Key Guides

These clear and concise in-depth guides provided by Envirowise provide a summary of issues, costs and best practice implementation to tackle these issues and can be freely downloaded free of charge once you’ve logged in and registered.

Vessel cleaning 
This guide is particularly relevant to the batch processing industries (where the use of multi-product batch processing requires vessel washing between different product campaigns). Its applicability extends to any process that involves vessel washing using aqueous or organic wash liquors.

Use of Vaccum systems
Vacuum is used extensively, especially in the speciality chemicals sector, costing the industry over £50 million/year in running costs. Optimising vacuum use can provide significant environmental and cost benefits and this updated Good Practice Guide helps you achieve these. Before making any changes to the site's vacuum systems, it is important to understand where, why, and how vacuum is used then evaluate the costs and potential savings, as explained in this Guide. An Action Plan is included together with Industrial Examples describing how companies have benefited by implementing improvements to their vacuum systems.

Optimal use of product batch processes
Optimum product output or yield is one of the most important factors in ensuring the viability of any production process. This updated Good Practice Guide presents practical ways of achieving cost-effective yield improvements for batch processes, commonly used in speciality chemicals production, considering the whole process from reactor to packaging. The benefits are more saleable product, reduced raw material consumption and reduced waste disposal costs. Industry examples throughout the Guide describe the savings made, and blank worksheets will help companies collect the information needed to develop their own yield improvement programme.

Cost effective management of fugitive emissions /solvent management  
Companies that manufacture, use or recycle organic solvents as part of their operations could be losing 10% or more of their total solvent consumption to the atmosphere through leaks (fugitive emissions) from valves, pumps and other equipment. This Guide helps companies decide on the cost-effectiveness of reducing fugitive emissions and includes current legislative requirements. It provides guidance on the best approach to preventing and minimising losses. While the advice it contains is applicable to all sectors of manufacturing, it is particularly relevant to: solvent manufacture and use; petrochemical manufacture; chemical and pharmaceutical manufacture; printing ink manufacture and use; adhesive manufacture and use; and paint manufacture and use.

Top tips for reducing water use in the processing sector  
This Good Practice Guide describes simple and practical measures that speciality chemical companies can take to improve their solvent management and thus save money, reduce VOC emissions and comply cost-effectively with environmental legislation. The Guide highlights the key issues involved for the sector and signposts publications from Envirowise and other authoritative sources offering practical advice on how to cut the costs associated with solvent use. Topics discussed include fugitive losses, solvent minimisation, solvent re-use and recovery, VOC control techniques and VOC monitoring.