A3.1. Introduction

“The idea of sustainable development is based on a clear recognition of the social, economic and environmental dysfunction of the second half of the 20th century, which, despite advances in science and technology, has seen an increase in inequality and local armed conflicts. This idea of sustainability is at first sight sympathetic and generous, but the candor that underlies it has unfortunately led most to forget about highlighting the paradoxes and shortcomings” (Da Lage et al. 2008). That ecology (more or less political) opposes economics means that pursuing the goals of progress (more technoscientific) in one field would inevitably take us away from our objectives in the other. It is this tension between potentially incompatible options that engineers must reduce.

The global population explosion, with a target of 9–10 billion inhabitants in 2050 is based, for Martin (2017), on three major “industrial revolutions” characterized by discoveries that have each produced anthropological changes. The third, which began in the 1970s, is “that of the computer and the digital with new technologies, the cybereconomy, globalization, the triumph of the liberal economy, the individualization of morals, but also a planetary ecological situation of extreme gravity, also inherited in large part from the second, is an example that reflects a profound change in society, resulting in an anthropological mutation radically different from the previous ones in the Western world”. With the rapid development of new artificial intelligence (4th Industrial Revolution, see Appendix 2), a new anthropological mutation is expected. It is accompanied by a considerable loss of biodiversity and the continuation of a growing population associated with a projected and continuous increase in all citizens of the world. “Political authorities generally focus only on the global aspect of what they consider to be positive for certain short-term economic interests, leaving technoscience alone ‘in control’ of everything…” (Martin 2017).

Technological trends reveal mature opportunities while making existing business models increasingly obsolete. “Just as quickly, customers are adapting their expectations to new channels, products and modes of engagement. Companies that do not anticipate and embrace change can quickly find themselves overwhelmed and sink” (Deloitte 2017). In the current unquestioned consumerist system, “the kinetic enterprise” is a concept that refers to “companies that develop the dexterity and vision required not only to overcome operational inertia, but to thrive in a business environment that is and will remain in constant evolution: the dynamism of the kinetic enterprise allows it to benefit from movement, to feed itself with the energy generated by this perpetual evolution” (Deloitte 2017).

Under such conditions, the most conservative systems of thought and decision-making will not be able to resist. “Only flexible, open, minimum or variable determination systems or systems with a weak identity, i.e. systems that themselves contain a significant level of uncertainty and instability, are adaptable and can claim relative efficiency. In other words, vague categories of reasoning are needed to be able to think or act in or on conditions that have become uncertain, overly turbulent or paradoxical” (Foucart 2017; see also Phelps 2013).

But, at the same time, Lepeltier (2013) reminds us that: “We must now think about our obligations towards nature and our responsibility towards the future, since the efforts of technology can have an impact in the long, even very long term.” The trends towards perpetual growth are losing credibility, even if they continue to satisfy most consumers. The notion of sustainable development has therefore emerged since the Club of Rome in the 1950s and is omnipresent in our speeches with a sword of Damocles, called global warming (according to Le Treut and Jancovici (2004); in 1903, the Swedish researcher Svante Arrhenius obtained the Nobel Prize in Chemistry by formulating the theory of the greenhouse effect; the question of global warming, not perceived at the time, is therefore not new).

“The environment is a biocultural concept. Environmental objects are therefore composite, systemic, scalable and under stress. Thus, whatever their scale and apparent simplicity (why reserve interdisciplinarity for problems, given at the outset as complex and inherently trivially refractory, to a single discipline such as the global climate, for example?), they are probably permanently inaccessible to monodisciplinary approaches (even if it were ecology…), contingent structuring produced by a particular historical process of fragmentation of science and which could also have to evolve under their influence” (Legrand 2001). But, whatever the nature of this silent entity that is the environment, the facts are there, the reserves are running out, the planet is warming. The discourse of ecologists is reinforced by using Inneray’s (2008) remark: “There is a colonization of the future that consists of living at its own expense, an imperialism of the present absorbs and parasitizes future time…which substitutes the short term for the long term, immediacy for duration”.

Today, the environmental issue is on the agenda of most developed countries (NAP 2016). There is therefore no question of continuing to think that tomorrow will be as before (see Volume 3) with minor adjustments. However, as mentioned in Volume 1, chemistry is one of the largest industrial consumers of energy. It is therefore already a question of trying to reduce this consumption through process engineering (PE). However, it seems unrealistic that this improvement alone could change anything in the major problems at our doorstep. This is the reason that forces us to go further than just the transformation of matter and to encompass the environmental question in its entirety.

