REVIEW OF PROGRAMS

CenCITT's third year of operation witnessed growth in the Clean Reaction Technologies and Clean Process Advisory System Focus Areas, the consolidation of several previous separation technology projects into these Focus Areas and the completion of a series of projects dealing with clean combustion and membrane separation technologies. The Efficient Materials Utilization Focus Area continues to be characterized by short-duration, high impact projects which address specific process and waste stream beneficiation opportunities. A new program was established in Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing. It concentrates primarily on design for disassembly and is the outgrowth of a successful one-year exploratory project from last year. The Technology Transfer, and Industry and Expertise Surveys programs continue to be vigorous and vital to the Center. Budget allocation splits are indicated below. A listing of projects from which these splits are derived is provided in the Projects Listing Table . Technical accomplishments are introduced in the Technical Highlights and greater detail is provided in the individual Project Status Reports.

BACKGROUND

MATURATION

CenCITT's third year, which is the subject of this report, has witnessed the extraordinary influence of this transition and a substantial harvest of research results (See Table 1). Many CenCITT researchers are now involved in collaborative teams, producing new clean technologies, process and product design tools, and pollution prevention methodologies. Many have been able to use these collaborations as means to leverage their resources and expand their projects. While transition is rarely easy, many of our participants have taken to the concepts of collaboration and pollution prevention to such an extent that much of their research programs and work in the classroom are influenced. These influences extend far beyond the funding provided directly through CenCITT.

EXPERTISE + COLLABORATION = INNOVATION

These results come from an immersion of cutting-edge single-discipline expertise into an environment of communication and collaboration. CenCITT participants generally have very active research programs in their chosen fields. Single project research provides the means for revolutionary discoveries, while Centers allow opportunities for the evolution of these discoveries into a useable fabric, addressing broader problems relevent to industrial and environmental challenges. By analogy, cutting-edge expertise in individual disciplines is the "fuel", and multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional university/industry collaboration is the "steering wheel" of a "vehicle" of invention and innovation.

Discoveries also evolve when Project Investigators (PIs) collaborate, grapple with the strengths and limitations of each other's technologies and approaches, and ultimately find ways to blend their technologies to solve larger problems. A university-based Center which involves technology developers insures that the new, the untested, the unconventional, is given a chance to take root and grow. If the same were left to the judgement of isolated outside parties, this would most likely not occur. Communication and collaboration among research professionals and industrial process experts is the optimum combination to develop and implement innovative, clean technologies. This combination can be seen in virtually every CenCITT program.

Creating an attractive environment for collaboration requires that participants feel their intellectual property is not at risk by virtue of the collaboration. CenCITT has consistently advocated that intellectual property rights should be retained by their developers. CenCITT staff have assisted faculty in the development of hold-in-confidence agreements and contracts which protect their intellectual property rights. As this year ends, CenCITT staff are also developing a framework for software distribution which will insure that the developers participate in revenues generated and have incentives to continue as long-term partners in the stewardship and enhancement of their software.

CenCITT currently has approximately 50 faculty members working on approximately 40 research projects under a common theme of pollution prevention. Our presence at the three universities has dramatically influenced the evolution of research at those institutions. Several PIs have indicated that, while CenCITT funds only a small portion of their research, pollution prevention is now a key element throughout their research programs. This is the beginning of the "greening of a university" which Darwin Wright of EPA proposed as being the single most important reason for EPA to fund university-based centers. From Wright's perspective, inducing the effective creation of "Environmental Universities" dedicated to the goal of protecting the environment for future generations carries far greater significance than any research result attributable directly to the EPA funds expended by the Center. (1)

(1) D. Wright, Director of Congressionally Mandated Centers Program (former), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Exploratory Research, personal communication to P. Radecki (CenCITT), October 28, 1993.

