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| HIGHLIGHTS 2000 |
| ENVIRONMENTAL
STANDARDS
A two - year project has been initiated by the Central Pollution Control Board involving three other laboratories i.e. Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gandhinagar, National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad and National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Nagpur, to develop toxicity based Minimum National Standards (MINAS) for dye and dye intermediate industries. The project has been completed in the year 1999-2000. In order to develop and finalize the standards, the standardized test method was adopted, which is based on dimensionless toxicity factor. The method was also adopted as a Standard method by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) in its meeting held during November, 1999.
Studies have been undertaken at selected group of Effluent Treatment Plants (ETP) of Dye & Dye intermediate industries. Thirteen ETPs including one CETP were selected to provide proper representation of all the seven categories of Dye & dye intermediate industries. The selected ETPs are located in the state of Gujarat (Vapi, Valsad and Ahmedabad) and Maharashtra (Thane, New Mumbai and Roha).
The monitoring of treated & untreated samples from 13 treatment plants were jointly carried out by all the participating laboratories thrice. The summary of the observations made on the basis of the results obtained is presented in following table. Toxicity Factor (TF in Effluents of Dye & Dye Intermediate Industries)
Based on the observations of the study, it is recommended that toxicity factor in dye and dye intermediate industries may be considered as 4.0 for Minimum National Standard (MINAS) in treated effluents dye and dye intermediate industries. This implies that the treated industrial effluent should not depict acute toxicity for fish, if diluted four times. Preparation of Manual on Risk Assessment
The chemical industries form a vital part of the Indian economy and their contribution towards the country's prosperity is undisputed. However, these industries should not pose hazards to workers and community as a whole. There is need to develop a tool to establish the hazard potential of chemical industries in order to implement mitigative and safety measure. With this in view, the Central Pollution Control Board has taken-up a project to develop a manual for risk assessment in chemical industries. The various attributes concerned to risk have been considered in evolving the manual for quick assessment of the risk potential of an industry. The main aspects comprise failure probabilities, frequency, consequence distance, location sensitivity and managerial capabilities. Assessment of these factors is based on several attributes, which will be closely examined during the study. The manual to provide basis for classifying the industries with respect to their risk potential and to help in drawing mitigative and safety measures. Review of Environmental Statements
The Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India issued notification for submission of ‘Environmental Statements’ (ES), by the industries to the respective State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) in April, 1992 and further amended in April, 1993. Environmental Statement is a pro-active tool for self-examination of the industry itself to reduce/minimise pollution by adopting process modifications, recycling and reusing of the resources. Regular submission of ES will indicate the systematic improvement in environmental pollution control being achieved by the industry.
In order to assess the efficiency of ES programme, a national project has been taken up by the Ministry of Environment & Forests and is being implemented by the Central Pollution Control Board. In this project, thirteen industrial sectors have been identified for collection of respective ES submitted by the industries to respective State Pollution Control Boards in the country to assess trend of improvements and constraints, sector wise, to draw national long term programmes.
The Central Pollution Control Board has in collaboration with specialists has taken up the work of following sectors i) tanneries ii) bulk-drug industries iii) thermal power stations and in the process of taking-up studies in following sectors i) distilleries ii) sugar industries iii) cement industries iv) iron & steel plants v) textile industries vi) fertilizer industries vii) pesticides industries viii) petrochemical plants ix) pulp & paper industries x) oil refineries. Minimum Level of Production in Small-scale Industries
Small-scale chemical manufacturing sector has grown phenomenally in the last three decades and producing wide range of organic chemical intermediates and finished products. The manufacturing of organic chemical intermediates involve a number of unit processes and operations, thus, generate process waste, having high variations in quantity and quality. The production capacity in small-scale industry units being small, it becomes difficult and uneconomical to treat the emanating effluents before the disposal.
The Central Pollution Control Board took up a project to study, whether certain critical chemicals produced by the SSI sector be continued or whether some minimum level of production be fixed to ensure pollution control.
Comprehensive review revealed that 750 chemicals are produced by SSI sector in the country. Considering large number of manufacturing units, usage of wide variety of organic chemicals exhibiting varying degree of toxicity, variety of unit operations and share of the total chemical production in SSI sector, dyes & dye intermediates, drugs & drug intermediates, pesticides & pesticide intermediates and leather chemicals have been given special emphasis under this study.