But, as Viveret (2012) reminds us, “the more we progress in ecological destruction, the more we need beauty promised to us; the more we live in stress and competition, the more we need serenity, friendship, peace, etc. But this consolation is totally fictitious, because it is very ephemeral. In addition, it creates a situation where more and more is demanded, leading to increased frustration”. This research under time pressure does not predispose us to serenity and credible solutions for the future within the current consumerist system, especially if the standard of living of a growing population is to increase its standard of living. Nevertheless, in the current paradigm (Volume 1 will show that there are alternatives with more or less fortunate decline targets – “any rapid review of the literature reveals that beyond the narrow economic framework of this issue, there are several strongly competing visions of prosperity” according to (Jackson, 2010)), it is, at least for a transition, to examine (again) how technology can try to solve the problems it has created (in the hope that it will not create new ones by delaying the nuisances it produces).

Thus, this appendix analyzes in a reductive manner, the technological aspects related to the environment in which process engineering has a role to play. It should be recalled that according to principle 4 of the Rio Declaration quoted by De Lassus Saint Genies in 2015, “To achieve sustainable development, environmental protection must be an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation”. We are then witnessing a paradoxical form of injunction between a system that is playing on continuous technological progress relying on a sort of “fossil” addiction relative to an environmental brake, associated with loss of desirability.

But, “ecological business is profitable; it legitimizes Western technological progress by encouraging people to turn away from goods from southern countries, produced in social and environmental conditions that are necessarily less virtuous” (Brunel 2008). It is even possible to be cynical. Indeed, New Public Management, consumer society, continuous information methods, etc., have almost taken the place of tangible reality. And then, in the steps, often close to ecological aspects, the work is always thankless, the economic success unlikely, unless we are in a position to integrate the desire of the world above, interested in “clean and healthy” food and who agrees to pay the real price for true professional work. Essentially, what Dupin’s book (2016) shows well is that for the majority of the cases he studies and analyses, the people visited engage in real field ecology, there is little or no generalizable political will.

A3.2. Environmental engineering – framing

Environmental engineers work on systems that are global and complex, including the technical aspects as presented above in principle, as well as social, environmental and economic aspects. These complex systems are difficult to predict in that they are potentially non-linear, subject to feedback mechanisms, are more or less adaptive and have emerging behavior (Sterman 1994). It is only recently that computing power has increased sufficiently to allow quantitative assessments of technological progress in the context of potential changes in underlying social and economic systems (Boccara 2010). Through these tools, environmental engineers can help design appropriate, effective and sustainable solutions.

Does this general definition not include the one corresponding to process engineering? In Médiachimie (2019), the process or chemical engineer “designs and adapts facilities on the basis of manufacturing processes most often described by product process teams. They are involved in the establishment and validation of the installations. They must take into account, among other things, all aspects of reliability, safety and ergonomics of the systems. They work on both manufacturing equipment itself and automation and control equipment. Modeling and simulation tools enable the move from a design office scale to an industrial scale. The control of health, safety and environmental elements is part of the requirements as well as that of the evolution of regulations. The economic consequences of their activity are decisive and they are generally assisted by specialists in cost calculations”.

It is basically enough (almost) to replace a plant that transforms matter into an environment with some complementary complexities: the size of the installation (the world), its interdependencies (it is a closed system), humans live in it (and not in proximity to its employees and neighbors). But the principles of action are very similar, with possible divergences on the capitalist notion of direct profit.

A3.3. Major challenges in environmental engineering

To illustrate the point, presenting the technical search for environmental solutions, an example can be used from the NAP report (2019) (see also Miles 2018; Lozano et al. 2018): an innovative concept proposes to maximize agricultural production while simultaneously producing electricity and providing water treatment by selecting for each activity a part of the solar spectrum reaching agricultural land (Gençer et al. 2017). Reflective parabolic mirrors can be placed above the field to capture solar energy from near- and far-infrared light, while the solar spectrum needed for food production can reach the cultivable soil. In the near-infrared, light can be used to produce energy. Far-infrared can be used to feed water treatment processes by distillation or reverse osmosis. The production of electricity to power a solar battery can be used directly or delayed for agricultural production or exported to consumption centers. NAP (2019) considers that for both food and energy production, population growth will have to be taken into account, which will require creative ideas to enable innovation for cost-effective solutions. In principle, this approach that maximizes energy production, food and water quality, while reducing negative impacts, can be collected with benevolence.

It is then necessary to take into consideration the realization of equipment, to take into account its maintenance, to optimize the processes and their interrelationships; in short, to engage in a rather classic process engineering work, which also combines economic aspects.