CLEAN REACTION TECHNOLOGIES

The consideration of pollution prevention in one's fundamental research agenda can have unexpected results. For example, in an early CenCITT project in the Clean Reaction Technologies Focus Area (CReaTe) (Editors Note: This was previously called the Chemical Reaction Pathways Focus Area. It was changed this year to reflect the expansion of the focus area beyond reaction pathway development to its implementation into industry-usable technology.) UW researchers developed a method to predict the formation of minor by-products in acid cracking. Their method, termed microkinetic analysis, involves a fundamental understanding of the relationship between surface chemistry, reactions, and the major and minor products that are formed. They used microkinetic analysis (of the acid catalysis process) to invent a new commercially competitive catalyst that not only reduced pollution, but produced more of the desired products. A patent on this catalyst has been filed. This research project was initiated to predict the formation of by-products and the unexpected outcome was a new commercially competitive catalyst that outperformed the current technology. (See Project Description).

Through CenCITT's ongoing interactions, the encouraging results of this project were brought to the attention of other researchers (and it should be noted, long before it was published). The result is added value: the identification of uses beyond the scope of the original project and new opportunities for catalyst development and microkinetic analysis, such as development of separative reactors and chemical feedstock stewardship. UM researchers are developing separative reactors that separate desired products from reactants and by-products as the reaction proceeds (See Project Description) . Separative reactors such as reactive distillation and moving bed chromatographic reactors have the potential for increasing yields and decreasing pollution. When the separative reactor effort at UM is combined with the catalyst effort at UW, both reactor conditions and catalyst chemistry can be optimized to achieve greater yields and less pollution. The CenCITT collaboration, by endorsing a common challenge, provides a means by which PIs working in catalyst chemistry, reactors, and new methods of separation, can connect their expertise to generate new chemical synthesis technologies. We are optimistic this collaboration will generate results far exceeding that which might have been generated by PIs working independently.

The chemical feedstock stewardship effort is concerned with tracking the production of chemical feedstocks from raw materials, such as natural gas, and petroleum, to various intermediates to end use products. This effort, which thus far has generated a prototype soft ware tool called the Chemical Industry Planning System, can be used in conjunction with toxic release information to determine which chemical pathways hold the greatest potential for waste reduction and how new catalytic processes and reactors can be integrated into the chemical industry (See Project Description) .

Other CenCITT researchers at UW are investigating biosynthesis pathways for production of selected chemicals (See Project Description) . CenCITT's catalysis and biosynthesis projects complement one another because the catalysis studies focus primarily on fossulate raw materials, while benign biosynthesis focuses on renewable materials. Moreover, as these researchers continue to collaborate, a great potential develops for combining chemical and biochemical processes for entirely new clean process technologies.

Through our collaborations, we have been able to deduce an overall approach, or scientific method, for pollution prevention/clean reaction technology research:

1. Study material flow from raw materials to intermediates to final products as a means to find synthesis routes in greatest need of waste reduction,

2. Correlate to the latest fundamental research results in areas of expertise such as catalysis and benign biosynthesis, and identify resources/partners,

3. Integrate promising green synthesis routes with process technology research, e.g. reactor design, mass exchange and heat exchange technologies, including novel approaches such as separative reactors, and

4. Test and implement new waste reducing reaction technologies through collaboration with plant designers and process control experts.

CReaTe has undergone an evolution of collaboration, has developed new technologies, and has formulated a solid approach to pollution prevention research. It too, answers the question, "Why a Center?".

CLEAN PROCESS DESIGN GUIDELINES

The Clean Process Advisory System (CPAS) Focus Area is broader in scope and collaboration than our Clean Reaction Technologies work. It is, after all, a codevelopment program with CWRT and NCMS, which together comprise over 230 companies from the chemical process industry and many manufacturing sectors, whose employees account for over ten percent of all manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Simply stated, the purpose of CPAS is to furnish engineers with a means to routinely find, simulate and compare various design approaches on the basis of pollution prevention and to do so in a way which integrates with more conventional cost and safety comparisons. The target is the conceptual stage of design; where the degrees of freedom or number of choices are high, and where the greatest pollution prevention dividend can be identified. CPAS is envisioned to be made up largely of computer software containing 1) technology descriptions and expert guidance to find design options, 2) numerical simulations and property data resources to simulate those options, and 3) data resources and algorithms to quantify and compare their pollution prevention dividends in conjunction with cost and safety implications (See Project Descriptions). Figure 1 shows how these functions link together. (Editor Note: The reader may find this figure a useful roadmap for the CPAS descriptions included elsewhere in this report (See Table of Contents) ) User interfaces employed in CPAS components, or tools, must be: 1) robust enough to insure all reasonable design options, especially the new ones, get considered, and 2) be simple enough so that busy design engineers can make rapid decisions. Too much detail and the decision or algorithm will take too long; too little detail and the decision or algorithm may be over simplified and incorrect. Obviously, the CPAS effort is a huge undertaking.

