Unit 3.

Sustainability

Contents
1. Sustainability
2. Sustainability metrics
3. Example of metric implementation
4. EPI
 Unit 3. Sustainability

1. SUSTAINABILITY: STARTING POINT

1972 Stockholm Conference

Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment: need
for a common outlook and for common principles to inspire and guide the peoples
of the world in the preservation and enhancement of the human environment
Diseño y
1980 World Conservation Strategy
simulación
Its publication marked a shift from the traditional focus on cure rather than
prevention. It established that conservation is key to a sustainable society, and it
is an horizontal activity and not depending on individual activities
1980 North-South: A Programme for Survival
Propose a new relation between the wealthy North and the needy South
1986 Conference on Environment and Development
The concept of sustainable development emerges
1992 United Nations Conference Rio de Janeiro
 Unit 3. Sustainability

1. SUSTAINABILITY: STARTING POINT

1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development

• Goal of establishing a new and equitable global partnership through the
creation of new levels of cooperation among States, key sectors of societies
and people
• Diseño y
Working towards international agreements which respect the interests of all
and protect the integrity of the global environmental and developmental
simulación
system
• Recognizing the integral and interdependent nature of the Earth, our home
Climate Change Conference
Convention on Biological Diversity
Agenda 21
Non-binding, voluntarily implemented action plan of the United Nations with
regard to sustainable development. Priority activities on 7 social issues:
prosperous (sustainable growth), fair, livable, fertile (efficient resource use),
shared (global and regional resources), clean (waste management) and
personal-oriented (public participation and responsibility) world.
 Unit 3. Sustainability

1. SUSTAINABILITY & SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

World Commission on Environment and Development

(Brundtland Commission)  Brundtland report 1987
Sustainable development: "development which meets the
Diseño
needs of ycurrent generations without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs".
simulación

“The Institution of Chemical Engineers sees sustainable

development as the most significant issue facing society today.
Engineering for sustainable development means providing for
human needs without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their needs”
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

Sustainability Metrics IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineers)

Three components of sustainable development (impact of
industry)
• Diseño y responsibility
Environmental
•simulación
Economic return “Triple bottom line”

• Social development
Set of indicators intended to evaluate the sustainability of any
operating unit
Sustainability
Environment Social

Economics
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

Sustainability Metrics IChemE (Institution of Chemical Engineers)

Objectives
• Address the problem of sustainable development
Diseño y
• Examine the global impact of the company operations
•simulación
Stablish a set of criteria and develop internal standards for
comparative market analysis
• Monitor the annual progress
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
Three groups of indicators:
 Environmental
Diseño
Economicy
 Social
simulación
In reporting the metrics it is important to make clear where
the boundaries have been drawn
RESOURCE- EXTRACTION – TRANSPORT – MANUFACTURE – DISTRIBUTION –
SALE – UTILIZATION – DISPOSAL – RECYCLING – FINAL DISPOSAL
A company will receive most benefit from these data if they
are collected for a number of operating units, over a number
of years, on a consistent basis. This will give an indication of
trends, and the effect of implementing policies
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
1. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
They provide data on the environmental impact of inputs (inputs:
Diseño
resource usage)yand outputs (outputs: emissions, effluents and waste,
products and services produced)
simulación
1.1 Resource usage
a) Energy
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
1. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
1.1 Resource usage
a)Diseño
Energy y
simulación
b) Material (excluding fuel and water)
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
1. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
1.1 Resource usage
a)Diseño
Energy y
simulación
b) Material (excluding fuel and water)
c) Water (used in cooling, in process…)
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
1. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
1.1 Resource usage
a)Diseño
Energy y
simulación
b) Material (excluding fuel and water)
c) Water (used in cooling, in process…)
d) Land occupied
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
1. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
1.2 Emissions, effluents and waste
Diseño
Based on theyEnvironmental Burden (EB), that estimates the potential
environmental
simulaciónimpact instead of merely calculating the amount of
products emitted.
The EB is calculated by adding up the weighted emission of each
substance. The weighting factor is known as “potency factor”

EBi = ith environmental burden

WN = weight of substance N emitted, including accidental and unintentional
emissions
PFi,N = potency factor of a substance N for ith environmental burden
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
1. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
1.2 Emissions, effluents and waste
a)Diseño y impacts
Atmospheric
simulación

a) Atmospheric acidification: EB → t SO2 eq / year

b) Global warming: EB → t CO2 eq / year
c) Human health (carcinogenic effects): EB → t benzene eq / year
d) Ozone depletion: EB → t CFC-11 eq / year
e) Photochemical ozone burden (smog): EB → t etilene eq / year
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
1. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
1.2 Emissions, effluents and waste
b)Diseño
Aquaticyimpacts
simulación

a) Aquatic acidification: EB → t of H+ emitted/year

b) Aquatic oxygen demand: EB → t O2 / year
c) Ecotoxicity to aquatic life: EB → t copper eq /year and t formaldehyde eq/year
d) Eutrofication: EB → t phosphate eq / year
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
1. ENVIRONMENTAL INDICATORS
1.2 Emissions, effluents and waste
c)Diseño
Impactsyto land
simulación