Nevertheless, this type of generous concern cannot be separated from knowledge of all the environmental nuisances it produces from its conception to its dismantling. For example, Figure A3.1 from NRC (2007, 2010) illustrates the production of nitrogen oxides as a function of the selected power generation technologies.

Another example is “biosourced”, which includes all non-food materials and molecules produced from plant or animal biomass, in principle renewable. Materials (wood, cork, straw, vegetable fibers, hair and feathers, etc.) are mainly used in the construction, automotive, packaging and leisure sectors; the molecules are used in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, hygiene, glue, paint, lubrication and energy sectors. The case of Miscanthus, a perennial reed species of Chinese origin, is interesting because 60% of its uses are for combustion for heating or processing, but horticultural mulching with Miscanthus chips spread on the ground – which it does not acidify, unlike pine chips and which it keeps moist – is progressing, as is its use as animal bedding.

Once implanted, Miscanthus requires no pesticides or fertilizers or very low levels. The crop weeds itself by its habitual leaf-fall which gives a weed-resistant leaf ‘mulch’. It does not require tillage and does not disturb birds during nesting. It has even been noted that it creates ecological corridors to increase the population of arthropods, small mammals and birds. A Miscanthus-based support block is carried by Altern, a major producer of concrete blocks and Calcia cements. This carrier block has a strength 3 megapascals and a much better thermal resistance than the concrete block, with soundproofing properties and good fire resistance. (Perrier 2018)

But, apart from the exemplary value of this production, with prices coming from countries where labour is cheaper, the environmental regulations that are applied unequally, including within the European Union, raise questions for increased development. In addition, the price of land is disconnected from the value of production, even in France: “land costs and capital assets are disproportionate to the profitability of land and the value of the resource” (Perrier 2018).

A3.3.2. Adaptation to the impacts of climate change

Global warming is expected to be accompanied by rising sea-levels, a decrease in the amount of sea ice in the Arctic, a decrease in the volume of accumulated snow and other climate changes (droughts, storms, etc.). For example, many urban areas around the world have experienced a significant increase in the number of heat waves, it rains more and more during the rainy season; heavier rain causes flooding and further increases the fragility of low-lying coastal areas already vulnerable to storm surges and other causes of temporary coastal flooding. In other regions, prolonged periods of drought and seawater flooding have occurred. In addition, droughts increase the risk of destructive forest fires and water shortages (NASEM 2017).

Figure A3.2, from NAP (2019), highlights carbon dioxide emissions by sector in the United States. The industrial component, in which process engineering takes its full dimension, however, represents less than a quarter of these emissions, but as shown in Chapter 3, efforts can be made to try to reduce this value, which in figures remains very high.

Other technologies still under study aim to actively remove CO₂ from the atmosphere, for example by sequestering it. One technology involves growing plants to be converted into fuel, coupled with CO₂ capture and storage of all CO₂ emissions from biofuel combustion (bioenergy, see Chapter 3). Another approach proposes the use of chemicals to capture CO₂ directly from the air and concentrate it for storage (called direct air capture and sequestration). These technologies will be needed at least temporarily because many countries around the world will use fossil fuels for their electricity until 2050. They will also be needed to mitigate emissions in areas where electrification is not possible and for industrial installations that produce carbon dioxide (NAP 2019).

In the engineering challenges related to carbon removal, it will be necessary to consider low-cost technologies, to design facilities that are compatible with the problem to be addressed. Indeed, the available land, with an increase in the world population, is a key limiting factor for the elimination of CO₂ by reforestation or by growing energy crops; the elimination of 10 gigatons of CO₂ per year (about a quarter of global annual emissions) by 2050 would require the use of hundreds of millions of hectares of arable land (NASEM 2018a), which, on this scale, could threaten food security, given that food demands are expected to increase by 25% to 70% over the same period (USEPA 2016; Hunter et al. 2017; NASEM 2017).

Under such conditions, it is up to technology and process engineering to develop appropriate methods, which is a considerable challenge.

A3.4. In fact, the reality is that

The objectives of sustainable development are represented in Figure A3.3 from WEF (2018).

According to INSEE (2019), in 2017, 38% of industrial establishments employing 20 employees or more made investments or studies for the environment, representing an investment of €1.4 billion (-2% compared to 2016, after -13%). “These expenses are more frequent in large establishments: 84% of establishments with 500 employees or more have incurred such anti-pollution expenses compared to 27% of establishments with 20 to 49 employees. The latter represent 55% of the institutions studied and 11% of the expenses incurred. Investments constitute the bulk of expenditure (79%, or €1.1 billion) (Figure A3.1). They decreased by 3% in 2017 (after -17% in 2016 and –2% in 2015). On the other hand, the amount spent on studies increased by 4% compared to 2016; they reached 289 million euros, after 279 million in 2016.”

