As a result the process route health characteristics such as fugitive emissions rate, critical wind speed, chemical concentration in air and intake amount as well as the corresponding risk of exposure are produced. By using statistical meteorological data, health risks of occupational exposure can be estimated more realistically as probabilities. The approach is capable of comparing alternative processes to select the concept which is inherently occupationally healthier. Using this method, the exposure problems of a process can be identified earlier and proper decisions can be made early in process development or predesign stage.
The concentration-based method is demonstrated by a case study of six competing manufacturing routes for methyl methacrylate (MMA). The C3 is found to be the most harmful alternative to health. Both concentration-based and intake-based methods are applied. The study indicates that the intake-based risk estimation benchmark is stricter than the exposure limit-based benchmark for carcinogens.