I’m thinking of mixing in more "casual" blog posts to do with chemical engineering in between the ‘My Understanding in 30 Minutes’ series. Mainly this is because it’s quite hard finding news directly linked to chemical engineering. By this I mean that although I understanding chemical engineering is involved in a lot of what I read in the news about industry, I want it to be more explicitly linked to chemical engineering itself… otherwise I will just be making assumptions? And I want facts. So, since I can’t find anything interesting today, specific to chemical engineering that is, I will write my first ‘A Casual Blog Post’ and mix some Chemical Engineering into it.
On Chemical & Engineering News, I read an article called “Cutting Out Textile Pollution”. Obviously this caught my attention due to the key word pollution. So in terms of chemical engineering, a chemical engineer can work in the textile’s industry in improving the chemical and water processes they use. And that’s all good, but really, the textile industry needs to want this change. Most textile manufacturing takes place in third-world countries, I don’t really even need to look this up, its known through my general knowledge and teaching at school that this is the case. So the problem is, if most of this manufacturing takes place in a poor country, those who are in charge of the factories are unlikely to buy or invest in anything that will improve the rates of pollution. Who cares about pollution when profits are at stake, right?
The main polluting hazard of a textiles industry, from my understanding, would be the dyes that can contaminate, and DO contaminate, water. According to the World Bank, 20% of global industrial water pollution is as a result of the textiles industry, it is the second biggest clean water pollutant to agriculture. Which is quite a big deal.
This was a pretty casual blog post, with an unfinished feel to it, but I just wanted to show that 1) I have an interest in the sustainability of our planet 2) industries really need to start doing something about how much they pollute and 3) that chemical engineering, as always, can have a huge role in this industry.
Sources used:
[1] http://www.sustainablecommunication.org/eco360/what-is-eco360s-causes/water-pollution
[2] http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i41/Cutting-Textile-Pollution.html
On Chemical & Engineering News, I read an article called “Cutting Out Textile Pollution”. Obviously this caught my attention due to the key word pollution. So in terms of chemical engineering, a chemical engineer can work in the textile’s industry in improving the chemical and water processes they use. And that’s all good, but really, the textile industry needs to want this change. Most textile manufacturing takes place in third-world countries, I don’t really even need to look this up, its known through my general knowledge and teaching at school that this is the case. So the problem is, if most of this manufacturing takes place in a poor country, those who are in charge of the factories are unlikely to buy or invest in anything that will improve the rates of pollution. Who cares about pollution when profits are at stake, right?
The main polluting hazard of a textiles industry, from my understanding, would be the dyes that can contaminate, and DO contaminate, water. According to the World Bank, 20% of global industrial water pollution is as a result of the textiles industry, it is the second biggest clean water pollutant to agriculture. Which is quite a big deal.
This was a pretty casual blog post, with an unfinished feel to it, but I just wanted to show that 1) I have an interest in the sustainability of our planet 2) industries really need to start doing something about how much they pollute and 3) that chemical engineering, as always, can have a huge role in this industry.
Sources used:
[1] http://www.sustainablecommunication.org/eco360/what-is-eco360s-causes/water-pollution
[2] http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/i41/Cutting-Textile-Pollution.html
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