Figure A3.4, taken from the same source, illustrates the evolution of this expenditure and shows a certain lack of interest in France on the environmental issue, which is not a priority for many business leaders.

“Specific investments”, that is the purchase of equipment entirely dedicated to environmental protection, represent 85% of the amount invested, far ahead of “integrated investments” (15%). “The latter correspond to the additional costs associated with the integration into the production tool of products or processes that are less polluting than those available on the market as a standard” (INSEE 2019). They are distributed as shown in Figure A3.5 from the same source.

Four sectors account for more than 67% of expenditure: energy (€423 million), chemicals (€210 million), agri-food industries (€186 million) and metallurgy/metal products (€98 million).

The mutations are slow and part of a progression controlled by the short term of human consciousness on the future of the planet which should involve a double cooperation, one with nature, the other between humans, only likely to avoid NIMBYism or equivalent effects. It will take desire and responsibility to transform our relationship with the planet, perhaps based on the foundations of emotional intelligence as proposed by Viveret (2012).

But if these emergencies are real, contingent, the most important is elsewhere. If we have become aware of our interdependencies, we are unable to act, to convert our modes of production and our lifestyles. The urgency is in our collective ability to imagine the world after, to put an end to cheating with resources. (Broadways 2018)

A3.5. Conclusion

It’s a bit like global warming, we accept the idea, but we continue to do as before. The reactive slowness of decision-makers reassures citizens in their cozy nonchalance (it is true that they vote and that they already have other reasons to complain). Our brain helps us to forget and return to our classic, ultimately very conservative mental patterns with just incremental transformations (except perhaps for early-consumers who initiate innovations as far as they are presented with them). All these elements lead to delays in a world that, in the current economic system, will continue to explore old paradigms. Despite substantial progress in understanding and quantifying the various impacts of human actions on the environment, important questions remain. For example:

• – how do changes in policy and technology shape behavior in ways that affect the environment?
• – how can knowledge in the natural, social and engineering sciences be better integrated to better understand how environmental changes affect our survival and the possible future prosperity of humanity?
• – how can well-being and prosperity be measured in a rigorous and consistent way (as much as possible) and make it a credible communication that is easily understood by decision-makers and stakeholders?

From a conceptual point of view, what seems remarkable in this situation linked to the obligation to change is the emergence of cognitive dissonance based on the harsh reality of questioning benefits that seemed to have been acquired. When managers receive, by hypothesis, external information that is not compatible with their initial training, what do they do? In a mental storytelling, it is possible to imagine that their cognitive system continues to build a representation of the environment, which is a heuristic agreement between reality and what they perceive, with an abstract illusion of validity. To alleviate this feeling of cognitive dissonance, instead of recognizing an inappropriate judgment, an inability to move lines, one seeks to reformulate one’s views in a new way that is justified by old valid positions. But when the system does more than crack, how can a status quo be maintained? How should we react, apart from unnecessary adjustments to these disruptions? Temporary adaptation only saves time on the surface and probably wastes money that could have been spent on controlled evolution thanks to people trained differently, etc.

On a more technical level, “there is a great need to improve data collection to support robust analyses of ecosystem services, lifecycle assessments and other environmental analyses. This work should include examining differential impacts on communities and geographic areas that are vulnerable due to physical, social and economic factors. An important part of this challenge is learning to communicate with decision-makers and the community at large about the findings of environmental assessment studies and how the various stakeholders appreciate the different benefits and costs” (NAP 2019a). However, these operations may take a long time (see Volume 3).

Environmental engineers have the skills to assess the overall risks and benefits of technological approaches to meet major challenges and to work with other disciplines as information integrators. To develop effective and acceptable approaches – and therefore likely to succeed – it is essential to work in partnership with communities (particularly traditionally marginalized communities), businesses and governments, as well as with experts in the fields of social sciences, communication, environmental economics and ecology, informatics, politics and management, without exception. Given the complexity of the challenges ahead, it is to be expected that continuous iterations will be required to successfully engage cooperative approaches to develop credible and robust proposals.

In this brief presentation of the environmental setting with the challenges to which process engineering can make a clear contribution, the PE field seems to be a key player. But, “the normal ones are the only ones willing to leave things as they are, they limit themselves to the present and settle there without regret or hope” (Cioran 1987).