Among the 750 chemicals produced in SSI sector, 57 have been graded as toxic and classified into three tracks considering acute toxicity, specified long-term effect, bioaccumulation and persistence. The number of chemicals grouped, in each track are as follows:
Ratio of annual burden due to pollution control (AB) to annual turnover (AT) has been used as a tool for calculating the desired level of production considering a minimum of physico-chemical treatment, before sending the effluent to CETP. The AB/AT ratio is found between 1.0 & 1.5 when the production is 600 TPA, which holds good and impact on cost per kg of product is minimal. Whereas, incineration of wastewater is felt compulsory for the chemicals manufacturing units (even with 1000 TPA production), the AB/AT ratio is falling between 4 & 5, which is a constraint. Software Package for Assessment of RIsk Potential in Chemical Industries
The Central Pollution Control Board developed a software package for assessment of risk potential of chemical industries, which involved in batch processing with the help of environment consultant. This software would be useful as a tool to assess the status of risk due to location, storage of chemicals/handling/processing of hazardous chemicals and management capabilities to determine the level of safety measures taken by the industries to minimise/avoid chemical hazard and accidents. In addition, it will help in preparing precautionary/safety measures to reduce risk potential.
In chemical industries, varieties of chemicals including solvents are used as raw material. Storage, handling and processing of these chemicals needs special care, lack of such care leads to accidents, which may turn out to be pool fires/fire ball/flame jet/vapour cloud explosion depending upon the constituents and their characteristics. Once there is an accident, release of toxic gases, air pollution etc. invite the care/attention of the regulatory authorities. Therefore, it is considered that while carrying inspection of the industries by the pollution control officers, a rapid assessment of risk potential of the industry may also be covered. With this backdrop, and to classify the industries based on risk potential and likely consequence effect, a user-friendly software package has been developed and proposed to be used by CPCB initially. Later the software is proposed to be distributed to all the state pollution control boards. Alternative Technologies for Pollution Control in Vinyl Sulphone Industry
Vinyl sulphone is generally marketed as the sulphate ester and has the chemical formula H2N-C6H4-SO2-CH2-CH2-O-SO3-H. The molecular weight of the vinyl sulphone is 281 and nomenclature is 2-4-(amino phenyl)-sulphonyl ethanol hydrogen sulphate.
The effluents emanating during the manufacturing process are highly toxic and difficult to treat by conventional biological treatment methods. Therefore, these industries are directed to attain zero discharge by local regulatory authorities, which influence the industry to establish incinerators for destruction of toxic wastes. These proceedings led to more investment and operation & maintenance costs for pollution control by the vinyl- sulphone manufacturing industry.
Therefore, to extend technical support to the industry in pollution control, the Central Pollution Control Board in association with the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune studied the vinyl-sulphone industries in India, to suggest process modifications and technologies for better pollution control. Development of Standards
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has been allocated a fund of US $ 1.00 million by the Ministry of Environment & Forests for the sub-component: Development of Standards to be taken up under the World Bank Funded India Environmental Management Capacity Building Technical Assistance Project (EMCBTA). CPCB has identified the projects, which are scheduled for execution in phases till March, 2003. Highlights of some other activities taken up under this project are as follows: National Emission Standards for Pesticides Manufacturing Industry
The Central Pollution Control Board has engaged M/s Shriram Environment & Allied Service, Gurgaon, Haryana to study the Indian pesticides industries for different products, processes, identification of emission sources, pollution control equipment being used, performance of control equipment, cost bearing on the industries due to the emission control etc. The local consultant has completed the study and submitted the findings including the in-depth studies to be carried out in seven pesticides industries.
Pesticides industry is critical in terms of raw material usage and final products/by-products demand special care/attention. It is well established that the process of development of industry-specific-standards considers techno-economic feasibility as the criteria. This criteria demands the review of technologies for control of pollutants emanating from the industries and cost implications due to such pollution control equipment and bearing on health & environment. Therefore, looking at the complexity, foreign consultant has been engaged to review the findings of the study conducted indigenously and to suggest the best practices being followed in advanced countries, and options for improvement in terms of technologies (best available & best practicable) suitable to Indian pesticides industries. National Emission Standards for Petrochemical Plants
The Central Pollution Control Board has an environmental consultant to study the Indian petrochemical plants for processing of various petrochemicals, identification of emission sources, pollution control equipment being used, performance of control equipment, cost bearing on the plants due to the emission control etc. The consultant is conducting in-depth studies in petrochemical plants and nearing completion.
