Multiobjective screening and evaluation of chemical process technologies

The need for integrated chemical processes that take economic and environmental issues into account simultaneously has increased considerably. In this paper a systematic method is described to generate and screen process alternatives and to identify promising technologies in early development stages. The method is based on a computerized generation of alternative ways to produce a given chemical and can identify feasible process alternatives depending on emission limits or other user input. It is proposed to evaluate the corresponding mass balances using the total annualized profit per service unit (TAPPS) and the material intensity per service unit (MIPS) as economic and environmental indicators, respectively. The method was applied to an industrial case study for the production of hydrogen cyanide. For our problem framing it could be shown that Blausaure-Methan-Ammoniak processes are more promising than Andrussow processes according to these indicators. The most important design parameters are the type of reactor and the use of the byproducts hydrogen and ammonium salts.