Title: Optimal regulations for sustainable chemical manufacturing

Authors: Andres Malcolm, Libin Zhang, Andreas A. Linninger

Addresses: Laboratory for Product and Process Design, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, 810 S. Clinton St., IL 60607, Chicago, USA. ' Laboratory for Product and Process Design, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, 810 S. Clinton St., IL 60607, Chicago, USA. ' Laboratory for Product and Process Design, Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago, 810 S. Clinton St., IL 60607, Chicago, USA

Abstract: Environmental regulations typically follow a command-and-control approach mandating the installation of state-of-the-art abatement technology and imposing hard emission thresholds. However, this type of regulations does not encourage process improvement and technological research to reduce emissions. In contrast, market-based environmental regulations stimulate continued improvement of cleaner manufacturing practices by creating economic incentives for sustained emission reduction. This paper aims at furnishing regulators and manufacturers with a tool to assess the impact of future regulatory scenarios using realistic chemical engineering models of pollution abatement operations.

Keywords: pollution prevention; emission trading; multi-period optimisation; optimal environmental regulations; environmental pollution; sustainable development; chemical manufacturing; sustainability; emissions reduction; chemical engineering models; pollution abatement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2007.012801

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2007 Vol.29 No.1/2/3, pp.144 - 164

Published online: 15 Mar 2007 *

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