The Papermaking Industry: Mechanical Pulping
Mechanical pulping methods avoid many of the environmental impacts created by the Kraft pulping process. Several different mechanical pulping methods are commonly used today, but they all rely primarily on energy rather than chemicals to convert wo...
The Food and Agriculture Industries: Sugar Production Equipment and Waste Streams
The ongoing maintenance of equipment and machines essential to the sugar production process can generate waste streams that require treatment. For example, some petroleum-based solvents leach hazardous metals, like chrome or lead, out of equipment ...
The Food and Agriculture Industries: Food Packaging and Waste Disposal
Americans dispose of more than two hundred million tons of trash each year, and a significant percentage of that is food packaging. As the public has become increasingly concerned about the negative impact of this massive scale of waste disposal, M...
The Food and Agriculture Industries: Citrus Processing
Citrus fruits are a major part of crop production in Florida. At Southern Gardens Citrus, one of the largest citrus processing plants in the United States, a number of practices are utilized to assure both a high quality product and a safe environm...
Thermal Treatment Technologies: Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is a process that uses heat in an oxygen starved atmosphere to treat wood pulp, paper, plastic and other hydrocarbons like the mountains of discarded tires that clutter hillsides.
Thermal Treatment Technologies: Plasma Arc Technology
Extremely high temperatures are needed to decompose the most persistent, harmful, and even radioactive materials. One solution is the Plasma Arc Torch, which achieves the highest temperatures yet attained for the thermal destruction of waste. The ...
The Chemical Industries: Borax Production and Environmental Considerations
The valuable mineral borax was discovered in California's Death Valley in 1882. Today, fifty percent of the world's commercially produced borax comes from the Mojave Desert near Boron, California. Borates are used in hundreds of products and play ...
The Chemical Industries: Sulfuric Acid and Environmental Considerations
Sulfuric acid is the most commonly used compound produced by the chemical industry. It is most frequently utilized in the making of fertilizers, but is also used in the manufacture of gasolines, dyes and industrial explosives, as well as in other c...
The Chemical Industries: Polyester Manufacturing
Most people commonly associate polyester with clothing but, in fact, the bulk of polyester resins is used to make reinforced plastic products. Polyester is a vital component in plastics which require strength and durability. Polyester not only mak...
Physical Treatment Technologies: Flocculation
The use of gravity is often the most economical method of separating solids from a liquid. In a sedimentation tank, heavier particles sink to the bottom and are collected in a trough. When particles, like clay, are too small to settle on their own...