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A Computational Framework for Generating Chemical Profile Inventories and Sustainability Assessment in Process Simulators
Citation:
Agbleze, S., G. Ruiz-Mercado, AND F. Lima. A Computational Framework for Generating Chemical Profile Inventories and Sustainability Assessment in Process Simulators. Presented at International Congress on Sustainability Science & Engineering, Cincinnati, OH, August 12 - 15, 2018.
Impact/Purpose:
This poster presentation and its corresponding abstract describe a computational framework for generating chemical profile inventories into process simulators and support current CSS efforts to rapidly estimate chemical release profiles for use in exposure assessments of chemicals.
Description:
Commercial and open-source process simulators have enabled the calculation of mass and energy balances as well as equipment requirements for chemical processes design. These simulators are able to represent steady-state and dynamic processes characterized by high-fidelity models. However, incorporating life cycle inventory (LCI) information, consisting of release profiles, resource consumption, and production volume, for sustainability assessment and decision-making is currently challenging due to the limited capability of process simulators in terms of sustainability features. In this research, the GREENSCOPE tool Microsoft Excel version, a sustainability assessment tool provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) is enhanced upon for incorporation into chemical process simulation software to facilitate the generation of life cycle profiles and sustainability assessment of chemical systems. GREENSCOPE has four areas from which it evaluates process sustainability, energy, efficiency (mass), economic and environmental areas. Each area has many indicators with a total of 139 indicators. The current GREENSCOPE interface is functional but cumbersome for use by customers who have limited process system engineering knowledge. The interface consists of several Microsoft Excel sheets with each having multiple cells for user data entries that are not streamlined and not visible until the user cycles through the individual worksheets. In addition, the integration of the current GREENSCOPE Excel version with commercial process simulation software such as CHEMCAD (a widely used process simulator) requires manual exporting of the required data into GREENSCOPE. Results associated with the improved interface between CHEMCAD and GREENSCOPE will be discussed. In this interface, the requirements needed for each category have been streamlined with similar parameters that depend on each other grouped together. In addition, built-in values from the GREENSCOPE database are automatically updated on the new interface. New plotting capabilities are introduced in which results are shown on plots under their respective categories, but specific results can be chosen from distinct categories on a single plot. A seamless transfer of the required data from process simulation software such as CHEMCAD through a Visual Basic for Application (VBA) link is implemented based on user definition of input and output streams. This will allow for the users to make changes to a simulation and automatically import the data into GREENSCOPE to observe any LCI and sustainability evaluation changes. The views expressed in this abstract are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. References Li, S.; Feliachi, Y.; Agbleze, S.; Ruiz-Mercado, G. J.; Smith, R. L.; Meyer, D. E.; Gonzalez, M. A.; Lima, F. V. A process systems framework for rapid generation of life cycle inventories for pollution control and sustainability evaluation. Clean Technol. Env. Policy. 2018, Accepted. DOI: 10.1007/s10098-018-1530-6.