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VOLUNTARY ACTIVITY

Process technology improvement

Process technology links raw materials and energy to synthesis and formulation processes. The resulting outputs are products, by-products and wastes. It is now unacceptable to view changes to process technology solely in terms of improvements in profitability arising from higher yields or faster throughputs. Society now demands that the indirect costs to man and the environment be factored in to the cost-benefit analysis of proposed changes to process technology. Early identification of potential issues arising from proposed changes and development, where possible, of solutions can result in significant cost savings further down the line. When cost savings associated with process technology improvement can be linked to products with improved environmental hazard profiles the result is a win-win situation for industry and the wider community.

Product portfolios

Maintenance of a healthy portfolio of chemical products requires that their environmental hazard properties be subject to frequent review in response to legislative developments (e.g REACH) or changes in corporate policy. Where hazard data are absent or adverse it may well be necessary to develop new or additional data to support positive assessments. The options available for producing new data include testing, read-across from related products or prediction using statistically derived relationships between molecular and hazard properties. Choosing an option that is both acceptable and cost-effective requires a detailed understanding of its technical limitations and the framework within which the resulting data will be assessed.

Photography courtesy of Emanuel Lobeck, Kenn Kiser, Crissie Hardy