Environmental assessment in early process development

Abstract

A short-cut method for environmental assessment during process development is presented. The method can deal with data uncertainties in early phases, includes all relevant environmental impacts, and is simple and easy to apply. Therefore, it can be used in early phases of process development. The environmental relevance of each substance is represented by the Environmental Factors. These factors are derived from 14 impact categories, where each compound is classified using an ABC methodology. The impact categories are then grouped into six impact groups: Resources, Grey Input, Component Risk, Organisms, Air and Water/Soil. From these, input and output environmental factors are deduced. This factor is combined with mass balance data to yield a number of indices that can be used to optimize the environmental performance of a process in an integrated manner. The method is applied to three case studies: a comparison of chemical and biotechnological production of 6-aminopenicillanic acid, a comparison of two process alternatives in the enzymatic production of α-cyclodextrin and the development of a new process for the fermentative production of pyruvate.

Uncertainty analysis of penicillin V production using Monte Carlo simulation

“…For the environmental assessment, a method developed by Biwer and Heinzle (2004) is used. In this method, a weighting factor is calculated for every input and output component representing the environmental relevance of the compound.…”

“…The method used, which was recently developed by Biwer and Heinzle (2004), aggregates the whole range of possible environmental impacts to two performance figures that enable an appropriate comparison with the economic key figures and the examination of how uncertainty affects the environmental impact. They are therefore more suitable for this purpose than complex methods such as the life cycle assessment.…”

“…On the input side, the media components (mainly ammonium sulfate), the precursor phenoxyacetic acid, butyl acetate (extraction), and acids and bases (used for pH control of the extraction and neutralization of waste streams) have the highest indices. Although glucose and pharmamedia are used in large amounts, they are not relevant in any of the input impact categories (for further details, see Biwer and Heinzle, 2004). Hence, their environmental factor is EF In = 0, and they do not appear in the evaluation of the input.…”

Bewertung biotechnologischer Prozesse in frühen Phasen der Entwicklung hinsichtlich Risiken bezüglich Ökologie, Sicherheit und Gesundheit

“…Früheren Arbeiten folgend [4,7] werden Bewertungskriterien für Stoffe definiert, die deren Potenzial zur Gefährdung von Gesundheit, Umwelt und Sicherheit charakterisieren (s. Tab. 1).…”

“…In dieser Bewertungsmethode sind sowohl Techniken aus der klassischen Ökobilanzierung als auch aus der Risikoanalyse berücksichtigt [4 -9]. [4,7,9].…”