The problems of the harmful effects of industry on the environment have long worried ecologists. Along with modern means of organizing effective ways of utilizing hazardous waste, options are also being developed to minimize the initial damage to the environment. In this regard, reducing waste emissions allows not only reducing damage to nearby infrastructure facilities, but also increasing the economic efficiency of enterprises. True, non-waste technologies also require significant contributions during implementation. The introduction of such programs often affects production stages, forcing managers to reconsider approaches to ensuring technological processes.
What are non-waste and low-waste technologies?
In a broad sense, waste-free does not at all imply a complete rejection of the development of secondary products that remain after the main production process. That is, the definition of non-waste technology may imply such an organization of the enterprise in which the most rational consumption of natural resources and energy is carried out. But this is still a general definition of this concept. If you strictly approach the issue, waste-free technologies should be presented as a general principle of the organization of the production process, according to which raw materials are used completely in a closed cycle.
Low-waste technology deserves special attention. In fact, this is an intermediate link, which allows you to transfer the enterprise to full-cycle production mode with minimal costs. At facilities where a low-waste concept was implemented, a level of harmful effects on the environmental background is observed, not exceeding the permissible sanitary standards. Nevertheless, if non-waste technologies involve the complete processing of secondary raw materials, then in this case long-term storage or burial of materials is also allowed.
How is non-waste production evaluated?
To begin with, it should be noted that the full implementation of completely waste-free production is far from always possible. There are entire industries in which enterprises and combines for various reasons cannot get out of low-waste status. In this regard, non-waste assessments deserve attention. In particular, specialists use coefficients that allow you to determine what percentage of waste the enterprise cannot recycle and sends for recycling or storage.
For example, low-waste and non-waste technologies in the coal industry are more difficult to implement than in other industries. In this case, the non-waste ratio varies from 75 to 95%. You should also recall the very essence of the introduction of technologies that reduce the impact of harmful substances on the environment. With this aspect in mind, we can talk about the need to determine and the proportion of nutrients that are contained in the waste. Sometimes this figure reaches 80%.
Technology principles
Non-waste technology is based on several principles, the most important of which are the following:
- Systems approach. It suggests that it is necessary to consider the production facility in terms of minimizing waste without interruption from the regional industrial infrastructure.
- Cycle of flows. According to this principle, there should be in some way a cycle of the raw materials used, as well as the energy that ensures its processing.
- Integrated use of resources. This principle provides for the maximum consumption of raw materials and energy potential. Since any raw material can be considered as complex, all its components must be extracted during production cycles.
- Limitations of environmental impacts. It can be said that this is the main idea, in accordance with which low-waste and non-waste production technologies are developed in various industries.
- The rationality of the organization of production. In this case, optimization of technological processes is supposed to maximize the saving of material resources, energy costs and financial investments.
Non-Waste Technology Implementation Process
Any actions aimed at changing the production process include the development of the project. In this case, the creation of drainless technological systems and water cycles on the platform of effective filtration methods can be assumed. Similar schemes, for example, are used in the galvanic industries. One of the most effective tools for processing the secondary raw material base is the introduction of non-waste technologies that exclude the formation of secondary products in principle. For this, additional stages of processing and purification are introduced into production processes. It is also practiced to create separate industrial complexes that purposefully implement closed systems to ensure the processing of material flows.
Wastelessness in metallurgy
In the process of designing plants that will be engaged in the processing of non-ferrous and ferrous metals, the widest range of non-waste means is used. For example, liquid, gaseous and solid wastes may be involved in processing. Cleaning agents are also used as a basic tool for minimizing processed products. In addition, low-waste and non-waste technologies can operate not only within the framework of the metallurgical enterprise itself. Mining and processing plants, where the development of large-tonnage dump waste takes place, are engaged in the production of finished building materials. In particular, bookmarks for mines are made from waste, wall blocks are formed and road surfaces are laid.
Agricultural Wastelessness
This area of economic activity is the most flexible in terms of the use of funds that provide the secondary processing of resources. This is due to the fact that the bulk of agricultural waste contains products of organic origin. For example, waste-free technologies may appear in the form of reuse of compost, manure, sawdust, foliage and other materials. Further, a raw material base for fertilizer is formed from these wastes, which saves the costs of non-renewable resources.
Energy Free
In modern energy, specialists are guided by the widespread use of technological methods of fuel combustion. This may be the use of a fluidized bed, which helps to minimize pollutants in the exhaust gases. Also, non-waste production technology in the energy sector is manifested in the form of mastering developments aimed at cleaning gas emissions from nitrogen and sulfur oxides. The approaches to the technical equipment of enterprises are also changing. Dust-cleaning equipment, for example, is operated with high efficiency, and the ash generated in this process then goes into the construction industry as an ingredient in concrete solutions.
Problems of non-waste and low-waste production
The main part of the problems arising in the transition to waste-free production is due to the contradiction between the desire to minimize processed products and maintaining the efficiency of enterprises. The inclusion of new stages in the production processes with the recycling of secondary raw materials, for example, reduces the economic performance of industrial facilities. The problems of non-waste technology are also associated with the impossibility of processing a number of emission products. Mostly this applies to chemical industries in which volumes of harmful gaseous wastes increase. However, there are reverse examples when the implementation of non-waste production projects contributed to increased economic efficiency. In the same mining industry, enterprises sell rocks with characteristics satisfying the needs of construction plants as secondary raw materials.
Management of non-waste enterprises
The integration of systems to optimize production capacities in terms of minimizing the generation of hazardous waste involves the improvement of management processes. Enterprises are required to organize a whole range of functions that allow them to regulate the formation, use and placement of processed products. At the same time, it is important to take into account that waste-free technologies at enterprises affect not only the direct sources of secondary raw material production, but also further consumers. In order to increase the efficiency of subsequent waste management, raw materials storage and disposal systems are being improved.
Conclusion
Despite the decline in production during the crisis, the harmful effects of industrial enterprises on the environment remain at the same level (at best). This is explained by the fact that managers strive to save, including environmental costs. Nonetheless, waste - free resource-saving technologies make it possible to solve problems of this kind, offering means of more rational consumption of the initial raw material base. In other words, measures to reduce waste come into effect at the first stages of the process. This makes it possible not only to optimize the volumes of the final output of the secondary product, but also to save on the initial costs associated with the purchase of resources for production.