Using Green Chemistry and Engineering Principles To Design, Assess, and Retrofit Chemical Processes for Sustainability.

The concepts of green chemistry and engineering (GC&E) have been promoted as an effective qualitative framework for developing more sustainable chemical syntheses, processes, and material management techniques. This has been demonstrated by many theoretical and practical cases. In addition, there are several approaches and frameworks focused on demonstrating that improvements were achieved through GC&E technologies. However, the application of these principles is not always straightforward. We propose using systematic frameworks and tools that help practitioners when deciding which principles can be applied, the levels of implementation, prospective of obtaining simultaneous improvements in all sustainability aspects, and ways to deal with multiobjective problems. Therefore, this contribution aims to provide a systematic combination of three different and complementary design tools for assisting designers in evaluating, developing, and improving chemical manufacturing and materials management systems under GC&E perspectives. The WAR Algorithm, GREENSCOPE, and SustainPro were employed for this synergistic approach of incorporating sustainability at early stages of process development. In this demonstration, simulated ammonia production is used as a case study to illustrate this advancement. Results show how to identify process design areas for improvements, key factors, multicriteria decision-making solutions, and optimal trade-offs. Finally, conclusions were presented regarding the tools' use in more robust sustainable process and material management designs.

[1]  Rafiqul Gani,et al.  SustainPro - A tool for systematic process analysis, generation and evaluation of sustainable design alternatives , 2013, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[2]  Heriberto Cabezas,et al.  The waste reduction (WAR) algorithm: environmental impacts, energy consumption, and engineering economics , 2000 .

[3]  Kailiang Zheng,et al.  Incorporating Sustainability into the Conceptual Design of Chemical Process-Reaction Routes Selection , 2012 .

[4]  Karen High,et al.  SUSTAINABILITY EVALUATOR: Tool for evaluating process sustainability , 2013 .

[5]  Raymond L. Smith,et al.  Using GREENSCOPE indicators for sustainable computer-aided process evaluation and design , 2015, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[6]  R. Srinivasan,et al.  Systematic waste minimization in chemical processes. 1. Methodology , 2002 .

[7]  Jane C. Bare,et al.  Pollution prevention with chemical process simulators: the generalized waste reduction (WAR) algorithm—full version , 1999 .

[8]  Pedro M. Castro,et al.  AquoMin: A software tool for Mass-Exchange Networks targeting and design , 2008, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[9]  Julie Zimmerman,et al.  Design Through the 12 Principles of Green Engineering , 2003, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[10]  Bhavik R. Bakshi,et al.  Methods and tools for sustainable process design , 2014 .

[11]  Konrad Hungerbühler,et al.  Investigating the use of path flow indicators as optimization drivers in batch process retrofitting , 2011, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[12]  Rafiqul Gani,et al.  Design of sustainable chemical processes: Systematic retrofit analysis generation and evaluation of alternatives , 2008 .

[13]  Michael A. Gonzalez,et al.  Sustainability Indicators for Chemical Processes: III. Biodiesel Case Study , 2013 .

[14]  Michael A. Gonzalez,et al.  Sustainability Indicators for Chemical Processes: II. Data Needs , 2012 .

[15]  José Ferrer,et al.  DESASS: A software tool for designing, simulating and optimising WWTPs , 2008, Environ. Model. Softw..

[16]  Ernique A. Guinand.  Optimization and network sensitivity analysis for process retrofitting , 2001 .

[17]  Andrzej Kraslawski,et al.  Study on the Methodology for Retrofitting Chemical Processes , 2000 .

[18]  Yi Zhang,et al.  Accounting for ecosystem services in life cycle assessment, Part I: a critical review. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[19]  Rafiqul Gani,et al.  Design of batch operations: Systematic methodology for generation and analysis of sustainable alternatives , 2009, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[20]  P. Anastas,et al.  Design Through the 12 Principles of Green Engineering , 2007 .

[21]  Raymond L. Smith,et al.  A methodology to evaluate process sustainability , 2003 .

[22]  Xiang Li,et al.  A sustainability root cause analysis methodology and its application , 2011, Comput. Chem. Eng..

[23]  Michael A. Gonzalez,et al.  Sustainability Indicators for Chemical Processes: I. Taxonomy , 2012 .