ENEN603-Principles of Environmental

Engineering

L2: Examples of environmental problems

Dr. Maen Husein
Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
Center of Environmental Engineering Research & Education (CEERE)
University of Calgary
Global Climate Change (GCC)

Retention of heat is essential for life.

Green house effect: recent, rapid, unwanted
increase in the atmosphere’s heat retention ability.
International community: effective ways to reduce
GHGs without compromising quality of life: social &
economic structure 2
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Main greenhouse gases*

• Carbon dioxide (CO2) – 50%

• Methane (CH4) (21 times more effective) – 18%
• Nitrous oxide (N2O) (300xmore effective) – 6%
• Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
• Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
• Sulphur Hexafluoride (SF6) “fire extinguisher; banned” (24,000xmore
effective)
• Note: Water vapor is a GHG (Not on the “black list”, kinetic of water cycle
much faster)
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Atmospheric CO2 concentration *

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2020/06/04/carbon-dioxide-
record-2020/

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ExxonMobil 2019 OUTLOOK FOR ENERGY

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Cumulative energy-related CO2 emissions (Gt)

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Strategies for CO2 Capture

• Post-combustion (capture after burning, amine process)

• Pre-combustion (gasification)

“clean coal”

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Main sources of GHG’s
Interactive stats: https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector

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CO2 Capture and Storage System (CCS)*

Fuels
Processes

Storage options

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Facts on GCC

• No consensus on human-induced CC, how/where to proceed

1. Advocators of prompt & substantial response to limit GHGs:
 Serious analysts
 Genuinely concerned colossal environmental catastrophe
 Acknowledge uncertainties in many underlying scientific issues (Global
Circulation Models)

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Facts on GCC, cont’d

2. Advocators of temperate measures:

 Serious thinkers
 Genuinely concerned colossal economic catastrophe
 Do not question underlying science of GHG effect
 Argue resulting economic dislocation unsustainable

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Facts on CC, cont’d*

• Objective view takes following issues:

1. For a known level of climate change (e.g. 3 oC increase in global average
temp), what will the consequences (e.g. sea level, agriculture, etc.) be
2. Climate change due to a specific agent (e.g. T associated with given CO2 )
3. Relative contributions of human & natural factors

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Regional problem: Acidic rain

• Controversial Issue:
Who is responsible for the mine once it is abandoned?
Problem: once mines abandoned, pumps dewatering mine turned
off ground water levels rise flush metals out of the mine and
into the local waterways
• Acid rain: emissions from coal-fired generators, petroleum refineries,
iron and steel mills, pulp and paper mills and motor vehicle exhausts.

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Regional problem: Acidic rain
2 NO2 + H2O → HNO2 + HNO3
3 HNO2 → HNO3 + 2 NO + H2O
SO2 + ½O2 = SO3
 SO3 + H2O = H2SO4 (g)
H2SO4 (g) = H2SO4 (l)
Emissions contain SO2 & NOx (convert to H2SO4 & HNO3 in the
atmosphere)Lowers pH:
- Kill young fish, interfering with the reproduction of others
- Solubilize metals and toxic materials
- Can kill lakes
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Local problem: Photochemical smog*

hydrocarbons + NOx + sunlight →

photochemical smog (oxidants)
Videos:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2008/apr/02/beijing

primary oxidants produced:

ozone (O3)
formaldehyde
peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN)

 CBC news headline: China starts 2017 engulfed in smog, issues pollution alerts:
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http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/china-new-year-smog-1.3918388
Earth’s Atmosphere

99.9%

90%

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Ozone accumulation

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Impact of smog

• Physiological (eye, resparatory irritation, long time

exposure to O3, premature lung cancer)
• Toxic and corrosive
• Tropospheric O3 important greenhouse gas
• EPA estimated crop damage by O3 alone $2 to $3
billion/yr

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http://www.ncl.ac.uk/airweb/ozone/greece.jpg
Solution: Sustainable Development & Sustainable Energy

• SE fuel for sustainable development

• Sustainable energy: availability of energy services to all people (intra-
generational) and preservation of earth & sources of energy for future
generations (inter-generational)

• Sustainable energy: energy provided without change to biosphere (no such

supply exists). More realistic: net effect of energy utilization does not
significantly degrade biosphere (species abundance and diversity)

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Operational Principles for Sustainable Development

• For a renewable source: sustainable rate of use no greater than rate of source
replenished

• For a non-renewable source: sustainable rate of use no greater than rate

renewable source can be substituted for it

• For a pollutant: sustainable rate of emission no greater than rate pollutant

can be recycled or assimilated by environment

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Energy Sources & Conversion

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A tool is needed help choosing between the options: LCA

System Analysis Approach

• Start of industrial revolution: focus making products

• Serious accidents or health issues  design modifications made industries,
professional groups, and governments established codes
• New industry search relevant codes, standards, regulations, and
insurance/liability requirements

• Establishing “good practice” was responsive, need ability to foresee possible

impacts

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Life Cycle Analysis “LCA”

