Title: Glass
1Glass
- Kay Tam
- Professor Raquel R. Pinderhughes
- Urban Studies Program
- Race, Poverty and the Environmental
- San Francisco State University
- Spring 2003
2Introduction
- This presentation focuses on glass.
- It is designed to interpret the potential
impacts of the processes associated with glass.
It takes you through the cradle to grave
lifecycle of glass, paying particular attention
to the social, environmental and public health
impacts of these processes.
3Presentation organization
- We start by looking at the natural resources for
making glass. - We then go to the glass making processes and its
utilization. - This is followed by the disposal of glass waste.
- I will analyze the social, environmental and
health impacts associated with each processes
throughout my presentation. - Lastly, I will talk about the importance of
environmental justice in the life cycle of glass
and discuss with you how can we address the
problems.
4Now, we start by looking at the natural resources
for making glass.
- Distribution of natural resources
- Formation
- Purposes for utilization
- Extraction process
- Environmental and Social effects of extraction
process
5Natural Resources
- Silica sand 72
- Soda Ash 17
- Lime 5
17
5
72
6
6Silica Sand
7Silica Sand
- Three of most common rock forming minerals on
earth - Chemically named quartz sand / rock crystal
- Properties
- Extremely heat durable
- Chemical stack resistance
8Formation of Silica Sand
- Naturally
- Mechanical chemical weathering of
quartz-bearing igneous metamorphic rocks - Chemically weathering
- Less stable minerals
- break down to become silica sand
- More stable minerals
- release to environment
- Carry by wind / wave
- Sort by wave stream action to form pure silica
sand
9Location Integration of Silica Sand
- It is found below thin layers of overburden
soil as unconsolidated deposits - It is abundant resource on earth crusts (44) and
occur throughout the world. - Best known place in U.S.
- NE of town of Hudson Bay along the Red Deer River
10World resources of Silica Sand
- Silica sand resources is abundant on the world.
- Its extraction is limited by
- geographic distribution
- quality requirements for some uses
- environmental restrictions
- Extraction of theses resources is dependent on
whether it is economic and are controlled by the
location of population centers
Fig. 1
http//minerals.er.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodit
y/silica/780397.pdf
11Purposes for the Utilize of Silica Sand
- History
- Glass making metallurgical activities few
thousands years BC ago - Key raw material in ceramics, foundry glass
industrial revolution - Today
- Glass making, foundry casting, ceramics,
filtration, specialist building applications,
leisure ( e.g. golf course), filters in numerous
products, plastics, the manufacture of chemicals,
metal refractory, as addictives in
horticultural agricultural products
simulating oil production
12Purposes for the Utilize of Silica Sand Cont
- Important for todays information technology
- Raw material for silicon chips
- Plastics of computer mouses
13Which communities depend on silica sand?
- Every communities depend upon it for different
purposes - Especially important for developing developed
countries - For further technological improvement
development
14Extraction of Silicon Sand
- Stripping of overburden (topsoil vegetation) by
bulldozers scraper - Wet separation by washing the sand, passing
through screens to remove roots other organic
matter - Gravity separation to separate silica sand from
regular sand - Finished silica sand is transported by trucks to
plants for processing - Oversized materials residual clay are returned
to mined pits
15Soda Ash
16Soda Ash
- Anhydrous sodium carbonate
- Texture soft
- Color grayish white
- Appearance lump / powder in nature
17Formation of Soda Ash
- Naturally
- Erosion of igneous rock form sodium deposits
- Transport by waters as runoffs collect in
basins - When sodium comes in contact w/ CO2, precipitates
out sodium carbonate
18Location Integration of Soda Ash
- Integrated as sodium rich waters (brines) /
extensive beds of trona interbedded w/ sodium
minerals - Large soda ash deposits
- U.S, Mexico, Canada, Kenya, Botswana, Uganda,
Peru, Germany, India, Egypt, S. Africa Turkey - Worlds largest trona deposit
- Green River Basin of Wyoming
- estimate to have 47 billion tons of soda ash
19U.S. soda ash deposits
- Owens Lake Searles Lake
- Estimates to have 815 million of soda ash
Worlds largest trona deposit
Fig.2
www.ansac.com/100_our_story/ 103_supply.asp
20Trona Deposits of California
Owens Lake
Fig.3
Fig.4
Trona mine at Searles Lake
21Purposes for the Utilize ofSoda Ash
- History
- Early Egypt make glass soap
- Early Roman make glass, bread pharmaceuticals
(medicine) purpose to cure choric skin rashes
22Purposes for the Utilize ofSoda Ash Cont
- Important merchandise for U.S.
