Sustainable process design by the process to planet framework

Abstract

Sustainable process design (SPD) problems combine a process design problem with life cycle assessment (LCA) to optimize process economics and life cycle environmental impacts. While SPD makes use of recent advances in process systems engineering and optimization, its use of LCA has stagnated. Currently, only process LCA is utilized in SPD, resulting in designs based on incomplete and potentially inaccurate life cycle information. To address these shortcomings, the multiscale process to planet (P2P) modeling framework is applied to formulate and solve the SPD problem. The P2P framework offers a more comprehensive analysis boundary than conventional SPD and greater modeling detail than advanced LCA methodologies. Benefits of applying this framework to SPD are demonstrated with an ethanol process design case study. Results show that current methods shift emissions outside the analysis boundary, while applying the P2P modeling framework results in environmentally superior process designs. Future extensions of the P2P framework are discussed. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3320–3331, 2015

Ecosystems as unit operations for local techno‐ecological synergy: Integrated process design with treatment wetlands

“…The net water provisioning supply objective function (Z DW ) for pathways 3 and 6 is calculated as, Z DW 5f ðWet;WaÞ 2ðf ðCHP;WaÞ 1f ðSep;WaÞ 1f W ðCHP;WaÞ Þ (15) where f ðWet;WaÞ represents the water supply from the wetland or ABR system. Each NLP problem for the pathway is implemented in GAMS and solved using the BARON global optimization solver.…”

“…Several efforts have combined life cycle assessment with process design and optimization with application to individual processes 11,12 and for the design of biofuel supply chains. 13 Hanes and Bakshi 14,15 developed a multiscale model that considers life cycle impacts within a national system boundary and applied this framework for minimizing environmental impacts from an ethanol plant. Several studies including Chouinard-Dussault et al 16 and Gerber et al 17 have extended process integration tools to include life cycle environmental impacts through the use of multiobjective optimization techniques with applications to biofuel production.…”

Assessing the capacity of local ecosystems to meet industrial demand for ecosystem services

“…Thus in the design problems, effect of decisions made at the unit operation level on the life cycle scale and vice-versa are not usually accounted for. 27 Development of the Process-to-Planet framework 28,29 as an integrated multi-scale modeling technique overcomes these shortcomings by considering interactions between multiple scales in the life cycle of a system.…”

Multi‐scale systems engineering for energy and the environment: Challenges and opportunities

“…86 Finally, a recent multiscale process to planet framework was applied to a corn ethanol production system that minimizes CO 2 emissions at the equipment, value chain, and economy scales. 87,88 By using process design, synthesis, and optimization techniques, the decision-making for future energy production facilities can be significantly improved.…”