24    AN AT-SOURCE TREATMENT FOR
ORGANOMERCURY-CONTAINING HAZARDOUS
LIQUID WASTE
Ralph J. Magliette, Chemical Engineer
D. McKinney, Chemical Engineering Technician
E. S. V enkataramani. Research Fellow
S. Bacher, Director, Developmental Technology
B. Brian, Senior Project Process Engineer
Merck & Co., Inc.
Rahway, NJ 07065-0900
INTRODUCTION
Waste reduction is an economically sensible and sound response to the perceived hazardous waste
crisis. Several thousand pounds of hazardous waste are generated annually for every person in the
U.S.1,2 Also, the total costs of waste management is escalating at a rate of 20-30%/year.3 Many
pollution control methods do little more than transfer waste from one phase to another. Thus,
establishing a comprehensive multimedia approach to reduce the level of wastes that enter the air, land
and water is essential. Waste reduction is cost effective, especially when compared to the time, effort
and resources required to comply with regulations. Though enforcement sometimes provides the
impetus for waste reduction, cost savings are almost always a consequence.
Reducing the generation of waste and improving the overall efficiency and economics of the
manufacturing process are fundamental to successful chemical enterprises. The production of waste
from a chemical and biochemical process is a function of the process design and the manner in which
it is operated.3 Thus, reducing waste in an industrial process requires intimate knowledge of the
process technology, in contrast to waste treatment which essentially is an add-on at the end of the
process. Ultimately, waste minimization has to be carried out at the process level.4 Hence, waste
minimization is a 'process-related opportunity' and failure to reduce the generation of waste at the
source only increases the embedded problem.5
In general, waste reduction has historically yielded to waste management under the press of more
immediate concerns. The predominance of treatment over waste reduction is not new and is difficult
to reverse. The most certain means of minimizing the environmental risk is through waste reduction.
Waste reduction is also preferable to most waste management practices because it can lead to lower
direct costs and higher indirect benefits. Manufacturers like DuPont, Dow Chemical, 3M, Hoechst
Celanese, IBM and Merck have waste reduction programs that have achieved dramatic results with
regard to both waste minimization and savings from avoidance of treatment and disposal costs and
liabilities.2,3-6'12 Many smaller companies have also adopted pollution source reduction with similar
success. "Avoiding the creation of pollution seems to be the best way to fight against it, technically
and economically."13
BACKGROUND
Merck & Co., Inc. is the world's largest pharmaceutical company. Merck's environmental policy
acknowledges the same respect for the quality of human life in minimizing environmental risk through
reduced generation of waste as in discovering new life-saving drugs. The research effort that leads to
the development of new life-saving pharmaceuticals is also utilized to develop environmentally sound
processes that result in reduced waste generation.14,15 At Merck, it was realized several years ago that
it made good technical and business sense to continually maintain pressure on efforts to eliminate or
at least reduce waste generation whenever possible. Several examples of our process-related waste
minimization practices can be found elsewhere.11,12,16
45th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, © 1991 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
Printed in U.S.A.
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