FEATURE
Preventing Pollution by Design New manufacturing software could give product designers instant information on how to avoid pollution. KELLYN S. BETTS his summer, Boeing Company's campaign to persuade other major manufacturers to join it in creating a general-purpose pollution prevention design software will culminate in an important decision. In July, the company will announce whether it will go public with its state-ofthe-art manufacturing design software, which it believes could become the first broadly usable tool for "P2," as pollution prevention has come to be known. If the answer is "yes," Boeing plans to hire a "major software producer" to create an off-the-shelf product. The resulting P2 software could help manufacturers make dramatic reductions in pollution before product ideas leave the designers' drawing boards. Called the Expert Process Advisory System (EPAS), the software's aim is to instantaneously present designers with information about the environmental ramifications of their design options, according to John Harper, project manager at Boeing's plant in Mesa, Ariz. The "expert" part of the software is a database containing wisdom harvested from Boeing's most experienced design engineers, together with data about environmental regulations and lifecycle costs. EPAS allows all the relevant factors— including cost—to be ranked and weighted so they can be considered together. By quickly and comprehensively ranking design alternatives, Boeing believes the P2 approach will improve product designs and reduce environmental life-cycle costs, which Harper says translates into lower customer product costs. Since late last year, Boeing has been demonstrating a prototype version of the software to "major players in the automotive, heavy equipment, and office products industries" in hopes that they will join in the effort to fully develop the concept, said Harper.
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Next-generation P2 tool Boeing's prototype EPAS software program fits into the "next level" of P2 software tools, according to Scott Butner, senior research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Wash., which is also actively developing P2 software. The 3 1 8 A • J U L Y 1 , 1998 /ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES TECHNOLOGY /NEWS
30-odd "first level" P2 software packages that are currently available (i)—including European products and software being developed in academia—help manufacturing designers make conceptual life-cycle analysis decisions by assembling all of the available information about a product's potential environmental impacts. Butner broadly categorizes these older programs as "descriptive," while the newer group, including EPAS, is "analytical." These newer tools have broader utility because they are capable of analyzing P2 problems, then ranking the available options. EPAS development began in May 1996 when McDonnell-Douglas—which has since been bought by Boeing—asked Harper to "look at including environmental issues in our design process." McDonnellDouglas tapped developers from Arizona State University to build the software's expert system component and hired a team from the National Center for Clean Industrial and Treatment Technologies (CenCITT) in Michigan to put together the P2 components. The environmental scientists and engineers at CenCITT—including faculty from Michigan Technological University, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison— based many of their design decisions on experience gleaned from ongoing efforts to build an analytical P2 software package called Clean Process Advisory System (CPAS) for the process chemical industry. EPAS and CPAS "rely on the same philosophical framework and have the same objectives," said James Baker, CenCITT program manager. "The reason that EPAS exists in a more tangible form than CPAS does is because Boeing said that 'we want to do this, and we're going to fund it at the necessary level.'" Like EPAS, CPAS is meant to be a general-purpose tool, but it is focused on meeting the needs of designers in the chemical process industry, rather than discrete product manufacturers. "The CPAS vision," according to its literature, is to create a tool to help chemical process companies "make even routine decisions inherently 'green,' inherently safer, and cost effective." Baker says that "the two products could converge at some point." 0013-936X/98/0932-318AS15.00/0 © 1998 American Chemical Society
As general-purpose software programs, ERAS and CPAS are unusual among the crop of "analytical" P2 software programs being developed. In the chemical processing realm where the biggest P2 gains have been realized to date, good P2 software confers a distinct competitive advantage. Historically, companies like Proctor and Gamble had little incentive to share their proprietary software with other chemical processors, although this situation may be changing (i). As a manufacturer of products comprising solid parts, however, airplane manufacturer Boeing Company finds itself in a rather different position. A good percentage of the pollution generated by such manufacturers results from the designers' choices of materials, and each discrete manufacturer calls upon many of the the same sources of information to learn the environmental ramifications of its choices. EPAS is fulfilling a need that currently goes unmet by targeting these everyday decisions about just which materials to use, according to Harper of Boeing. Because the first-level P2 software tools that are currentiy available target the "concept" phase of design, they only deal with decisions made at the beginning of the design process. Such high-level decisions are "associated with life-cycle and cost assessments," according to Harper, decisions such as what types of materials to use and how long the product is going to be in the market. What conceptual tools miss, Harper says, is the potential pollution ramifications associated with the day-to-day decisions made in manufacturing: the use of different coatings, chemical processes, welding methods, cleaning or painting processes, and others. At the "conceptual" stage, a designer might decide that creating a component out of plastic rather than a metal alloy will make it easier to recycle, Harper explained, but which plastic formulation to use is not determined until later, in the "preliminary" and "detail" stages. "There is a much larger number of people involved with the preliminary and detail parts of the design than there is with the conceptual design in any industry," he noted.
