Systematic sustainable process design and analysis of biodiesel processes

Biodiesel is a promising fuel alternative compared to traditional diesel obtained from conventional sources such as fossil fuel. Many flowsheet alternatives exist for the production of biodiesel and therefore it is necessary to evaluate these alternatives using defined criteria and also from process intensification opportunities. This work focuses on three main aspects that have been incorporated into a systematic computer-aided framework for sustainable process design. First, the creation of a generic superstructure, which consists of all possible process alternatives based on available technology. Second, the evaluation of this superstructure for systematic screening to obtain an appropriate base case design. This is done by first reducing the search space using a sustainability analysis, which provides key indicators for process bottlenecks of different flowsheet configurations and then by further reducing the search space by using economic evaluation and life cycle assessment. Third, the determination of sustainable design with/without process intensification using a phenomena-based synthesis/design method. A detailed step by step application of the framework is highlighted through a biodiesel production case study

Achievements and perspectives of process integration in cis countries

Due to the rapid growth in the world population, there has been an increase in energy consumption globally. The problem of efficient energy use becomes more relevant and stimulates research and development of new energy and resource-saving technologies. This task is becoming more complicated when the other factors are accounted for, resulting in multiple-factor trade-offs, such as the water-energy-food nexus. This paper highlights the main points for the development of Process Integration in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. It shows the main achievements in the field to date and demonstrates the scientific schools that are working on these problems. A comprehensive review of modern approaches and methods, which are now being developed or have been recently developed, was done. It shows a research gap in Process Integration in CIS and other leading countries. It demonstrates the significant research potential as well as practical applications. The main challenges in process systems engineering and for the sustainable development of industrial energy systems are also discussed. Industry digital transformation, energy transition, circular economy, and stronger energy and water integration are pointed out as priorities in analysis, design, and retrofit of society in the future. A state-of-the-art review in the area of integration of continuous and batch processes, mass integration technologies, and process intensification is presented to show the variety of existing approaches. The necessity of Process Integration development in the CIS is shown to be a necessary condition for building a more sustainable society and a resource-efficient economy

Life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to the process industry: a review

Purpose : Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is a well-established analytical method to quantify environmental impacts, which has been mainly applied to products. However, recent literature would suggest that it has also the potential as an analysis and design tool for processes, and stresses that one of the biggest challenges of this decade in the field of process systems engineering (PSE) is the development of tools for environmental considerations. Method : This article attempts to give an overview of the integration of LCA methodology in the context of industrial ecology, and focuses on the use of this methodology for environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization. Results : The review identifies that LCA is often used as a multi-objective optimization of processes: practitioners use LCA to obtain the inventory and inject the results into the optimization model. It also shows that most of the LCA studies undertaken on process analysis consider the unit processes as black boxes and build the inventory analysis on fixed operating conditions. Conclusions : The article highlights the interest to better assimilate PSE tools with LCA methodology, in order to produce a more detailed analysis. This will allow optimizing the influence of process operating conditions on environmental impacts and including detailed environmental results into process industry