Sustainable and Innovative Solutions through an Integrated Systematic Framework

Abstract

Abstract Chemical and related industries need to find more sustainable and innovative processes, as due to rising environmental concerns and strict governmental policies it is no longer sufficient for the synthesized-design processes to be just profitable and operable. Process intensification as an integrated part of process synthesis design methods has the potential to determine more sustainable and innovative solutions. In this paper, an integrated and systematic framework based on a generic 3-stage approach to perform sustainable process synthesis, design and intensification is presented. The database and algorithms in the framework have been extended to be applicable over a wide range of applications and have been validated through a case study for the production of bio succinic acid. In this case study, a novel superstructure of alternatives has been generated to identify the optimal processing route followed by the application of an extended phenomena based synthesis-intensification step to generate non-trade off, more sustainable and intensified solutions for the production of bio succinic acid.