While CPAS is a codevelopment program of CenCITT, CWRT and NCMS, it is by no means an exclusive club. The number of participants grows rapidly, including other governmental agencies and academic institutions. Within the past year, CPAS has been the subject of feature articles in the National Society of Professional Engineers Engineering Times, Gulf Publishing's Hydrocarbon Processing, McGraw Hill's Chemical Engineering, and USEPA's Pollution Prevention Trends. Gulf Publishing will spend several person-months collecting information on pollution prevention technology for inclusion in CPAS. The Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission has also been exemplary in the volume of technical design guidelines and options it continues to contribute. Inquiries are received daily for more information about CPAS, and how to participate in the CPAS Developer/User Group. First releases are slated for early 1996.

CPAS is not simply a repository for technology information. It contains design guidance and technology heuristics which allow the user "to ask the expert" how to approach design from a pollution prevention perspective. Consequently, CPAS has the potential to be an excellent technology transfer and educational device. It can serve as a vehicle to disseminate this wisdom to individual designers, just when they need it and in the correct level of detail. CPAS tools can potentially serve any process/product designer whether (s)he is found in a large corporation, small consulting firm, or in the classroom. Over the long term, CenCITT intends to use CPAS as a repository of its full range of research results.

While CPAS accounts for 38 percent of CenCITT's research and technology transfer base funding from EPA, this amount is less than half the commitment being made by the overall CPAS development group. All in all, approximately $1.5 million will be spent on CPAS in the next 18 months (Editor's Note: Funding partially subject to receipt of FY96 base grant funding from EPA and approval of CenCITT's renewal application to continue activities beyond May 31, 1996.) Funding partially subject to receipt of FY96 base grant funding from EPA and approval of CenCITT's renewal application to continue activities beyond May 31, 1996. . Despite this level of activity, it is likely that CenCITT has only begun to tap the wealth of knowledge on pollution prevention technologies at the three CenCITT universities, and much less elsewhere. CenCITT will continue to seek out that information and incorporate it into CPAS.

EFFICIENT MATERIALS UTILIZATION AND EXPLORATORY ARENAS

These areas have approached pollution prevention in an opportunistic way. The projects have generally been short-term, addressing specific R&D needs; sometimes targeting a technology and sometimes an industry-specific problem. The area has always been dynamic, and has done much to spread the pollution prevention message across many departments within the consortium. In addition, it has provided a broad range of industrial settings in which to consider pollution prevention implementation.

Efficient Materials Utilization projects are selected based in part on their potential to produce step reductions in pollution generation and ultimate disposal into the environment. Key areas in addition to those already discussed include efficient use of renewable feed stocks, such as using lignin as a source for plastics, casting waste minimization, fine particle beneficiation and reuse, volatile solvent replacement, and materials recovery from waste streams. Several of CenCITT's research results to date include a no-VOC inking system for specialty printing (See Project Description) , a series of aggregates made from combustion residues (See Project Description) , in-process recycle technologies for process solutions containing cutting oil (See Project Descriptions 1 and 2 ), copper (See Project Description) , lead and mercury (See Project Description) , and volatile organics (See Project Description) , development of design parameters for various hollow fiber membrane module configurations (See Project Description) , and engineering design studies in self-supported ceramic membranes (Editor's Note: Ceramic membranes and sand casting work reported in previous year's Activities Report), gradient-bonded sand casting cores and combustor optimization/emission minimization (See Project Descriptions 1 and 2 ). Among these areas, participating researchers have patented clean technologies and new materials in no-VOC coatings and adhesives chemistry, a microbial synthesis route for production of 1,3-propanediol (See Project Description) , and photocatalysis (See Project Description) . Almost all of CenCITT's clean technology projects include industrial participation and many involve multi-disciplinary teams. This insures that the technology under development stands the best chance of rapid industrial implementation.