- Glass fiber manufacture
- Cleaning preparations
- Petroleum refining
- Metallurgical refining
- Removal of sulfur from smokestack emissions (3)
- Distributors (5)
- Metal refining
- Glass manufacture (49)
- Chemical production (27)
- Mineral processing in mining
- Pulp Paper manufacturing
- Sodium compounds manufacturing
- Soap detergents (11)
- Water treatment (2)
- Textile processing
23Export of Soda Ash of AmericanAccording to the
U.S Geological Survey, Americas soda Ash
production is approximately 11.5 million tons/
year, of which 4.5 million tons are exported
Asia
Fig. 5
www.isonex.com/glass_article_5-97.pdf
24Extraction of Soda Ash
- Quarrying of trona bed that contain sodium
- Human 1st recorded extraction of soda ash ocurred
during discovery of Wyoming trona deposit - Could be manufactured synthetically through
Solvary process by using salt, ammonia
limestone
25The Solvay process for the manufacture of Soda
Ash (NaHCO3).
Fig.6
cwx.prenhall.com/petrucci/medialib/
media_portfolio/22.html
26Lime
27 Lime
- Include hydrated lime quicklime
- Only quicklime can use to make glass
28Location Integration of Lime
- Underneath the topsoil , ach, siltstone
- Associated in
- Limestone
- Marine organisms on seabed e.g. seashells
29Location of rich Limestone deposit in the
world
- North South Islands of New Zealand
www.med.govt.nz/crown_minerals/ minerals/gnsmaps/
Fig. 8
30Export of Lime
- 56 of lime in U.S. is produced at companies in
Alabama, Missouri, Ohio, Texas, Kentucky and
Pennsylvania (about 11.5 millions tons annually - Other nations producing lime for export
- Canada, Mexico, China, France, Belgium, Brazil,
Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, the United
Kingdom and Japan.
31Formation of Lime
- Marine organisms dissolve CO2 extract Calcium
from seawater to from calcium carbonate - Buried under sediments of seabed after death
- Limestone formed under heat pressure on the
remains of marine organisms
limestone
32Purposes for the Utilize ofLime
- Historical Use
- Ancient Egyptian civilization used lime to make
plaster and mortar. - Nowadays
- Use extensively for glass making, the pulp
paper industry steel mills - Other uses municipal industrial water /
wastewater treatment, as an addictive for road
stabilization construction projects - In U.S., more than 90 of lime production is for
chemical and industrial uses
33 Extraction of Lime
Initial extraction process
- Quarry of limestone at trona bed
- Then, transported to crush plants by trucks /
rail - Undergo Calcination process
- heating limestone or chalk (Ca3CO2) in kiln till
900 degree celsius - CO2 is emitted in this process and calcium oxide
(lime) is produced.
