Resource-saving technology. Industrial technologies. The latest technology

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Modern industry is developing very dynamically. In contrast to past years, this development is proceeding intensively, with the involvement of the latest scientific developments. Resource-saving technology is of great importance. This term refers to a whole system of measures aimed at a significant reduction in resource consumption, while maintaining a high level of product quality. Ideally, they try to achieve the lowest possible level of consumption of raw materials.

Prerequisites for the widest possible implementation

Despite the efforts of environmental organizations and legislators, there is no way to speak of any significant reduction in the harm caused to the environment by industrial enterprises. In Russia alone, the damage from industrial emissions is estimated at 150 billion rubles.annually, and in the US this figure reaches about 7% of domestic GDP!

World experience shows that the costs incurred by a resource-saving technology at the first stage of its implementation are not comparable with the costs of leveling the consequences of using outdated and dirty production methods. The terms of full payback of new technologies do not exceed five years.

Great danger is the gradual depletion of minerals. So, just 50 years ago, iron ore deposits were not developed if their iron content was less than 50-60%. Today they start mining even the ore in which there is no more than 30% of the metal.

Even the ash content of coals used at CHPPs today exceeds 30%, while in the 60s this figure did not exceed 20%. Some cities are forced to use raw materials for heating, the ash content of which exceeds 55%. Moreover, in some cases, active extraction of raw materials is already beginning, even from the dumps of past years. All this contributes to a sharp increase in the amount of waste. Thus, resource-saving technology is extremely important, as it allows industry and the national economy to consume less raw materials, producing more products.

How are resources conserved?

In most cases, reducing the amount of resources consumed is carried out by reusing waste materials. Thus, at present, at least 30% of prefabricated scrap metal is used in steel smelting, up to 25% of waste paper is taken in paper production. Production of non-ferrous metalsuses at least 20% recycled materials. It should be noted that the amount of capital investment for the widespread introduction of technologies for processing waste materials is exactly four times lower than when creating industrial complexes for the extraction of minerals.

Given the fact that there is no need to invest in steel smelting, these technologies allow at least a third to reduce thermal pollution of the environment. Simply put, the harm of the greenhouse effect is reduced. In a word, investing in these developments is very profitable.

What can resource-saving technologies do?

Firstly, any resource-saving technology can seriously reduce the amount of waste and emissions into the environment. For example, by involving in the processing of chlorine-containing waste from metallurgical titanium production, the level of chlorine emissions into the environment was reduced by 50%!

Areas that were previously occupied by technological dumps or landfills, the latest technologies make it possible to completely free from garbage and use for recreational purposes. By the way, sending for processing waste, which contains a lot of sulfur dioxide (in the same metallurgy, for example), not only significantly reduces environmental pollution, but also significantly reduces the amount of primary sulfur produced.

It is extremely important that new technologies develop the basis for the processing of polymer waste: for example, the specific heat capacity of two tons of plastic bottles is equal to that of a ton of crude oil! SoThus, by creating next-generation filters, we can heat large cities for years using only plastic trash from landfills…

Compare…

The importance of new industrial technologies in ferrous metallurgy is extremely high. If you melt a ton of scrap metal, then environmental pollution (compared to smelting steel from ore) is immediately reduced by 86%, water is needed by 76% less, and the total amount of waste is immediately reduced by 57%! Approximately the same picture is obtained if we compare the production of paper from waste paper and virgin pulp.

Don't forget about the environment

In light of the fact that the current situation in the environmental sphere leaves much to be desired, all modern technologies must necessarily contribute to the reduction of emissions of harmful substances into the atmosphere. Considering the current state of Norilsk and other metallurgical cities not only in our country, but throughout the world, the latest industrial technologies should not only provide jobs for thousands of people at heavy industry enterprises, but also protect their he alth.

What are the new production methods based on?

Firstly, low-quality raw materials are being massively replaced by more modern analogues, which allow producing the same quantity of products with better quality. For example, in the paint and varnish industry, this approach has led to the replacement of standard paints based on organic solvents with water-soluble products.

For end usersit is also important to preserve the functionality of the product without compromising its real technical characteristics. An excellent example is the replacement of plastic film with paper in the case of adhesive tape. Its quality has remained the same, but the amount of waste and emissions into the atmosphere has dropped sharply. These are resource-saving technologies, examples of which we give in our article.

Of course, it is extremely important to change the technological process itself so that it corresponds to modern realities. Thus, today more and more importance is attached to the transfer of production to a continuous cycle of product development. This solution is much more promising than the periodic stop and start of equipment, which is accompanied by a sharp increase in the emission of harmful substances.

This is also closely related to the requirement to re-equip production with new equipment that consumes less consumables, fuel and spare parts. Such resource-saving technologies in industry significantly increase the manufacturability of production. This not only helps to reduce the amount of waste, but also contributes to a significant reduction in the cost of the final product.

