate the percentage reductions in non-carcinogenic
risks for both proposed options based on CHEMINFO web.
Assuming an intake fraction (iF) of 0.01%(i.e.iF=0.0001), and
the workers exposed to the polluted air over their 8-hour work
shift each day.
Table 2. Air emission rates of chemicals from a solvent recovery
process. You could use website USEPA or cheminfo for RFD value

Step by Step Solution

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock

Students Have Also Explored These Related Chemical Engineering Questions!