The amount of waste and pollution resulting from manufacturing processes like this cleaning process is determined by which materials the designers choose to use. Boeing's Expert Process Advisory System could help manufacturers make less polluting products, according to the software's promoters. (Courtesy Boeing Company, Mesa, Ariz.)
pact," Harper said. "Typically, the designer makes a decision based on what he's familiar with." The EPAS system presents all the alternatives and ranks them, based on how they rate in five different areas: technical, health and safety, environment, regulatory, and cost. The relative importance of each of the program's ranking areas is determined by die software user and is quite flexible, according to Harper. "If you have one customer that puts a high emphasis on health and safety or environment, you can adjust for that particular issue." In part, the drive for better decision making stems from regulatory imperatives. "EPA regulations are driving up product costs because of reporting requirements, disposal costs, monitoring of emissions, and solid and liquid wastes," Harper said. "As time goes by, the limits for which you can be in compliance grow ever more stringent. If you can reduce the number and quantity of your reporting requireMore than technical merits Although today's manufacturing designers are be- ments, you're ahead of the game." There are two main sources for the environmening asked to factor environmental costs into their designs, they lack the tools they need to do it effec- tal, regulatory, health and safety, and cost informatively and consistently, Harper said. "We really haven't tion in EPAS. One is EPA's Title 3 List of Lists, which given them access to sufficient data to support good describes which chemicals are regulated by what regdesign decisions. I think that all of industry, whether ulations. The other source is the Materials Safety Data it's aerospace or automotive or heavy equipment, is Sheets (MSDSs) that all material manufacturers must in the process of trying to get its arms around that fill out for the Occupational Safety and Health Adissue: How do I get better decisions out of my design- ministration (OSHA). "The MSDS is a critical eleers? How do I get them to consider a broader perspec- ment in any environmental study," Harper stressed. "Today it's costing companies an inordinate amount tive than just the technical merits of their choices?" of money to obtain the MSDSs, manage the data on Take deciding how to coat an aluminum part to protect it from corrosion, Harper said. Sulfuric acid those sheets, and re-enter it into computer form so anodizes, chromic acid anodizes, and phosphoric acid they can use it." anodizes are all processes that could be used, he exOne reason why Boeing is reaching out to other plained. But without tools like EPAS, the choice of would-be pollution preventers is to pressure EPA and which process to use is typically based on the de- OSHA to make regulatory and MSDS information signer's past experience. "Today, they basically just available on the Internet, according to Harper. Idemake a technical decision. They haven't really con- ally, he said, EPA's List of Lists would be expanded sidered the cost and environmental regulatory im- beyond the agency's federal regulations so that it inJULY 1, 1998 / ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / NEWS • 3 1 9 A
eludes data about other relevant state, local, and international regulations. Although Butner of PNNL applauds what Boeing is doing, he cautions that the MSDS-based approach on which the company is relying does not provide sufficient data for analyzing "full life-cycle costs. They don't tell if the product is derived from depletable, nonrenewable, or strategic materials," he said. "They also don't tell whether the raw materials meet the executive orders with respect to recycled material content." He also stressed that in order to be broadly useful, EPAS must integrate into the designer's existing computerized design tools. "You usually don't have the option of changing the way people work in order to conform to the tool," Butaer said. "You have to change the tool to work the way people do." To Butner, the inherent difficulty of creating a software tool so it fits seamlessly into a manufacturer's work flow helps explain why so many of the tools developed to date have been proprietary. Harper expressed confidence that EPAS has those bases covered by supporting the major design tools and protocols used by discrete manufacturers—AutoCAD, CATIA and CORBA—as well as the fact that it will operate under UNIX environments and Microsoft's Windows operating systems. Butner explained that a major stumbling block to the development of chemical process P2 tools is that the process simulation tools that are a mainstay for process engineers tend to be "pretty proprietary." This makes it difficult for a developer like Butner to create a general-purpose P2 tool that works with all of
