This is an environmental engineering related question, please help me answer it.

Question

This is an environmental engineering related question, please help me answer it. Thank you 5. [Problem 9-F. (original)] Several years ago, the election ballot in Florida included a proposal for a constitutional amendment that would require all costs of pollution control to be paid by the person or company responsible for the pollution. The amendment was targeted at the sugar industry in South Florida, but could be interpreted as applying to any company or individual in the state. As an example, consider a restaurant that has separate sections for smokers and nonsmokers. Should those customers seated in the smoking section be charged extra to pay for exhaust fans or other pollution control devices? Consider the cost of operating the chemistry labs on campus. Choose one example of technology required to prevent contamination of the environment inside or outside the laboratory room. Briefly describe that technology and its relative cost (negligible? outrageous?). Should the cost of controlling that pollution be assessed only to those students directly responsible for creating it?

Explanation / Answer

Normally pollution created by chemistry Lab can be classified in to two categories.

1) Pollution due to poisonous gases liberated during the chemical reaction. They should be treated in chimney before releasing into the environment. For example the SO2 gas liberated in the lab should be dissolved in NaOH and removed from the air. Similarly other gases can be dissolved in suitable solvents/scrubbers.

2) Pollution due to solid or aqueous impurities. All the chemicals that are thrown in sink will come under this category. Most of the chemicals are not environmental friendly and produce severe impact on land fertility and aquatic life. They should be treated, neutralised by suitable chemicals before throwing in waste. For example, conc H2SO4 should be diluted with NaOH before throwing. Similarly mercury should be cleaned with potassium iodide before throwing in environment. The cost of neutralization is very high due to complex nature of chemicals involved. But most of the chemical are rightly available in the lab for the other reactions. So there is no extra set up is required to neutralise them.

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