Industrial Processes

Environmental/Industrial Events in Recent Years

1948: In Donora, Pennsylvania a thermal inversion trapped the air pollutants from several industries in the small valley where the town is located. Of 14,000 residents, 6000 fell ill. Twenty died.

1954: A school was built and opened in the City of Niagara Falls, New York in an area called Love Canal.

1973: The US banned the use of DDT, a pesticide with a very long life in the environment. It is linked to near extinction of eagles and other fish eating birds. DDT is also toxic and a suspected carcinogen. The half-life of DDT is 2 to 15 years.

1986: One of four nuclear reactors at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union exploded during a catastrophic failure.

1986: The chemical dioxin was found at Times Beach, Missouri. Through the "Superfund" the US EPA purchased the town and is currently completing the remedial cleanup.

1987: Chlordane, commonly used to kill termites, limited to professional use in the US. Chlordane is toxic. The US EPA has restricted its use to soil pesticide control by licensed professionals. The half-life of Chlordane is one to four years.

1988: NASA scientist James Hansen warned congress that an enhanced greenhouse effect caused by anthropogenic emissions could cause global warming, disrupting food and water supplies, and raising sea levels.

1988: A nationwide group was formed to prevent further protection of natural resources—financed by timber, mining, oil, coal, and ranching interests.

1989: The Exxon Valdez ran aground off Alaska's Prince William Sound spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil.

1990: UN report warning of global warming problems from CO₂ emissions.

1991: The US and 38 other nations with a presence in the Antarctica agreed to continue a mining ban for another 50 years.

1992: Representatives from 178 nations gathered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for a global environmental summit. Then President George Bush was widely criticized for a lack of leadership and weakening the proposed global climate protection proposals at the summit.

1994: UN Conference on Population and Development.

1997: Mexico announced the ban of DDT and Chlordane over the next 10 years.

The Use of Resources

Materials Flow Diagram

• Trees: Used for paper, fuel and building materials
  • Reduced use of paper due to electronic communications
  • Continued destruction for increased land development
  • Continued use for fuel in developing nations
• Petroleum: Fuels, building materials, textiles, plastics, synthetic chemicals
  • Some improvements due to improved fuel efficiency, improved insulation
  • Currently, marginal recycling of plastics due to low cost of virgin product
  • Continued consumption of a non-renewable resource
  • Continued need to import from Arabian Gulf area
• Coal: Fuel, synthetic chemicals
  • Reduced pollution due to Clean Air Act Amendments
  • Many users have shifted to low sulfur coal due to the Clean Air Act harming the southern Illinois economy
  • Coal is abundant in the US
  • Practical clean coal technologies are yet to be demonstrated

Industries: Good and Bad

• Petrochemical Industry
  • Uses crude oil, a non-renewable resource
  • Produces fuel for automobiles, homes, power plants
  • Produces synthetic organic chemicals
  • Produces plastics, textiles
  • Produces fertilizers
  • Produces pesticides for:
    • Agriculture
    • Homes
  • What else???
• Transportation Industry
  • Consumes non-renewable fuels for energy
  • Consumes a variety of petrochemicals, minerals, etc. for manufacture of vehicles and surfaces/rails
  • Produces significant air pollution
  • Consumes land for highways, railways, airports
  • Production/manufacture of automobiles, trains, aircraft produces a variety of pollutants
    • Particulate, sulfur, nitrogenous emissions from foundry operations
    • Organic chemicals from cleaning
    • Toxic metals from electroplating
    • Cyanide from electroplating
    • What else????
      • Provides a valuable commodity: the movement of people
      • Different levels of pollution depending on type of transportation
  • Intra-city mass transit
    • Busses, rail
    • Lower pollution levels
    • Lower fuel consumption, if widely used
    • Available to people of different economic status
    • Could be improved significantly by further controls
• Interstate Rail Systems
  • Insufficient routes
  • Not dependable at times
  • Not well funded
  • Lower pollution levels than automobiles
  • What other factors????
• Automobile Transportation/Industry
  • Produces automobiles for personal transportation
  • Improved fuel economy
  • Reduced pollution
  • What other factors????

Electronics Industry

• Consumes fuels, petrochemicals, minerals
• A variety of pollutant emissions
  • Organic chemicals from cleaning
  • Toxic metals from electroplating
  • Cyanide from electroplating
  • Emits various forms of radiation
  • What else????
• Provides communications not even imagined 100 years ago.
• What else????

Construction Industry

• Consumes habitat/land
• Consumes both renewable and non-renewable resources
• Significant sediment from soil disturbances
• Provides shelter for human population
• What other factors????

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