ECONOMIC AND SUSTAINABILITY ASPECTS OF CHEMICAL PROCESS INDUSTRIES BY THERMODYNAMICS ANALYSIS

Economics and sustainability improvements of some chemical processes are assessed after the retrofits suggested by thermodynamic analysis and energy analyzer. The main objective is to explore the scope of reducing the energy consumption and CO2 emissions for a more sustainable operation in chemical process industries. Thermodynamic analysis is carried out by applying the thermal analysis capability of ‘Column Targeting Tool’ to address the ‘energy intensity,’ and/or the ‘Energy Analyzer’ to design and improve the performance of the heat exchanger network system for process heat integration. CTT is based on the ‘Practical Near-Minimum Thermodynamic Condition’ representing a close to practical reversible column operation. The environmental pollution impact metrics are estimated from the ‘Carbon Tracking’ options with a selected CO2 emission data source of US-EPA-Rule-E9-5711 using the specified primary fuel. The results indicate that column targeting tool, energy analyzer, and carbon tracking can estimate some of the sustainability metrics of an existing design or a new design and determine the scope of improvements for reducing the costs of energy required and emissions of carbon dioxide in chemical processes industries. Advisor: Yasar Demire