EAGER: A Process Systems Engineering Approach to the Characterization of Persistence in Chemodynamic Patterns as an Exposure-Based Hazard and Chemical Process Safety Indicator

EAGER：一种过程系统工程方法，用于表征化学动力学模式的持久性，作为基于暴露的危险和化学过程安全指标

• 批准号: 1008158
• 负责人: Nikolaos Kazantzis
• 金额: $ 6.58万
• 依托单位: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-02-01 至 2013-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1008158&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Process; Systems; Engineering; Approach

1008158Kazantzis This project focuses on the design and implementation of a comprehensive regulatory regime for the management of chemicals which represents a critical component of chemical process safety. In these regulatory structures, the need to use appropriately validated models that: i) faithfully describe the fate of chemicals released into the environment ("chemodynamics"), and ii) provide the means to assess through properly defined indices exposure levels of populations and ecosystems is needed. These models are realized through mass balances in different environmental media (air, soil, water, etc) reflecting the fact that the behavior of a chemical is jointly determined by the inherent physicochemical properties and underlying environmental processes such as degradation in and partitioning between media, etc. Traditionally, the management of chemicals has been based on risk criteria related solely to the inherent physicochemical properties, ignoring the complexities associated with the above processes and unnecessarily resulting in misclassification of their risk. In light of the above considerations, process systems engineering principles can be useful not only in the development and analysis of chemodynamic models in the presence of inherent nonlinearities/complexity, but also in introducing a comprehensive set of indices through which exposure hazard assessment becomes feasible when a large number of chemicals need to be prioritized on the basis of risk. In particular, this research aims at developing a new set of appropriately defined indices for the characterization of persistence of chemicals after their release into a multimedia environment, since persistence figures prominently as a key exposure-based indicator within contemporary frameworks of chemical risk assessment. Effectively overcoming limitations associated with traditional approaches that could lead to a misclassification of chemical substances on the basis of their persistence potential, this set of persistence indices will retain a computational approach while using certain measures/indices for the characteristic time found in dynamic systems theory. These exposure indices will capture the full dynamic history of the chemical's environmental behavior without requiring detailed knowledge of the particular release pattern, circumventing the standardization difficulties encountered when a large number of chemicals need to be screened. Furthermore, the persistence indices will be calculated on the basis of validated multimedia chemodynamic models for classes of chemicals of particular interest to the chemical industry, as new sets of data will be generated in response to recent international regulatory regimes. The pertinent body of knowledge is at a rather nascent state, which inevitably introduces an element of uncertainty on the outcome of the research program. Intellectual Merit: The intellectual merit lies in the development of a new comprehensive interdisciplinary methodological framework that would enable the synergistic integration of process systems engineering principles and methods with chemical risk assessment, management and process safety. Broader Impact: This framework is expected to have a direct impact on the scientific foundations of emerging regulatory regimes for the management of chemicals designed to protect public health and ecosystem functions, as well as on environmental health and safety practices followed in the chemical industry. Educational objectives would also complement the above research plan and become centered around the experience of the first intellectually critical years of the doctoral education of a female graduate student who would be interested in contributing to the advancement of knowledge in an emerging interdisciplinary field of scientific inquiry.

1008158Kazantzis 该项目的重点是设计和实施化学品管理的综合监管制度，该制度是化学工艺安全的关键组成部分。在这些监管结构中，需要使用经过适当验证的模型：i）忠实地描述释放到环境中的化学物质的命运（“化学动力学”），以及ii）提供通过正确定义的指数来评估人口和生态系统暴露水平的方法。这些模型是通过不同环境介质（空气、土壤、水等）中的质量平衡实现的，反映了化学品的行为是由其固有的理化特性和潜在的环境过程（例如介质中的降解和分配等）共同决定的。传统上，化学品的管理仅基于与固有的理化特性相关的风险标准，忽略了与上述过程相关的复杂性，并且不必要地 导致其风险的错误分类。鉴于上述考虑，过程系统工程原理不仅可用于在存在固有非线性/复杂性的情况下开发和分析化学动力学模型，而且还可用于引入一套全面的指数，当需要根据风险对大量化学品进行优先排序时，通过这些指数进行暴露危害评估变得可行。特别是，这项研究旨在开发一套新的适当定义的指数，用于表征化学品释放到多媒体环境中后的持久性，因为持久性在当代化学品风险评估框架中作为基于暴露的关键指标占据着突出地位。这组持久性指数有效地克服了与传统方法相关的限制，这些限制可能导致化学物质根据其持久性潜力进行错误分类，同时保留计算方法，同时使用动态系统理论中发现的特征时间的某些测量/指数。这些暴露指数将捕获化学品环境行为的完整动态历史，而无需详细了解特定的释放模式，从而避免了需要筛选大量化学品时遇到的标准化困难。此外，持久性指数将根据化学工业特别感兴趣的化学品类别的经过验证的多媒体化学动力学模型来计算，因为将根据最近的国际监管制度生成新的数据集。相关知识体系还处于相当初级的状态，这不可避免地给研究计划的结果带来了不确定性。智力价值：智力价值在于开发一个新的综合性跨学科方法框架，该框架将实现过程系统工程原理和方法与化学品风险评估、管理和过程安全的协同集成。更广泛的影响：该框架预计将对旨在保护公众健康和生态系统功能的化学品管理新兴监管制度的科学基础以及化学工业中遵循的环境健康和安全实践产生直接影响。教育目标也将补充上述研究计划，并以女研究生博士教育的第一个智力关键年的经验为中心，她们有兴趣为新兴的跨学科科学探究领域的知识进步做出贡献。