Sustainability Considerations

in Chemical Plant Design

ECH 158A, Lecture 9
Dr. Jason R. White
Fall 2019
Learning Outcomes
• Define sustainability as it relates to chemical plant design
• Assess a chemical plant using the Methodology for Sustainability
(PDfS)
• Identify potential project stakeholders
• Identify common sustainability indicators and discuss how they are
measured

• Related Reading: Chapter 27 in Turton; Section 22 in Perry’s; Sustainability

Paper (Azapagic_2006.pdf) on Canvas
What is “sustainability”?
What is “sustainability”?
What is “sustainability”?
Outside of the Obvious, Why Should We
Consider These Things?
• Consideration of the process beyond the system boundary

• Consideration of the full life-cycle of the plant

• Avoid discarding attractive alternatives too early
Challenges of Integrating Sustainability
Criteria
• The extended system boundary
• Consideration of process and product life-cycles
• Assessing the system on not just economic sustainability but on
environmental and social sustainability as well
• Many more decision criteria
• Identification of relevant sustainability indicators
• There will be trade-offs, how do you arrive at an optimal solution?
Methodology for Process Design for
Sustainability (PDfS)
Project Initiation
• We have not yet determined our alternative
• First sustainability considerations must be general
to most processes
Project Initiation
• Identification of stakeholders
Project Initiation
• Identification of stakeholders
• Employees
• Owners
• Investors
• Neighboring communities and citizens
• Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
• Government
Project Initiation
• Now we begin to identify alternatives
• We consider now the advantages and
disadvantages of each alternative w.r.t the
sustainability criteria that we established.
• Alternatives that are most promising considering both our traditional design
analysis (raw materials, energy, economics, etc) and these sustainability
considerations will move on to the preliminary design stage.
Preliminary Design
• Traditional: Flowsheet preparation and simulation,
economic analysis, selection of the most
appropriate processing route(s)
• PDfS: In addition to the items above, the system is also assessed on
environmental and social sustainability criteria
• Some criteria are assessed quantitatively (i.e. economic indicators)
• Some criteria are assessed qualitatively (i.e. public acceptability)
Preliminary Design
• Assessing economic sustainability
• Net present value, discounted cash flow analysis,
returns on capital invested, etc.. (you will learn this!)
• Decommissioning and environmental liability costs
• i.e. pollution prevention
• May be difficult to estimate but can have a big impact on the bottom line
Preliminary Design
• Assessing environmental sustainability
• Environmental burdens
• Consumption of material and energy, and emissions and wastes
• These can be taken from your material/energy balances
• Translation into environmental impacts by using “potency” factors.
• See: Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), 2003, The Sustainability Metrics: Sustainable
Development Progress Metrics Recommended for the Use in Process Industries
• Environmental Impacts
• Global warming, smog, etc
• Determine the “hot spots” that contribute most to the environmental impacts
and target them for maximum improvements
Preliminary Design
• Assessing social sustainability
• Examples of quantitative assessments (remember these?)
• LD50
• PEL and TLV
• Risk of fire and explosion
• As with the environmental criteria, identify the “hot spots”
Detailed Design
• At this stage, a full assessment of the sustainability
of the design must be considered
• Ensure that all criteria have been identified and
appropriately assessed
• Suggest final improvements to be made
Example of PDfS Application: Design of a Vinyl
Chloride Monomer (VCM) plant
• Background Information (from research):
• Desired production rate of VCM = 15,000 kg/h
Project Initiation
Project Initiation
• Feedstock Alternatives
• Replace ethylene with ethane in the direct
chlorination stage (less expensive)
• Another possibility: obtain either ethylene or ethane from a renewable source such as
biomass
• Use air instead of pure oxygen in the oxy-chlorination stage
• Air is (almost) free and more environmentally friendly
Project Initiation
• Process Alternatives
• Control contamination of EDC
• Sub-cooling to keep EDC below its normal boiling
temperature
• Less β-trichloroethane but is iron contaminated
• Carbon steel can be used (we don’t have to worry about corrosive substances)
• Boiling, where EDC is maintained at the normal boiling point of 84 °C
• More β-trichloroethane but EDC can be potentially obtained iron free
• No need to wash and dry the EDC stream (needs be done if iron is present)
• Material of the reactor would need to be resistant to corrosion since a higher concentration
of β-trichloroethane is present
Project Initiation
• There are trade offs!
Preliminary Design
Preliminary Design
• Other assumptions (related to discharges from the
process)
• Gaseous emissions:
• Chlorinated hydrocarbons
(i.e. dioxins and furans)
• These are destroyed by incineration
• HCl and Nox
• Scrubbed by NaOH
• Liquid discharges
• HCl from EDC purification is neutralized by NaOH
• Solid wastes
• Spent catalyst is landfilled
Preliminary Design
Preliminary Design
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of economic sustainability
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of environmental sustainability
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of environmental sustainability
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of environmental sustainability
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of environmental sustainability
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of environmental sustainability
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of environmental sustainability
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of environmental sustainability
Preliminary Design
• Assessment of social sustainability
• VCM has been linked to liver and
other types on cancer
• Therefore the exposure limits have been
reduced significantly
• Exposure to VCM should be minimized!
• Persons living in the immediate vicinity
would also be exposed
• Downstream considerations
• Objections to PVC due to its potential
formation for dioxins and furans during
its post-use incineration
Detailed Design
• Re-address all of these considerations in more
detail!
Learning Outcomes
• Define sustainability as it relates to chemical plant design
• Assess a chemical plant using the Methodology for Sustainability
(PDfS)
• Identify potential project stakeholders
• Identify common sustainability indicators and discuss how they are
measured

• Related Reading: Chapter 27 in Turton; Section 22 in Perry’s; Sustainability

Paper (Azapagic_2006.pdf) on Canvas