A Practical Guide to Combinatorial Chemistry
the popular simulation software. He is encouraged by the recent European movement toward the "CapeOpen" standard that would allow different chemical process simulators—such as ASPEN-PLUS, Pro/II, 2nd HyproSim—to share information. The fact that discrete manufacturers tend to use the same design software programs is a major point in EPAS's favor. Harper expressed confidence that the EPAS prototype, which demonstrates how the software can aid in making decisions about aluminum coating and plating options, has garnered the program support from some major manufacturers. If Boeing's efforts to find other users for EPAS are successful, the long-term result could be a very different world for practitioners of environmental science and engineering. Baker says that he often hears environmental scientists and engineers worrying that preventing pollution could ultimately put them out of a job. He thinks such worries are misplaced. No matter how green businesses eventually become, "there will always be a need for people who do environmental assessment," he said. "This software will never give the ultimate answer. Environmental decisions will always need some level of interpretation and analysis by a competent environmental professional."
Reference (1) de Caluwe, N. Eco Tools Manual: A Comprehensive Review of Design for Environment Tools. http://sunl. mpce.stu.mmu.ac.uk/pages/projects/dfe/pubs/dfe33/ frame.htm (accessed May 1998). Kellyn S. Betts is an associate editor o/ES&T.
Table of Contents Introduction: Combinatorial Chemistry Approaches the Next Millenium
Walter H. Moos
Using Combinatorial Tools to Analyze Molecular Diversity
Peter Willett
Solid-Phase Strategies The Context of Solid-Phase Synthesis
George Barany and Maria Kempe
Synthesis Tools for Solid-Phase Synthesis
John S. Kiely, Thomas K. Hayes, Michael C. Griffith, and Yazhong Pei
Aimed at teaching rather than impressing, this practical and comprehensive text provides a "down-to-earth" introduction to small molecule combinatorial chemistry for both specialists and nonspecialists. Using a tutorial approach, this book comprises a detailed survey of solid-phase peptide synthesis and
On-Resin Analysis in Combinatorial Chemistry
Michael J, Shapiro, Mengfen Lin, and Bing Yan
Deconvolution Tools for Solid-Phase Synthesis
John J, Baldwin and Roland Dolle
Solution-Phase Strategies
solution-phase synthesis, including synthesis, analytical, and deconvolution
Synthesis Tools tor Solution-Phase Synthesis
Ted L. Underiner and
tools. It also surveys up-to-date automated approaches and equipment for
Analytical Tools for Solution-Phase Synthesis
Christopher E, Kibbey
both solid- and solution-phase library synthesis, as well as information management tools. This book will be especially valuable for medicinal and organic chemists, biochemists engaged in
John R. Peterson
Deconvolution Tools in Solution-Phase Synthesis
Xavier Williard and Andre Tartar
Equipment and Automation Equipment for the High-Throughput Organic Synthesis of Chemical Libraries
Ralph A. Rivero, Michael N. Greco,
high-throughput screening, materials scientists, patent professionals, and science writers.
and Bruce Maryanoff Automated Approaches to Reaction Optimization
Johnathan S. Lindsey
Application of Automated Parallel Synthesis Information Management and Biological Approaches
Sheila Hobbs DeWitt, Editors ACS Professional Reference Books 360 pages (November 1997) Clothbound ISBN: 0-8412-3485-X
Information Management
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J U L Y 1 , 1998 / E N V I R O N M E N T A L SCIENCE & T E C H N O L O G Y / N E W S
Screening of Combinatorial Libraries Summary
Steven M. Muskal F. F. Craig Anthony W. Czarnik and Sheila Hobbs DeWitt, Editors
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