A methodology for assessing cleaner production in the vanadium extraction industry

In recent years, many industries have looked upon cleaner production (CP) as the means by which they could maintain environmental practice and competitive advantages. In the industry of vanadium extraction from stone coal, one of the strategies used to tackle various problems caused by the production process is the implementation of cleaner production (CP). To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no methodology for assessing the cleaner production process of this industry in China. This paper analyses the utility of the assessment methodology, and outlines the CP assessment route. In this study, a relatively comprehensive and efficient assessment indicator framework for the industry of vanadium extraction from stone coal was established for the first time. The fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) model, whose performance was verified by quantitative calculation as well as qualitative assessment, was used to evaluate the production process. This model can effectively handle the systematic complexity and enhance the assessment accuracy of the proposed indicator framework. The assessment methodology was established and verified to be reasonable and practical in the case studies considered. The results demonstrate that the assessment methodology is useful in providing guidelines for the implementation of an environmental management system in the industry of vanadium extraction from stone coal. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.