Publications Repository - Gdańsk University of Technology

A novel procedure for assessing the environmental risk related to solvents emissions has been developed. The assessment of risk is based on hazard and exposure detailed investigations. The potential exposure related to different environmental phases is calculated with basic multimedia model, that gives the percentage distribution of solvent in environmental compartments as a result. Specific hazards– toxicological, environmental persistence or photochemical ozone creation potential data – have been assigned to each compartment. The environmental distribution of solvents gives the weights applied in multicriteria decision analysis, which was applied to obtain full ranking of solvents. The results show that alcohols and esters can be considered as low environmental risk solvents, while chlorinated solvents or aromatic hydrocarbons are the most problematic ones. The assessment procedure holds promise in solvent selection during process design as well as in finding alternatives to hazardous solvents used in existing processes.

Authors

• dr hab. inż. Marek Tobiszewski link open in new tab ,
• prof. dr hab. inż. Jacek Namieśnik link open in new tab ,
• Francisco Pena-Pereira