Many CenCITT researchers have used their CenCITT projects to seed development with other funding entities. For example, Prof. Edward L. Cussler (UM) was recently awarded a ten-fold increase over his CenCITT funding by the National Science Foundation for his work in amphophilic solvents, which are the key ingredients that make his new printing inks environmentally friendly (Editor's Note: Work done in collaboration with the Deluxe Corporation). This new project is a direct result of exploratory work performed under CenCITT funding (See Project Description) .

ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS MANUFACTURING

As previously mentioned, a new program was established in Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing. This effort brings together researchers at UW and MTU in a unique collaboration to develop fundamental principles of disassembly simulation and environmental "assessment" of assembly and materials processing practices. The project began last year as an exploratory venture and has subsequently matured into today's collaborative program focussed on automobile manufacturing (See Project Descriptions). We are extremely optimistic about the prospects for this area. It broadens CenCITT's activities into discrete parts assembly/disassembly and manufacturing-based systems design and engineering.

As previously mentioned in the section on CPAS, software tools are being developed which facilitate the routine consideration of environmental impact in several areas of design and operation. One effort initiated this past year involves MTU and the M.W. Kellogg Company, and focusses on environmentally conscious construction practices (See Project Description) . A prototype of this tool received high praise at a recent industry conference. Many were impressed with the intuitiveness of the user interface. Consistent with the CPAS approach, the tool is not exclusively an "environmental" design tool. It seeks, instead, to incorporate environment considerations into the context of realistic construction optimization which involves ease of construction, job scheduling, safe practices, cost, and many other factors. Growth potential for this arena is very high.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER - A TWO-WAY STREET

The fundamental science and engineering of clean technology and pollution prevention can best be advanced by the creation of a coordinated project agenda of many researchers. Within CenCITT, we have pooled the talent and wisdom of engineers and scientists who are familiar with production, treatment and environmental fate. This results in an ability to identify strategies that will allow U.S. industry to remain competitive in a global economy and continue to meet stringent environmental regulations. We continue to seek definition and execution of a national research agenda appropriate to our mission and to insure the capabilities of all organizations - corporate, governmental, private and academic - are utilized. Toward this end, CenCITT embarked on a development strategy shortly after being established. Table 2 briefly introduces this strategy and shows how technology transfer, comprised of an outreach program and internal communications integrates with the CenCITT research program development.

Table 2: CenCITT Development Strategy

STARTING POINT	RESEARCH PROGRAM	OUTREACH PROGRAM	INTERNAL COMMUNICATION
FIRST YEAR	STARTUP PROJECTS GENERAL MISSION STATEMENT MADE	P2 PUBLICITY FACT FINDING	"GET ACQUAINTED" SEMINARS (AUDIOGRAPHIC)
SECOND YEAR	SAC APPROVED STARTUP PROJECTS SPECIFIC MISSION STATEMENT MADE	CONSORTIA INTERACTION PLAN DEVELOPMENT	FOCUS AREA WORKSHOPS
THIRD AND FOURTH YEARS (CURRENT YEAR)	PROGRAM-BASED LONG-TERM PROJECTS INITIATED	CONSORTIUM KICKOFF BASED ON SPECIFIC MISSION SOFTWARE SALES	"CUSTOM" CONFERENCES
FIFTH YEAR	SEED NEW TECHNICAL FOCUS AREAS	CONSORTIA PLAN ENHANCEMENT TRAINING SHORT COURSES	EXPAND RESEARCHER GROUP

One method used to propose and hone topical research agendas is through development of concept papers which outline R&D needs and technological barriers toward implementation of specific clean technologies. One such concept paper written in the past year was led by researchers at MTU and focussed on photocatalysis. Others began in development as part of CenCITT's largest ever planning initiative, entitled "Vision 2000: CenCITT Strategic Planning Program." This effort began in June, 1995, and has involved virtually every CenCITT participant. We started with each PI proposing an answer to the question, "What is the long-term pollution prevention-related potential for your project and what steps should be taken over the next four years in order that this potential might be realized?". During two working meetings, held in Wausau, WI, CenCITT's Steering Committee and Focus Area Coordinators correlated these individual project statements into vision statements for each of CenCITT's Focus Areas and presented them to the Scientific Advisory Committee for review and comment at its October 5-6, 1995 meeting. The results of this process will be reflected in a plan for the next four years and will be the central feature of CenCITT's renewal application, due for submittal to EPA in December, 1995.