Blocks Ready to Saw
Chopped into Blocks
Transport to processing factories by truck
Calcination Process
Processed Lime
34Effects pose by the Extraction of Mineral Sites
for making glass
- Location of mineral sites mostly located in
developing /undeveloped countries near poor
communities - Results in social environmental impacts
35Environmental Impacts
Fig. 8
- Extraction may remain
- large amount of rubbish
- on the extracted sites,
- causing serious
- environmental
- pollution and
- degradation
Fig, 9
36Environmental impacts
Nordik Mine Site in 1995
Fig. 10
- Water Contamination
- Blasting digging during extraction process
produce wastes easily get into the water as
runoff - In waste disposal activities, systems direct
waste into rivers tributaries - Inadequate rehabilitation of disturbed areas
remain wastes behind the sites
Photo taken by Kira Henschel at Wisconsin mining
site at May, 1995
37- Nordik Mine - Drainage Downstream from Tailings
in 1995
- Contaminated water of mining site being pumped
to a Lake
38Environmental impacts cont
- Soil disturbance
- stripping of the overburden will loosen the soil
cause soil erosion - loss of water in soil through evaporation
- Loss of nutrient minerals in soil
- Wet separation process in the manufacturing
process of silica sand will wash away minerals
and nutrients in soil, that is important for
vegetation growth, e.g. lack of magnesium for
plant in soil will result in chronic
39Environment disruption resulted from mineral
extraction process
- Mineral sand mining occurred on land has
cleared pasture
Fig.11
www.cablesands.com.au/cswa/ company-profile.asp
40Social Impacts from extraction process
- Contamination of ground water for nearby
communities - Runoffs from extraction sites contaminate the
water may transport to nearby communities - Dinking water agricultural resources is
polluted - Disease
- Communities may get diseases through consuming
the contaminated water / seafood - New diseases may be introduced to communities
through mine workers from communities far away
41Social Impacts from extraction process cont
- Fodder, fuel wood and glazing communities
- These businesses being affected due to
environmental pollution e.g. water soil - Agricultural communities
- Water for irrigation is being contaminated, loss
of water resources for drainage - Plants crops die and cattle may get disease
- Local communities and villages
- Loss in food security for self-supply communities
42- Disruption of local economics system
- Communities nearby cannot depend on their land
for production for export and economics benefits
e.g. case of limestone mining in Uttaranchal - Contamination sites requires large capital for
rehabilitation - May require communities living around the
extraction sites to pay for rehabilitation - Taxpayers may also need to pay for part of the
rehabilitation program of disturbed sites
43Transportation of natural resources for glass
manufacturing plant
- Development of transportation systems, building
of roads and extension of transportation network - Allow natural resources to transport to plants
further away from sites than in the past - Places nearby trucks or railways
- Places far away ship
- Benefit
- Help developing the transportation in some area
- No significant side effects pose to the
environment communities
44Distribution of minerals to the locations
- Most of the removed ore are transported away
from their mine and distributed to their
processing plants by trucks.
45After discussing the effects of extraction
process for making glass, we will talk about the
Manufacturing Process of Glass
- Glass making historical development
- Todays glass making process
- Impacts of glass manufacturing process
46Development of Glass Making
- First automated bottle machine was created in
1905 - Nowadays, most of the glass containers are
manufactured by technological machines at large,
automated factories control by computers - cheaper and better
- in quality
A Float glass Plant
47Historical Glass Manufacturing process
- Historical method
- heating and blowing
- shape the glass products by hand
- requires high skills is time consuming
- therefore using glass is considered as luxury in
our old world
48Todays Glass Manufacturing Process
- Silica sand, limestone, soda ash and cullet
(recycled glass or broken glass) are keep dry and
cool in a batcher house in silos or compartments - Mixing and weighting into proper proportion
- Send to furnaces in hoppers
- operated by natural gas
- heat the mixture at 1300-1600 degrees Celsius
into soften or molten state
Fig.12
www.glassforever.co.uk/howisglassmade/
49- 4. Molding --- molten glass flows to forming
machine to mold into desire shapes - 5. Annealing lehrs --- reheating the glass
in an oven - to ensure even cooling of glass for strengthening
of the products - 6. Cooling process --- Cool for 30 min to an
hour for safe to handle. - 7. Glass products are then decorated,
- inspected again and finally packaged
- and shipped to our customers.