Computers to the masses

For example, these include CNC machines and fully computerized production lines that can cut the required parts from solid pieces of metal with maximum accuracy and economy. Such machines (in comparison with conventional ones) provide a reduction in the amount of waste by 50-80%. In addition, you don't have to worry about the level of training of workers.

Note that the use of modern technologies must necessarily involve not only the maximum reduction in the amount of waste, but also their safe storage. The last paragraph includes the following requirements:

• The place where hazardous waste materials are generated must not come into contact with the environment in any way.
• All waste should be packaged in a way that makes it easier to recycle later.
• If the processing of waste at the existing technical and technological level is not possible, they should be transferred to a state in which they would have the least possible negative effect (melting into a glassy state of spent nuclear fuel).
• Accordingly, containers for their long-term storage should be minimally susceptible to corrosion and other negative environmental factors.

Main examples of resource-saving technologies

Pyrolysis enrichment of coal, chemical methods of enrichment of ores, methods of alkaline treatment of peat, through which not only fuel is obtained, but also humic fertilizers, plant growth stimulants, can be considered a classic example. All these technological “delights” not only drastically reduce the amount of raw materials required for the production of products, but also provide a lot of useful by-products. This is especially true for peat processing, when even medicines are obtained using chemicals from ordinary raw materials for thermal power plants!

Examples of biological and chemical processing of raw materials

If you think that the introduction of resource-saving technologies in biological production is limited only to new methods for obtaining biologically active additives and drugs, then you are deeply mistaken. The current level of technology development implies their use even in metallurgy.

Thus, today bacterial leaching of metals is increasingly being used, when it is possible to extract a lot of high-quality raw materials from ores with a minimum content of matter (old dumps), without polluting the entire district with dumps from mining. Even more attractive is the bacterial extraction of valuable metals … from wastewater! And we are talking not only about metallurgical production, but also about the effluents of large cities.

Thus, the introduction of resource-saving technologies characterizes the degree of development not only of industry, but also of society as a whole. By preserving the environment around us, we pass it on to our descendants.

Also, leaching can produce huge amounts of sulfur from low quality, high-ash coal that is not particularly suitable for anything else. By the way, in recent years our country has been actively introducing the technology of biological processing of low-quality brown coal, from which good artificial soil is obtained.

Construction

The most common materials for construction in our time are concrete and reinforced concrete. In our country alone, more than 250 million tons of them are produced annually. Therefore, modern building technologiesto a large extent, they focus on saving resources when they are released.

Saving resources in the production of reinforced concrete

The problem is that reinforced concrete is a very energy-intensive material, the production of which requires a huge amount of electricity. 470 thousand kcal is spent on the production of just one cubic meter! If the technological processes are imperfect, or in the case when it is necessary to pour concrete structures somewhere at the landfill, then the costs may even exceed 1 million kcal!

Given that the national economy requires at least 12 million tons of concrete per year, energy and resource-saving technologies make it possible to save a huge amount of money.

The most significant problem is the large overspending of cement by builders. There are several viable ways to correct this oversight. First, the greatest waste of material is observed when builders use low-quality aggregates that do not meet a specific purpose. So, most often this manifests itself when ASG is used instead of normal sand.

To a large extent, you can reduce costs by using plasticizer additives, which are now widely represented on the international construction scene. A high-quality plasticizer allows you to reduce cement consumption by 20% at once, and the strength characteristics of the structure being built will not be affected. Given that the latest technologies in the industry allow the production of hundreds of their names, plasticizing additives needapply whenever appropriate.

Other energy costs

When isothermal curing in a steel mold, one cubic meter of concrete "eats" at least 60 thousand kcal. If the equipment is faulty, then heat loss increases exponentially. So, at some plants this figure exceeds 200 thousand kcal per cubic meter of concrete. Thus, it is possible to reduce the excess consumption of resources by more than three times, simply by repairing the equipment used in the concrete production in time.

A very promising method is heating the plasticized mixture with electricity (in winter). In this case, it is possible to significantly reduce the amount of not only cement, but also the plasticizer in the mixture.

Other ways to save cement

It should be noted that huge losses of cement during its transportation play an extremely negative role. Under no circumstances should this material be loaded in an open way, transportation with frequent reloading is not allowed. Losses of cement become simply gigantic if it is first transported by sea, then reloaded onto railway platforms, from which it is transported by cars.

These losses can be avoided if cement clinker is transported to remote areas. It can be downloaded an unlimited number of times. When the material is delivered to the job site, the clinker is simply ground to produce high-quality cement in the required quantity.

The correct selection of concrete grades is also extremely important, which wouldsuited to a particular task. Practice shows that more than 30% of the total loss of cement occurs when builders use the wrong brand of concrete. As a result, it is not uncommon for work to be completely redone.

Thus, the development of modern technologies should help to preserve the resources used in all branches of science and industry. By introducing new production methods, we can reduce the amount of harmful emissions into the air and water, and save the environment for all future generations.