1.3 Additional environmental items

• Impacts on protected areas
• Issues concerning long-term supply of raw materials from non-renewable
resources
• Issues concerning environmental impact of plant construction and
decommissioning
• Etc.
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
2. ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Both human and financial capital are considered
Diseño
2.1 y and tax
Profit, value
simulación

a) Value added: value of sales less the cost of goods, raw materials
(including energy) and services purchased
b) Gross margin is the value of sales minus all variable costs
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
2. ECONOMIC INDICATORS
2.2 Investments
a)Diseño y employed (plant, infrastructure, stocks, etc.), R&D
Direct: capital
expenditure, direct employees, etc.
simulación
b) Indirect: indirect jobs dependent on operating unit, education,
philanthropy and charitable gifts and donations.
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
3. SOCIAL INDICATORS
Reflect the company’s attitude to treatment of its own employees, suppliers,
contractors and customers, and also its impact on society at large.
Diseño y
3.1 Workplace
simulación
a) Employment situation
b) Health and safety at work
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. SUSTAINABILITY METERS

The Metrics
3. SOCIAL INDICATORS
3.1 Workplace
Diseño
3.2 Society y
simulación

a) Stakeholders: include customers, residents and other community groups,

local government, non-governmental organizations.
b) Social benefit from the dissemination of skills and know-how which are
used in the community to create wealth and enhance quality of life. Difficult
to quantify
c) Measure of antisocial behavior
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. EXAMPLE

Odour problematic
 Intolerance to malodours is continously growing (Hayes et al. 2014)
 Research on odour removal is of key importance nowadays
Diseño
 There y
is a necessity for sustainable treatment systems
simulación
 Comparison among different alternatives to improve selection criteria

Sustainability
Environment Social

Economics
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. EXAMPLE

Traditional selection criteria for gas treatment…

 Based on process economics (pollutant concentration and flowrate
to be treated)
• Diseño y from industrial emissions to odorous emissions?
Extrapolation
•simulación
Need to incorporate environmental and social criteria to economic
indicators
1000000
Air flowrate (m3 h-1)

Biological systems
100000
Incineration
10000
Adsorption with Scrubber Condensation
1000 regeneration

100 Crio-condensation
Adsorption without regeneration
10
0 1 10 100
Pollutant concentration (mg m-3)
 Unit 3. Sustainability

2. EXAMPLE

Methodology
Technologies: design data based on literature
Biofilter (BF) Activated sludge
EBRT = 60 s diffusion (AS)
Organic/inorganic packing Fine bubble diffuser

Biotrickling filter(BTF)
2 stages, EBRT = 15 s Chemical Scrubber
Plastic packing
(CS)
2 stages, EBRT = 2 s
Activated carbon (AC)
Impregnated, EBRT = 2.5 s
Regenerative
Incineration (RI)
Hybrid technology 90-95% energy recovery.
(BTF+AC) EBRT = 1 s
EBRT = 9 s + 2.5 s
 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. EXAMPLE

Methodology
Model stream: 3000 m3/h emitted from a wastewater treatment plant.
T=293 K, 40% humidity, ~40 pollutants including H2S y MeSH
• Sustainability analysis: IChemE Sustainability Metrics
• Economic analysis: real data obtained from governmental sources and
private companies
• Geographical analysis: data from local distributors (water and energy),
Global Water Intelligence Water Tariff Survey 2010, economic dataUBS
Prices and Earnings - 2009 Edition
 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. EXAMPLE

Environmental Indicators (1) Material consumption

BF: packing material
CS: chemical reagents

Energy consumption
RI: high energy
requirements
AS: aeration energy

Land occupation
BF: high land requirements

Water consumption
Biological: higher water
necessities, but less
quality required
 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. EXAMPLE

Environmental Indicators: water savings

 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. EXAMPLE

Environmental Indicators (2)

Global warming: CO2-eq Function of the removal efficiency of each

Human health: Benzene-eq technology
RI highCO2 emissions
Photochemical ozone: Ethylene-eq BTF + AC: lowest emissions
 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. EXAMPLE

Economical Indicators
0,5 12
Operating Cost (€ (1000 m3treated)-1 )

0,45
10
0,4

Investment Cost (€ (m3/h)-1 )

0,35
8
0,3

0,25 6

0,2
4
0,15

0,1
2
0,05

0 0
AC CS BF BTF BTF+AC

 Compilation of economical data: is it realistic?

 Differences among operating costs and immobilized costs
 Economy of scale
 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. EXAMPLE

Economical Indicators
20
Fi
Objective economic indicator: Net Present Value NPV  
i1 (1  r)i

Flujo = 7500 m3 h-1 Flujo = 75000 m3 h-1

 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. EXAMPLE

Social Indicators
• Estimate the impact of technology on society
• Subjective, most difficult to quantify

 Higher occupational safety for workers and improvement of well-being

and health of nearby population and workers: BTF + AC (higher removal
efficiency)
- Linked to odor perception: esthetic and emotional associations
- Evaluation of the social cost of odorous contamination

 Risks associated to Physical-Chemical technologies:

Smoldering: adsorption into Activated Carbon
Hazardous materials: chemical scrubber
 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. GEOGRAPHIC SENSITIVITY

CS: less sensitive technology

BF y BTF + AC: most variable technology
BF y BTF: most economic alternatives in the
analysed location
 Unit 3. Sustainability

3. GEOGRAPHIC SENSITIVITY

CS: less sensitive

technology
BF y BTF + AC: most
variable technology
BF y BTF: most economic
alternatives in the
analysed location
 Unit 3. Sustainability

4. EPI

The 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI)

The 2010 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 163 countries on 25
performance indicators tracked across ten policy categories covering both
environmental public health and ecosystem vitality.
These indicators provide a gauge at a national government scale of how close
countries are to established environmental policy goals.

http://epi.yale.edu/