glass furnace cooling systems
50Effects from glass manufacturing process
- Workers
- Dangerous harmful to workers if breakage occurs
while glass holds heated or corrosive, can result
in serious injuries - Glass making process occurs at high temperature
- Glass can broke easily under pressure, impact or
thermal shock - Prevention wear protective
- clothing and gloves to prevent
- those injuries
51Environmental impact
- Environmental degradation
- Air pollution
- raw materials used for glass making
- decompose at furnaces produce large
- volume of gas such as carbon dioxide
- combustion of gas for energy production
- release large amount of pollutant gases, such as
sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen - Green house effect
- green house gases release from the plants
increase global temperature and can form acid
rain
52Environmental Impact
- Aquatic Life
- Hot water is released during glass making process
- increase water temperature and dissolve oxygen in
water - change aquatic habitat
- and threaten aquatic life
53Social Impact
- Human Health
- Breathing in air pollutants
- release by the glass
- manufacturing plant can result
- in serious health impact
- E.g. respiratory or lung diseases
- Economy
- Affect fishing and recreational businesses due to
changes in aquatic habitat
54Then, we will now go to the Utilization of Glass
- History of glass
- How is the utilization of glass importance for
communities? - Global marketing and consumption status of glass
- The impacts of glass products
55History of Human Using Glass
- People have used glass dating back to 5000 B.C
- Ancient Egypt earliest use of glass, for royalty
and priest as luxuries - Usually use as containers or for decoration
purposes in human history
56Utilization of Glass is important for Human
Development
- Important for historical and modern
- human development
- Prism and lenses to study light, important to
further induce science theories. E.g. Issac
Newton used glass prism and lenses to explain the
color spectrum of light in 1672 - Magnifying glass for astronomy study, without
glass, we are not able to observe stars and
planets in space clearly - Glasses make lenses in spectacles that helped
people to overcome sight defect - Main components in many new and advance
technology devices major components of most
modern communications systems, fiber optics
systems, is also depend on the transmission of
light through glass filaments
57Different type of glass
- practical glass
- industrial glass
- inspiration glass
- glass of science and medicine
58Examples of todays glass products
- Containers (jars and bottles)
- Flat glass (windows, vehicle glazing, mirrors,
etc.) - Lighting glass (fluorescent tubes, light
bulbs, etc.) - Tableware (drinking glasses, bowls, lead
crystal, etc.)
- Laboratory equipments (test tubes, cylinders,
measuring flasks, etc.) - TV tubes and screens
- Decorative glass
- Fiberglass
- Optical glass
- Vacuum flasks
59Distribution process of glass products
- Glass product is distributed to different
consumers hand through trading - by commercial businesses
- according to the demands of people all over the
world
60Consumption of Glass
- Three largest consumers
- glass packaging (43)
- domestic commodities
- construction industry
Fig. 13
National Glass Usage
http//www.bisnis.doc.gov/bisnis/country/000727gla
ss_samara.htm
61Export Import of Glass
- Largest Importer of past decades Europe and
Australia - Today largest Importer U.S.
- China and Indonesia has increased their import of
glass dramatically
62Glass Industries
- The World Glass Industry has a gross production
value totaling 82.3 billion
Fig. 14
www.icem.org/events/ bled/matdocen.htm
63Glass Consumption in Europe
- Europe is one of the large importer of glass.
Through observing the consumption pattern of
glass in different countries of Europe, we can
get an image of how large is the human
consumption of glass is
Average glass consumption in kilo/annum
1990-1995/capita in different countries
Fig. 15
waste.eionet.eu.int/activities/0000219.html
When considering the whole EU, projections
suggest that glass consumption will increase
between 24 and 53 up to the year 2010, using the
year 1995 as a base year (European Topic Centre
on Waste, 1998).
64Consumption of glass in Europe cont
- European Topic Center of 1998 suggested that the
average increase in glass consumption for the EU
and Norway during 1990 to 1996 has been increased
by 13.6 - It is predicted that the average increase in
glass consumption for the EU and Norway during
1990 to 1996 has been increased by 13.6 - We can see that the demand of glass in our
society never decreases and the consumption of
glass increases every year
65Impacts result in consumption process of glass
- Characteristics of glass
- Non-biodegradable (remains in our environment and
do not decompose easily by itself ) - Durable long lasting
- Therefore, do not have significant environmental
social impact during consuming process - But could result in serious impact after disposal
66Fig. 16
waste.eionet.eu.int/activities/0000219.html
- While recycling has increased by almost 50 from
5 million to 7,4 million tonnes per year, the
amount of waste glass for disposal has only
decreased by 12 (6,7 million to 5,9 million
tones) due to the simultaneous increase in waste
glass.
67Finally, we will discuss the Disposal of Glass
68Glass Waste
- Most of glass waste is generated from glass
packaging - Glass waste generated from packing is among the
top forth in the world.
