CenCITT Director
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Institutional Coordinators
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A research consortium founded in 1992 to address clean technology needs of industry in concert with the environmental interests of government and the public.
To assist industry in pollution prevention by devising clean
technologies
and process design tools, and by pursuing promising leads in
treatment, beneficiation, and reuse where prevention is not feasible.
CenCITT's goal is to help create industrial facilities in which
waste is minimized through the application of economically sound
technologies, and a combination of optimized manufacturing
processes, treatment operations and reuse of materials.Accordingly, the Center aims to aid industry in developing and
identifying clean technologies to meet society's needs, and at the
same time meet stringent U.S. environmental regulations.
The U.S. economy is among the most material intensive economies in the world, extracting more than 10 tons of "active" material per person from U.S. territories each year. Furthermore, U.S. industry produces 11 billion tons of waste annually. As a result, we are threatening the Earth's capacity to repair and replenish itself.
Clean technology lightens the burden on the environment. It prevents pollution and minimizes waste generation. Product design decisions have a direct influence on as much as 60% of the industrial waste produced by the U.S. annually. The application of clean technology could greatly reduce the quantity of these industrial wastes. So, why aren't we maximizing our use of clean technology to minimize the burden on our environment?
Up to now, it hasn't been easy for industry to devise and implement clean technologies into their manufacturing processes, and to do it cost-effectively. CenCITT is working to change that.
Note: Statistics for the section above were taken from U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment, Green Products by Design: Choices for a Cleaner Environment, OTA-E-541 (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, October 1992). "Active" material includes food, fuel, forestry products, ores, and nonmetallics.
Starting with industry and ending with industry.
To accomplish its mission, CenCITT forms alliances with industrial research and technology transfer consortia, government agencies and other university researchers. Two such consortia include the Center for Waste Reduction Technologies (CWRT) and the National Center for Manufacturing Science (NCMS). These alliances allow CenCITT to maintain a broad resource pool for identifying the high-priority, clean technology needs of industry.
CenCITT takes industry's needs and develops programs to create innovative tools and technologies that are cost-effective and environmentally sound. Starting with industry and ending with industry. By using this approach, research stays focused on industrial needs; and rapid technology transfer takes place. CenCITT is the vital link between the needs of industry and the innovations that come from university collaborative research.
With the support of its allies, CenCITT is conducting research and development in the following focus areas:
- Clean Process Advisory System (CPAS
) Homepage:
- CPAS is a collection of pollution prevention design tools that will allow designers to integrate pollution prevention and environmental considerations into existing process and product design environments.
- Clean Reaction Technologies (CReaTe)
- The goal of CReaTe is to establish and integrate concepts for the purpose of producing chemicals in an environmentally benign manner. The concepts include green chemistry, catalysis, reactor technology, plant integration and control as well as stewardship of raw materials, final products, and intermediates.
- Efficient Materials Utilization (EMU)
- EMU seeks ways to develop and improve industrial technologies and processes that use materials more efficiently, thereby reducing the production and/or emission of wastes that become environmental pollutants.
- Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing (ECM)
- ECM concentrates on the principles of disassembly simulation and environmental assessment of assembly and materials processing practices used in the discrete product manufacturing industry.
In addition to research, CenCITT is also providing advice to industrial corporations. CenCITT has two projects under which US regulatory agencies provide initial base funding in order to support the pollution prevention effort and the chemical assistance program of the US government. Both services are free of charge to industry.
- ChemAlliance - On-Line Regulatory Information for the Chemical Process Industry
- ChemAlliance is a compliance assistance center for the chemical industry that is intended to provide information in easy-to-understand language regarding the environmental compliance needs of the chemical industry. It will also try to provide practical information on how chemical manufacturers can implement pollution prevention strategies in order to improve compliance while reducing production costs and increasing the quality of their products. Under the blanket of limited confidentiality the center will facilitate the chemical and process related information transfer between different companies, EPA, and other assistance providers. For more information, please click on the ChemAlliance heading, email Barry Solomon at bdsolomo@mtu.edu, or use the toll-free fax-back service at 1-800-672-6048.
- Pollution Prevention Framework Assessment Tools
- It is the goal of this industrial consulting activity to use EPA’s developed chemical screening methods to predict the physical and chemical properties of not-yet-synthesized chemicals, and to calculate/estimate the fate in the environment, the potential hazards to humans and the environment, and issues regarding the human exposure and risk of new and innovative compounds. Through this activity CenCITT is helping various industrial corporations solving questions regarding basic molecular research or decision making with respect to environmentally sound ingredients in product formulations. This is done in an effort to improve existing products, to advice on an environmentally friendly compound development, and to speed up the regulatory process associated with Pre-Manufacture Notices (PMN’s) for new chemicals. Of course, in the interest of the industrial partners all business information is handled strictly confidential. For more information, please click on the P2 Framework Assessment Tools heading, email Volker H. Selzer at vhselzer@mtu.edu, or call him at 1-906-487-3418.
- George Vander Velde, Ph.D. (Chair)
- Director, Illinois Waste Management and Research Center
- James E. Alleman, Ph.D. (Vice Chair)
- Professor, School of Civil Engineering
Purdue University- Barbara Karn, Ph.D. (CenCITT Project Officer)
- Office of Research and Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency- Paul L. Bishop, Ph.D.
- Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Cincinnati- William H. Brendley, Jr., Ph.D.
- Assistant Dean, School of Science and Health
Philadelphia College of Textiles and Science- Hugh J. Campbell, Jr., Ph.D.
- Manager, Core Resources
E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company, Inc.- Stacy L. Daniels, Ph.D.
- Director of Research
Quality Air of Midland, Inc.- Teresa M. Harten
- Chief, Clean Processes and Products Branch
National Risk Management Research Laboratory, US EPA- Darryl W. Hertz
- Manager, Pollution Prevention and Value Engineering Programs
The M. W. Kellogg Company- Michael C. Kavanaugh, Ph.D.
- Vice President
Malcolm Pirnie- Joseph E.L. Rogers, Ph.D.
- Director, Center for Waste Reduction Technologies
American Institute of Chemical Engineers- William E. Thacker, Ph.D.
- Research Engineer
National Council for Air & Stream Improvement (NCASI)
Western Michigan University- William Tumas, Ph.D.
- Leader, Waste Treatment and Minimization Science and Technology Group
Los Alamos National Laboratory- Clare Vinton
- Vinton, Inc.
Through our growing alliances with industrial consortia, government agencies, and university research groups, CenCITT provides a strong, interdisciplinary team. This "team" puts industry in touch with the most up-to-date tools and technologies available today, and finds solutions to troublesome industrial waste and pollution problems.
CenCITT is committed to bringing the best, the safest and the most environmentally sustainable technologies within industry's reach.
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