Pollution prevention in the metal finishing industry a comparison between the united states and colombial

摘要

Pollution prevention, which is a method of minimizing waste discharges at production sites, is a more comprehensive solution than end-of-pipe treatment, because if focues on prevention rather than control. THe purpose of this study was to identify and characterize the different pollution prevention techniques available to metal finishing companies, and perform a comparative analysis of the application of these technologies by metal finishing companies in the United States and twelve compaines in Medllin, COlombia. Among the pollution prevention techniques, special attention was given to metal recovery technologies used by the US metal finishing industry, which included atmospyheric evaporation, vacuum evaporation, electrowinning, ion exchange, everse osmosis and electrodialysis. It was determined that vacuum evaporation was the best cost-effective technology that was available for the Colombian metal finishing industry, followed by ion exchange, reverse osmosis and atmospheric evaporation. After identifying the best available technology, several rcommendations were proposed to the metal finishing industries in Colombia.