Fig. 17
Waste (mPEMwdk2000 per kg of packaging
http//www.mst.dk/project/NyViden/2000/08030000.ht
m
69How is glass waste treated?
- Landfill
- Recycle
- Vitrification
70Landfill
- If people dump useless glass
- into the garbage and mix it with
- other rubbish, it will be treated as regular
waste - Regular waste will then dump into waste dumping
site or use for landfill - Glass waste will finally break down and decay
into sand form naturally under erosion or
weathering and once again return to our
ecosystem.
71Effects result from landfill
- Environmental impact
- Raise of sea level
- drown lowland areas
- Leachate
- Landfill gas formation
72Example Landfill at Seoul
- The Sudokwon landfill site at Seoul (S. Korea)
covers 20,749,000 square meters
Construction of the Sudokwon Landfill at Seoul
Large area of sea is filled by land
Fig. 18
smg.metro.seoul.kr9000/ waste/part4.html
73Statistic of Sudokwon landfill
- Leachate
- 2,697m3/day(before soil covering)
- 866m3/day(after soil covering)
- Landfill gas
- 167m3/minute (in 2001)
Fig. 19
smg.metro.seoul.kr9000/ waste/part4.html
74Social impact from Landfill of glass waste
- Huge amount of glass waste produce by human
increases the need of land to get rid of the - use up precious landfill space, decreasing
possible areas that can be used for landfills of
other waste, increasing the need to establish new
expensive landfills - Leachates gas releases from the landfill site
degrade communities living condition harmful
to human health. - Taxpayers are responsible for the final costs of
landfill - Seoul City invested 37.3 billion and central
government 15 billion in their landfill project. - Migration of population from lowland areas due to
raise of sea level
75Recycling of Glass
- Recycle of glass is mostly used for packaging
- Recycle process
76 Myths of Recycling Glass
- Refillable bottles require more energy to make as
they are about 50 heavier than non-refillable
bottles to prevent breakage, and to transport
them over long distances to sparsely located
processing facilities. Since the raw materials of
glass are abundant and cheap, recycling glass
only consumes and wastes the more valuable
non-renewable fossil fuels (Warmer Bulletin
November, 1993) - It takes more energy to collect and recycle glass
into another bottle than to make one from raw
materials. However, the energy requirement to
produce a refillable bottle will decrease with
the number of returnable trips, and an eight-trip
bottle can reduce the energy requirement by about
two-thirds compared to a non-returnable bottle
(Porteous, 1977)
77Effects of recycling glass
- Environmental impact
- release from the recycling plant
- Air pollution air pollutants may
- Social impact
- location of most recycling plants are built
within low-income neighborhoods because of cheap
labor and less strict regulation - Health impact may affect respiratory system if
breath in pollutants - Case Local residents at Mercedes Arumbula
claimed that the neighborhood and kids have
developed asthma once the plant was built in
their community
78Virtification
- Definition a new technology has been discovered
to use recycle glass for radioactive waste
management - Process
- melt glass together with radioactive waste in
barrels or some other container - glass will then bind up with radioactive
contamination into a huge glass block - radioactive waste is bond by the glass and become
immobilized - keep radioactive waste from interacting with
water, stop spreading the waste -
Fig. 20
www.vitrification.com/ vitrification.htm
79Good Bad of Virtification
Volume percent of vitrified product compared to
the original waste volume
- Benefit of virtication
- Prevent radioactive waste pollution
- Minimize the amount of glass waste
- produced
- Increase the efficiency of glass use (to
stabilize hazardous waste) - High volume reduction of waste
- Landfill space can be saved
Fig. 21
www.vitrification.com/ vitrification.htm
80- Negative impacts of vitrification
- virtrified glass will finally decay after years
and radioactive materials will have chance to get
into our environment and cause serious problem - High cost
- vitrification costs may range from 80 to 165
per ton of soil processed for a facility
processing 100 tons per day.
81So, why is the life cycle of glass important for
environmental justice?
82Environmental Justice
- Through studying life cycle of glass can help to
raise the social awareness of the importance of
environmental justice - Social Environmental impact result from
- Extraction of raw material for glass
manufacturing - Glass manufacturing process
- Glass consumption process
- Disposal of glass waste
- How are communities affected by these impacts?
