Zero Waste Engineering A New Era of Sustainable Technology Development

Is "zero waste engineering" possible?

This book outlines how to achieve zero waste engineering, following natural pathways that are truly sustainable. Using methods that have been developed in various areas for sustainability purposes, such as new mathematical models, recyclable material selection, and renewable energy, the authors probe the principles of zero waste engineering and how it can be applied to construction, energy production, and many other areas of engineering.

This groundbreaking new volume:

• Explores new scientific principles on which sustainability and zero waste engineering can be based
• Presents new models for energy efficiency, cooling processes, and natural chemical and material selection in industrial applications and business
• Explains how "green buildings" and "green homes" can be efficiently built and operated with zero waste
• Offers case histories and successful experiments in sustainability and zero-waste engineering

Ideal for:

Engineers and scientists of all industries, including the energy industry, construction, the process industries, and manufacturing. Chemical engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, petroleum engineers, process engineers, civil engineers, and many other types of engineers would all benefit from reading this exciting new volume.

M. M. Khan was recently a lecturer in chemical engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, before moving to Canada. He has written a dozen papers and coauthored a book on zero waste engineering and sustainable technology.

M. R. Islam is Professor of Petroleum Engineering at the Civil and Resource Engineering Department of Dalhousie University, Canada. He has over 700 publications to his credit, including 6 books. He is on the editorial boards of several scholarly journals. In addition to his teaching duties, he is also director of Emertec Research and Development Ltd. and has been on the boards of a number of companies in North America and overseas.

Preface xiii

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Background 1

1.2 The Deficiency of Current Engineering Practices 8

1.3 The Zero-Waste Approach 17

1.4 Scope of the Book 17

1.5 Organization of the Book 19

2 A Delinearized History of Time and Its Impact on Scientific Cognition 23

2.1 Introduction 23

2.2 The Importance of The Continuous Long-Term History 28

2.3 Delinearized History of Time and Knowledge 32

2.4 Role of Water, Air, Clay and Fire in Scientific Characterization 52

2.5 A Reflection on the Purposes of Sciences 70

2.6 Role of Intention in Technology Development 86

2.7 Cyclic Nature of Civilization 90

2.8 About the “New Science” of Time and Motion 98

2.9 What is New Versus what is Permitted: Science and the Establishment? 117

2.10 The Nature-Science Approach 127

2.11 Conclusions 134

3 Towards Modeling of Zero-Waste Engineering Processes with Inherent Sustainability 137

3.1 Introduction 137

3.2 Development of a Sustainable Model 139

3.3 Problem with the Current Model: The Case of Electricity 140

3.4 How Could We Have Averted the Downturn? 161

3.4.1 Violation of Characteristic Time 167

3.5 Observation of Nature: Importance of Intangibles 169

3.6 Analogy of Physical Phenomena 173

3.7 Intangible Cause to Tangible Consequence 174

3.8 Removable Discontinuities: Phases and Renewability of Materials 175

3.9 Rebalancing Mass and Energy 176

3.10 ENERGY — The Existing Model 178

3.11 Conclusions 181

4 The Formulation of a Comprehensive Mass and Energy Balance Equation 183

4.1 Introduction 183

4.2 The Law of Conservation of Mass and Energy 188

4.3 Continuity of Matter and Phase Transition 189

4.4 The Science of Water and Oil 205

4.5 From Natural Energy to Natural Mass 230

4.6 The Avalanche Theory of Mass and Energy 256

4.7 Aims of Modeling Natural Phenomena 262

4.8 Simultaneous Characterization of Matter and Energy 264

4.9 Consequences of Nature-Science for Classical Set Theory and Conventional Notions of Mensuration 269

4.10 Conclusions 271

5 Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) and Honey Sugar Saccharine Aspartame (HSSA) Degradation in Modern Engineering 273

5.1 Introduction 273

5.2 Background 274

5.3 The Need for the Science of Intangibles 275

5.4 The Need for Multidimensional Study 284

5.5 Assessing the Overall Performance of a Process 290

5.6 Facts about Honey and the Science of Intangibles 295

5.7 CCD In Relation to Science of Tangibles 303

5.8 Possible Causes of CCD 311

5.9 The HSS®A® (Honey → Sugar → Saccharin® → Aspartame®) Pathway 322

5.10 Honey and Cancer 344

5.11 The Sugar Culture and Beyond 362

5.12 The Culture of the Artificial Sweetener 368

5.13 The Honey-Sugar-Saccharin-Aspartame Degradation in Everything 406

5.14 The Nature Science Approach 411

5.15 A New Approach to Product Characterization 413

5.16 A Discussion 416

5.17 Conclusions 419

6 Zero-Waste Lifestyle with Inherently Sustainable Technologies 421

6.1 Introduction 421

6.2 Energy from Kitchen Waste (KW) and Sewage 425

6.3 Utilization of Produced Waste in a Desalination Plant 432

6.4 Solar Aquatic Process to Purify Desalinated/Waste Water 438

6.5 Direct Use of Solar Energy 445

6.6 Sustainability Analysis 451

7 A Novel Sustainable Combined Heating/Cooling/Refrigeration System 455

7.1 Introduction 455

7.2 Einstein Refrigeration Cycle 458

7.3 Thermodynamic Model and its Cycle’s Energy Requirement 460

7.4 Solar Cooler and Heat Engine 463

7.5 Actual Coefficient of Performance (COP) Calculation 464

7.6 Absorption Refrigeration System 466

7.7 Calculation of Global Efficiency 468

7.8 Solar Energy Utilization in the Refrigeration Cycle 475

7.9 The New System 476

7.8 Pathway Analysis 478

7.9 Sustainability Analysis 482

7.10 Conclusions 484

8 A Zero-Waste Design for Direct Usage of Solar Energy 487

8.1 Introduction 487

8.2 The prototype 491

8.3 Results and Discussion of Parabolic Solar Technology 495

8.4 Conclusions 502

9 Investigation of Vegetable Oil as The Thermal Fluid in A Parabolic Solar Collector 503

9.1 Introduction 503

9.2 Experimental Setup and Procedures 507

9.3 Experimental Procedure 511

9.4 Results and Discussion 511

9.5 Conclusions 515

10 The Potential of Biogas in Zero-Waste Mode of a Cold-Climate Environment 517

10.1 Introduction 517

10.2 Background 518

10.3 Biogas Fermentation 520

10.4 Factors Involved in Anaerobic Digestion 521

10.5 Heath and Environmental Issue 526

10.6 Digesters in Cold Countries 528

10.7 Experimental Setup and Procedures 529

10.8 Discussion 532

10.9 Conclusions 536

11 The New Synthesis: Application of All Natural Materials for Engineering Applications 537

11.1 Introduction 537

11.2 Metal Waste Removal with Natural Materials 538

11.3 Natural Materials as Bonding Agents 544

12 Economic Assessment of Zero-Waste Engineering 569

12.1 Introduction 569

12.2 Delinearized History of the Modern Era 570

12.3 Insufficiency of Conventional Economic Models 581

12.4 The New Synthesis 584

12.5 The New Investment Model, Conforming to the Information Age 587

12.6 The Most Important Research Questions in the Information Age 590

12.7 Future Engineering Projects 594

12.8 Economics of Zero-Waste Engineering Projects 595

12.9 Quality of Energy 605

12.10 Conclusions 607

13 General Conclusions and Recommendations 609

13.1 Summary 609

13.2 Conclusions 613

13.3 Recommendations 615

13.4 Future Projects 616

References and Bibliography 619

Index 665

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.