Hazards from Metropolis Current Industries Free Essay Example, 2750 words

Metropolis current industries are tourism, pulp/paper, and computer products, manufacturers. There is also the airport industry and all of them pose certain risks to the surrounding land, air and water. The paper industry uses trees as the main raw material and as such, uncontrolled logging by the industries can lead to devastating environmental consequences. Chlorine and chlorine compounds are normally used for wood pulp bleaching purposed during paper production (Sconce, 1962). The utilization of chlorine results in production of dioxins which are persistent pollutants generally classified as among the highly toxic manmade pollutants. The pulping process utilizes large water volumes that absorb numerous organic substances from the pulp mill including lignin. The effluent also contains transition metal compounds, chlorates chelating agents and some alcohols. The sulfite and Kraft pulp processes involve a lot of use of sulfur resulting in sulfur dioxide that is water-soluble and can result in acidic effluent and acidic rain when the gas is released into the atmosphere (Swarup Jauhari, 1992). The other chemicals contained in the effluents include ammonia, mercury, nitrates, benzene, and chloroform. This mixture of chemicals is a potential environmental hazard. We will write a custom essay sample on Hazards from Metropolis Current Industries or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Hydrogen peroxide is less toxic than the chemicals used in the sulfide and Kraft processes.