- Why are this happening?
- How are they being affected?
- Who are being affected?
- Disproportional distribution between marginalize
population in our society - Color, race social class
- What is our priority?
- Our good life terrible situation experienced by
disadvantage communities
83Disproportional distribution between marginalize
population
- Why are there disproportional distribution?
- environmental and social decisions are based on
unequal consideration among communities that
result in certain communities experiencing more
serious environmental and social problems - How are communities being affected?
- Different communities may experience
disproportional distribution of consumption
pattern, environmental pollution and inequalities
legistration
84Who are making benefit?
- Most of the glass consumers are the middle or
high class of the society - Big money enterprises such as industries, large
corporations and government are gaining economics
benefit through trading of glass
85Who are facing the problem?
- Most of the people living at the affected
communities are less educated and always alienate
from political power because of their own
abilities (such as language or dont know where
to appeal for it), and also some social and
economic reasons - Communities usually experience less strict
legislations and sometimes may experience unequal
legal - More likely locate near colored races
low-income class, far less to be seen in rich or
highly educated communities
86How to address the problem?
- Big money enterprises and power authorities
- Incorporate environmental justice into
decision-making process - Correct the attitudes of the big money
enterprises and power authorities - Every community has the right to enjoy and live
in a safe and enjoyable environment - Should respect the human right of disadvantage
communities, should not gain advantages over the
weak ones - Encourage forces help the disadvantage
communities to solve and minimize the social and
environmental problems
87How to address the problem cont
- Government
- legal legislations are needed to protect the weak
ones - Legislation should be made fairly that all race,
class and communities are considered at the same
level in the legislation under the principle of
environmental justice in order to protect the
right of every race and community - Develop infrastructure to ensure community can
have safe place for the increasing colonial
activity - E.g. Infrastructure that have sufficient drainage
sanitary system - Consumers
- Control their materialistic desire be more
considerate for other communities who are facing
the problems, think in a more globally way - Cut down unnecessary consumption
- save raw materials and lands for future next
generations, decrease environmental pollution and
social impact
88Global Change
- The whole world need to be changed !
- Cost benefit analysis need to be replaced by
cultural precautionary principle - Shift in the way that we make decisions (e.g.
when deciding where to place the waste site) - Take every communities into consideration when
making decisions - Consider if the situation is safe for every
community in decision-making process - Change in the way that individual consider as
good life - Colonialism is unacceptable
- Consider good life globally, but not individual
good life
89References
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U.S. Geological Survey. Mineral Commodity
Summaries. Retrieved 05/19/2003, from
http//minerals.er.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodit
y/silica/780397.pdf - ANSAC. (2002).California Soda Ash Deposits.
Retrieved 05/19/2003, from www.ansac.com/100_our_s
tory/ 103_supply.asp - Philips, T. Bishopwebworks. Retrieved 05/19/2003,
from - science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/
lms/owenslake.htm - Keith, John. Mineral Resource in Dessert.
10/29/97. Retrieved 05/19/2003, from
pubs.usgs.gov/gip/ deserts/minerals/ - Aitala, R. Aitala, M. (1997, June).Soda Ash in
the USA. Glass International. Retrieved
05/19/2003, from www.isonex.com/glass_article_5-97
.pdf - Petruccl, R. H. (2002). The Solvay process for
the manufacture of NaHCO3. A Pearson Company.
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media_portfolio/22.html - Economic Development. (2001, Aug 21). New Zealand
aggregate sources. Retrieved 05/19/2003, from
www.med.govt.nz/crown_minerals/ minerals/gnsmaps - Henschel, Kira Alsom, Rio. (May, 1995). Mining
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micpic3.html - Ibt
- Ibt
- Cable Sands RZM. www.cablesands.com.au/cswa/
company-profile.asp - RockWare Glass. How is Glass Made?
www.glassforever.co.uk/howisglassmade/ - Merkuova, E. (2000). National Glass Usage.
Administration of Samara Region investment
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Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General
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- Ibt
- http//www.mst.dk/project/NyViden/2000/08030000.ht
m
90End