Paper Info
Title
A combined heuristic and indicator-based methodology for design of sustainable chemical process plants
Abstract
The current emphasis on sustainable production has prompted chemical plants to minimize raw material and energy usage without compromising on economics. While computer tools are available to assist in sustainability assessment, their applications are constrained to a specific domain of the design synthesis problem. This paper outlines a design synthesis strategy that integrates two computer methodologies – ENVOPExpert and SustainPro – for simultaneous generation, analysis, evaluation, and optimization of sustainable process alternatives. ENVOPExpert diagnoses waste sources, identifies alternatives, and highlights trade-offs between environmental and economic objectives. This is complemented by SustainPro which evaluates the alternatives and screens them in-depth through indicators for profit and energy, water, and raw material usage. This results in accurate identification of the root causes, comprehensive generation of design alternatives, and effective reduction of the optimization search space. The framework is illustrated using an acetone process and a methanol and dimethyl ether production case study.
Year
DOI
Venue
2011
10.1016/j.compchemeng.2011.03.015
Computers & Chemical Engineering
Keywords
Field
DocType
Sustainable development,Process simulation,Heuristic analysis,Indicator analysis,Energy and water minimization,Sustainability metrics
Mathematical optimization,Heuristic,Raw material,Computer tools,Process simulation,Engineering,Sustainable development,Sustainability,Design synthesis
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
35
8
0098-1354
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
3
0.41
2
Authors
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Iskandar Halim1131.71
Ana Carvalho2192.54
Rajagopalan Srinivasan368379.21
Henrique A. Matos4888.55
Rafiqul Gani525646.49