An integrated analytical strategy for liquid effluent management

Abstract

As part of ZENECA's commitment to continually improve the environmental performance of its manufacturing sites, the design and construction of a liquid effluent management facility at Huddersfield Works has provided the hardware and infrastructure to allow a more timely and efficient response to abnormal occurrences resulting from the Works' manufacturing operations. The project comprised the installation of on-line analytical instrumentation designed to both detect and initiate a response to abnormal discharges to effluent drain, together with the construction of several containment tanks, associated ductwork and control mechanisms. Full commissioning of the £4 million facility took place during December 1992. The on-line analysers chosen, based on the determination of total carbon content and UV—visible spectrophotometry, were deemed to be the most appropriate for a manufacturing site handling in excess of 4000 different chemicals. An extensive development phase explored the response of the analysers to ‘typical’ and ‘abnormal’ loadings of selected chemicals and enabled realistic alarm levels to be set. The on-line installations have been complemented by the development of state of the art laboratory-based technologies, designed to characterise or confirm the precise nature of, and therefore the disposal options for, an abnormal discharge following its interception. Such techniques also have use in source attribution and subsequent enhancement of the environmental performance of individual plants and processes.