During the past year CenCITT initiated a conference series, entitled "National Working Meetings on Coordinating Clean Technology Research Programs". The series provides forums to discuss ongoing research programs and to coordinate and leverage programs toward common goals in pollution prevention which are beyond the reach of any single organization. The first National Working Meeting focussed on the Clean Process Advisory System and was cosponsored by CWRT and NCMS. It was hosted in October, 1994 by Texas Instruments, Inc. Much of the current structure of CPAS was formulated at this meeting. A second meeting, entitled "Fast-Tracking Priority Pollution Prevention", was held in conjunction with the AIChE 1995 Summer National Meeting. Next year's National Working Meeting will be held in conjunction with a CenCITT Scientific Advisory Committee meeting and will focus on catalysis, adsorption, and separative reactors and expanded CPAS development. It is being cosponsored by CenCITT, the U.S. Department of Commerce National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), CWRT, NCMS and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technologies (DOE/OIT), and is planned for the summer of 1996.

In addition to its highly valued relationships with individual companies and governmental entities, CenCITT's strategic alliances with CWRT and NCMS continue to mature. These alliances serve to leverage resources and speed industrial implementation of innovative waste reduction technologies, educational programs, information systems, and processes. CenCITT and CWRT initiated a joint project entitled "Emerging Separation Technologies for Industrial Pollution Prevention". The project will focus on R&D needs to increase pollution prevention applications of adsorption, membranes, separative reactors and reactive distillation technologies. CenCITT researchers will also be participating in the NCMS-led major initiative in plastics reclamation and reuse. In the past year, the three organizations have cosponsored four technology transfer programs involving technical presentations, trade show booths and software demonstrations.

CenCITT became a voting member of the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) this past year and in collaboration with the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, introduced CPAS at the April, 1995 national meeting of the NPPR. Comments were very positive, with plans being laid to examine the relationship between CPAS and a National Pollution Prevention Network currently in development by the NPPR.

Facilitated largely through CenCITT's strategic alliances, CenCITT became the recipient of a $1.1 million cooperative agreement with EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory to develop "Pollution Prevention and Assessment Modules for Chemical Process Simulators". Participants in the 4-year program include CWRT, Battelle-Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Simulation Sciences, Inc., Hyprotech, Ltd., the M.W. Kellogg Company and the Dow Chemical Company. Establishment of this effort is another positive outcome of the ongoing technology transfer between CenCITT and NRMRL, which was initiated during CenCITT's first year of operation. In a related effort, CenCITT began involvement in the characterization of a combined life cycle assessment/analysis tool for use by the chemical process industry. This CWRT-led effort involves the Pacific Northwest and Sandia Laboratories as primary technical participants, with DOE/OIT providing primary funding.

Relationships with other universities and the scientific community also continue to develop, particularly in the CPAS area. Discussions and information exchanges are currently taking place with researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, Rice University, the University of Texas, the University of Houston and Oak Ridge National Laboratory to identify specific interactions and coordinate ongoing projects.

Numerous presentations about CenCITT-funded projects have been made at many technical conferences by PIs and graduate students. Most of these will be referenced by project later in this report. Many other presentations were made which deal with CenCITT as a whole or deal with proposed activities not covered under a funded project (Baker, 1995b; Crittenden, 1995g; Durfee 1995a, b; Freeman 1995a, b; Hwang, 1994, 1995c; Quigley, 1995; Radecki, 1994a, b, 1995a, g, i, k, o, p)