Petrochemical plants involve cracking of different feedstock to separate various petrochemicals. These petrochemicals are further reformed to get desired end-use products. As number of petrochemicals are being produced in India in varying capacities, the emissions arising from the process are varying in characteristics and in general the process-vents are either let-out or subjected to flaring or incineration depending upon the pressure. Besides these process-vents, a considerable amount of emissions escape the system in the form of fugitive emissions (VOC). It has been considered that the process equipment can be modified to restrict the fugitive emissions and the process-vents shall be collected to box-flaring/incineration. Precisely, it is aiming for the review of process technologies, equipment besides conventional approach to review control equipment and their efficiencies, monitoring etc. Considering these, M/s Lurgi (India) Company Limited, Delhi comprising experts from Germany, a process technology development company, is being engaged for reviewing the status of indigenous petrochemicals plant and to explore the options for equipment modifications, control of emissions etc. and retrofitting of developed criteria. Control of Total Dissolved Solids in Industrial Effluents
The Central Pollution Control Board has engaged the National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune to study the pesticides, bulk-drugs, tanneries and dye & dye intermediate manufacturing industries to assess the present practices of control of total dissolved solids (TDS) level in various effluent streams, process modifications needed toavoid/reduce TDS generation, control equipment and their feasibility. Within the scope of study, some industries in each sector have been studied by CPCB & NCL teams to assess the status of TDS conc. in industrial effluents and their control. It has been seen that when the control technologies available for TDS are compared, each system has their merits as well as limitations. It has been concluded that the issue of TDS management should be seen holistically i.e. i) control at the source by process modifications & control equipment as far as possible ii) Utilising available dilution to the wastewater as long as not impairing any treatment systems. It implies that the available dilution in sewerage network may be explored to such an extent that mixing with sewage can be attained to such a level where there is no interference in treatment of sewage; iii) Wherever, such sewerage facilities are not available, minimum possible dilution available in natural water bodies may be explored. The discharge of TDS containing effluents to rivers/ lakes should be limited to the extent so that the TDS level of the water body is maintained within the potable limits iv) Where there are no options of either sewerage system or natural streams is available, the industries shall relocate their principal activities causing generation of TDS, near coasts so that after required treatment, effluents may be disposed into the sea.
A strategy for exploring all the possibilities to relieve the industries from economic burden because of control of TDS and to protect receiving environment, has been proposed and is being considered for development of national standards. New Projects Initiated
Overseas Training on Development of Environmental Standards and their implementation
The Central Pollution Control Board, with the aim to study the approaches adopted by the advanced countries, and their experience, has taken up the project for developing guidelines, so that suitable modifications, if any, to the existing rationale and implementation strategies can be made. In this regard, a training has been arranged in selected European countries for officers of CPCB, SPCBs & MoEF to familiarise with the approaches/ strategies followed in leading European countries.
The Network for Preventive Environmental Management (NetPEM), a representative of the International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, Lund, Sweden, arranged the training programme in five European countries during August, 2000. In this programme, eight officers from MoEF, CPCB and SPCBs have participated. Development of Certified Reference Material (CRM's) for Toxic Metals in Industrial Effluents
Trace metals are on one hand essential micronutrients, while on the other hand these may pose significant health hazard at elevated concentrations. The trace metal studies in environment, therefore become an area of significant concern imposing research priority on availability, behaviour and fate of trace metals in the environment. The need of standards for accurate measurements of trace metals during environmental monitoring is well recognised. Standard reference materials (SRM's) are well characterized materials utilized during analytical measurements to ensure the analytical quality. The use of certified reference material (CRM's) in analytical measurements for trace metals is increasing day by day, alongwith quality consciousness of analytical results. But the availability of CRM's, of the shelf and at economical cost are important aspects requiring immediate attention. The need for development of CRMs for heavy metals in the country for environmental measurement has been realized and accordingly Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has undertaken a project for development of CRM's for toxic metals. Department of Science & Technology (DST), New Delhi has sponsored the project.
During the Ist Phase of the Project, the Certified Reference Material for Nickel and Chromium have been proposed to be developed for use of environmental organisations. In order to develop the CRM's from effluents of electroplating industries, the effluent samples from various electroplating industries have been collected and analysed for Chromium, Copper and Nickel.
Based on the preliminary studies, standard solutions have been prepared in the laboratory and electroplating industrial effluent have been utilized for developing CRMs of Chromium, Copper and Nickel metals and distributed to 32 reputed environmental and R&D laboratories in the country for analysis, in order to certify their Reference value. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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