Social, economic and environmental metrics for the sustainable optimization of chemical and petroleum processes

Abstract

Scope and Method of Study: This research is focused on adopting a systematic methodology for address sustainability concerns during early stages of engineering design. Traditionally, engineers designed processes to achieve beneficial operations and economic goals. However, given the need to balance the economic benefits of chemical engineering processes, safety, health and environmental impacts, the improved focus on sustainability of production processes has introduced more complex dimensions to consider. When it comes to addressing the three conflicting dimensions of sustainability, there is no well-defined methodology or tool for achieving this. A thorough review was completed to investigate the applications and limitations of existing economic, environmental, health and safety evaluation tools. Therefore, the methodology combines already established approaches, concepts and tools into a novel systematic technique that addresses sustainability concerns during early stages of chemical process design.