Life cycle assessment in chemical process design optimization

Life cycle assessment in chemical process design optimization Tim Farussa, Jan Hartmanna, Niklas von der Assena Affiliation and contact data Tim Faruss RWTH Aachen University Institute of Technical Thermodynamics Schinkelstr. 8, 52062 Aachen, Germany E-Mail: [email protected] Phone: + 49 241 80 95376 References [1] Meys et al. (2021). Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emission plastics by a circular carbon economy. Science. [2] Kleinekorte et al. (2020). Life Cycle Assessment for the Design of Chemical Processes, Products, and Supply Chains. Annu. Rev. Chem. Biomol. Eng. [3] Jog et al. (2025). Sustainable Development Goals-Based Prospective Process Design Using Hybrid Modeling. Ind. Eng. Chemistry Research [4] Richardson et al. (2023). Earth beyond six of nine planetary boundaries. Science Advances. [5] Bachmann et al. (2023). Towards circular plastics within planetary boundaries. Nature Sustainability. [6] Karka et al. (2022). Digitizing sustainable process development. Chemical Engineering Science [7] Schweidtmann et al. (2021). Machine Learning in Chemical Engineering: A Perspective. Chemie Ingenieur Technik Acknowledgements We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) for funding the Graduate Cluster AUFBRUCH (grant number 031B1170). Outlook Our mission: Combine process and LCA models in integrated life cycle optimization framework Let’s discuss further steps… Motivation How to… More efficient technologies required to reach net-zero GHG emission in chemical industry1. …integrate environmental perspective into optimization of chemical process system design. Sustainability assessment conducted subsequent to the design phase during chemical process optimization2. Process economics prevail over sustainability in chemical process optimization. Affiliation a) Institute of Technical Thermodynamics, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany Assumptions for level of detail and model types for chemical process modeling Apply method to emerging technologies in early-stage process design. Extension of system boundaries to cradle-to-grave. Apply method on suitable case studies to validate method. Assumptions regarding allocating shares for SOS What is your approach to sustainable design and optimizing chemical process systems? Two-stage process design optimization problem 1st Stage: Process design optimization within Safe Operating Space (SOS) Life cycle assessment 1. Goal & Scope 2. Life cycle inventory 3. Life cycle impact assessment Design chemical process from cradle-to-gate. Mass and energy balances from chemical process models Background system •Utilities •Process parameters Chemical process modelling i. Physical models ii. Data-driven models iii. Hybrid models7 Machine learning models6 Process simulators / short-cut models Determine Process Cost energy balances with modeling options for chemical process units… from mass and min s. t. Process Cost Env. Impacts ≤ Determine Env. Impacts from LCA methodology … → Database v3.11 The planetary boundary (PB) framwork defines threshholds for absolute sustainability4. min Process Cost Env. Impacts , → Minimize Safe Operating Space transgression with min-sum approach 2nd Stage: Process design optimization with minimal excess of SOS3 Optimize chemical process systems. Safe Operating Space Assess Env. Impacts with LCIA-PB5 Summary If 1st stage is feasible, then chemical process system design is absolutely sustainable. 2nd stage delivers most sustainable chemical process system design. 4. Interpretation Allocation of SOS for chemical process system Env. Impacts Optimization stages vs. Foreground system