Brochures, literature and a demonstration version of CPAS have been prepared and distributed to over 500 organizations and individuals requesting information from all over the world. As previously indicated, the CPAS word is certainly getting out as it has been mentioned in feature articles in a half dozen national technical publications this past year. It was recognized at a September, 1995 meeting hosted by NRMRL that the CPAS effort could be the largest coordinated industrial pollution prevention R&D/technology transfer program in the U.S. The purpose of the meeting was to establish a pollution prevention process simulation working group and to identify specific areas of cooperation and ways in which its members organizations might better coordinate their efforts. Participants included NRMRL, DOE/OIT, NIST, CWRT, the M.W. Kellogg Company, Simulation Sciences, Inc. and CenCITT. A Memorandum of Cooperation outlining 12 areas of collaboration was drafted as a result of the meeting.

CenCITT is a strong advocate for the coordination of R&D on a national basis and is currently a leading organization in the development of a nationwide consortium of pollution prevention research, development and technology transfer centers. CenCITT sees tremendous growth opportunities as it continues to expand its participants to include researchers from other universities, companies, national laboratories and other government agencies.

CenCITT conducts surveys 1) to identify industrial pollution prevention needs as they relate to CenCITT programs and 2) to identify means to expand or enhance CenCITT's capabilities to meet those needs. The previously described conference series, and numerous technical conference presentations and followup discussions have gone far in satisfying the past year's requirements for identifying industrial pollution prevention needs. Assistance to a former CenCITT-funded PI in surveying industrial interest in his no-VOC coating formulations resulted in an agreement between the PI and a major chemical manufacturer to further develop the coatings for commercial applications. A survey to expand CenCITT's capabilities to address industry needs was conducted primarily by UM researchers (See Project Description). As part of the survey, CenCITT was introduced to many faculty. Areas of particular strength were identified and awareness of and enthusiasm for pollution prevention were generated. This intiative resulted in no less than five new Exploratory Projects receiving funding in the FY95 allocation cycle which focus on in-process recycle and renewable feedstock utilization.

REGIONAL OUTREACH

The past year saw an expansion of CenCITT's outreach activity toward interaction with various state and regional pollution prevention technical assistance organizations. A pilot activity has been proposed in which CenCITT outreach staff will cooperate with these organizations to provide a back-up referral service for difficult pollution prevention technical problems. In return, CenCITT will become better acquainted with pollution prevention issues of high priority to businesses in the region. This pilot proposal was well received in presentations to the staff of the Wisconsin Solid and Hazardous Waste Education Center and at a meeting of the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable.

Another initiative began with the UW Industry Research Program (UIR) and led eventually to preparation of a proposal to NIST for a state-wide Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program. Participants include UW (with CenCITT participation), the State Vocational, Technical and Adult Education System and others. One by-product of this effort has been the conduct of a survey of 1156 Wisconsin small to medium-sized manufacturers. Results of the survey emphasized the need for environmental design input when expanding production facilities and responding to permitting requirements.

Other regional activities this year included the continued involvement in identification of pollution prevention needs of Upper Michigan businesses. This effort involves the MTU Institute of Materials Processing and the Retired Engineers Technical Assistance Program. In Minnesota, a scoping project was begun to define technical information resources of the Minnesota Technical Assistance Program which could be incorporated into CPAS tools.

Outreach also continued with public constituencies of the region. A high point of this effort was the presentation of a plan for environmental information management for the Upper Great Lakes. A manuscript outlining this plan was recently accepted for publication in the internationally known journal, Sustainable Development.

A CONTINUING CHARGE

CenCITT's programs are each marked by openness in development, execution and implementation of results. CenCITT's goal is to assure the chain of industry need, discovery of solution, testing and implementation remains unbroken. It's approach is founded in a belief that limited research funding is a long-term reality, stewardship of the environment can't wait, and that these factors should compel researchers world-wide to communicate and coordinate their efforts to achieve sustainable economic development.

CenCITT PIs can easily see that the value of their contributions is greatly increased by being part of a larger system. As CenCITT continues to mature and develop other focus areas, it is incumbent upon its leadership to continue to encourage this type of faculty involvement and insure that the individual contributions are not hidden, but exemplified; that their intellectual property interests are preserved and as much as possible, financially supported over the long term. With this approach, there can be little doubt that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

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