• Inventory all impacts associated with each & every stage of a process or a
product, from cradle to grave using material & energy balances (considers
Social impacts)
Exploration & discovery of primary source
Production or harvesting
Preparation, transportation &/or storage
Further processing, purification and conversion
Utilization
Recovery, destruction or decontamination or storage of byproducts &/or
waste: e.g. “Zero-Emission Vehicle” 24
Setting up a boundary for LCA, Ethanol from Sugarcane*
Stage: Stage:
Mass Energy Societal
Official Name Project Specific
Exploration & Assigning a
Land
Discovery field for
minimal minimal Ownership
of Primary Sugarcane
Transform
Source production
Fertilizers & Energy Job creation,
Pesticides, consumed
Production & Production & Food vs.
Irrigation preparing field,
Harvesting Harvesting Water, CO2 from plantation Energy
energy needed & harvesting Debate
Energy for
Emissions
Preparation, Preparation, Collecting &
associated
Transportation Transportation Transporting Job Creation
with required
&/or Storage &/or Storage Sugarcane
fuel
to Factory
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In your assignments you need to provide estimates for each mass and
energy interaction in the LCA
Setting up a boundary for LCA, Ethanol from Sugarcane, cont’d*
Stage: Stage:
Mass Energy Societal
Official Name Project Specific
1) Solid waste,
1) Energy:
chemical
additives,
pressing, -Facility:
Further Further Extraction
wastewater.
of sugar, Aesthetic
Processing, Processing, 2) Solid, liquid
Heat needed -Land use:
Purification & Purification & & gaseous
speed up
emissions Food/energy
Conversion Conversion associated
fermentation
With Facility
2) Energy for facility debate
construct
Construction

- NOx, CO2
Utilization Utilization emission Heat Rejection None
- Carbon neutral

Recovery, Recovery,
Destruction or Destruction or
Possible Energy
Soil Needed to Job Creation
Decontamination Decontamination
Contamination,
or or
Recycle of
Remove Temporarily
Storage of Storage of Facility Aesthetic
Metallic 26
Byproducts Byproducts
&/or Waste &/or Waste
Parts & Recycling
Importance of LCA

• Impact of one route of manufacturing, or activity, can be compared to others

on a common basis
• Complete inventory of material, energy, byproducts & wastes associated with
every stage of the life cycle activity “cost is tracked in a similar manner”
• Next: societal (difficult) & environmental impact quantified: waste stream
emitted, health effects of toxic emissions, loss of land use, ecological damage
or noise, etc.

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Importance of LCA, cont’d

• Identify major sources of undesired impact during lifecycle

• Sustainable design accounts for depletable materials (e.g. abundance of
Platinum to support wide spread fuel cells)
• Lifecycle management of material is to make manufacturer responsible for
taking back the material at the end of their useful life

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Example of LCA*
• McDonald’s:
Paper or Styrofoam coffee cups better for the environment.
LCA: manufacturing of paper cups consume 36x electricity, generate> 500x
wastewater
Paper cups required plastic coating unsuitable for paper recycling, where
Styrofoam cups would be recycled
• Important: performance of both types of cups be fairly equivalent: Customer
concern (difficult to evaluate), stackable, durable, not leaking not being too
hot to hold, etc

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Measures of Sustainability

• Quantifying emissions (SO2, CO2, H2S, PAHs) is easy, but quantifying individual
& societal health are much harder (indicators: body temperature, pulse rate,
respiratory rate, & composition of components in various parts of the body)

• Goals of sustainable progress in the 21st century specified 3 main indicators:

Environmental, Economic, Social

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Environmental:

• Government & institutional commitments (countries with a national

strategy for sustainable development)
• Water resources (population with access to safe water, intensity of
freshwater use, percentage of annual available resources use)
• Biodiversity (national protected area as a percentage of total land)
• Energy use (GDP per unit energy use, total per capita CO2 emissions)

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Economic:

• Total per capita GDP, gross national product (GNP), national debt,
employment rates, investment rates, new housing starts, Dow Jones or other
stock market averages, balances of trades

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Social:

• Social indicators include poverty, education, health with the following aims
1) Reduce poverty
2) Provide universal primary education
3) Improve gender equality in education
4) Reduce infant & child mortality
5) Reduce maternal mortality
6) Expand access to reproductive health services (total fertility rate, HIV
prevalence in pregnant 15-24 year olds)

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Energy efficiency*

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Appendix

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Factors
1 W·h = 3.6 kJ
1 EJ (exa) = 1018 J
10-3 W·h= mW·h (milliwatt hour)
103 W·h = kW·h (kilowatt hour)
106 W·h = MW·h (megawatt hour)
109 W·h = GW·h (gigawatt hour)
1012 W·h = TW·h (terawatt hour)
1015 W·h = PW·h (petawatt hour)
Also check: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exa-
1 toe~ 42 GJ
1 GJ boils off 386 L of water 38
Btu Content of Common Energy Units

• 1 barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil = 5,800,000 Btu

• 1 gallon of gasoline = 124,000 Btu (based on U.S. consumption, 2008)
• 1 gallon of diesel fuel = 139,000 Btu
• 1 gallon of heating oil = 139,000 Btu
• 1 barrel of residual fuel oil = 6,287,000 Btu
• 1 cubic foot of natural gas = 1,028 Btu (based on U.S. consumption, 2008)
• 1 gallon of propane = 91,000 Btu
• 1 short ton of coal = 19,988,000 Btu (based on U.S. consumption, 2008)
• 1 kilowatthour of electricity = 3,412 Btu

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