Sustainability Assessment and Optimization of a Pollution Reduction Process for Acetic Acid Manufacturing

Sustainability Assessment and
Optimization of a Pollution Reduction
Process
for Acetic
Acid
Manufacturing

Selorme Agbleze^1*, Shuyun Li¹, Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado²,
and
Fernando V. Lima¹

Submitted to Topical Area: Sustainability

¹ Department
of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown,
WV

² U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH

*Undergraduate
Student, presenter

The standards set by
the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) on chemical plants imply that certain non-product streams must be treated. There are guidelines for the handling
and
disposal of specific chemical compounds
produced as by-products from such plants.
Cost increases by
the quantity of waste to be treated, hence optimizing a process with regards to the
quantity of waste generated has a direct impact on the cost of waste treatment, with a tradeoff between
variables manipulated
to achieve desired specifications.

In this research, a sustainability
assessment is performed employing the U.S. EPA
GREENSCOPE tool for the optimization of the acetic acid production process. The goal of this
optimization is to meet the same production target of acetic acid produced while reducing the
amount of waste sent for waste treatment. Specific tradeoffs are analyzed in this research related to the acetic acid manufacturing
process. Tradeoffs associated with the addition and
removal of steps or change in process conditions necessary are considered to achieve significant
waste reduction.

Preliminary results for the
optimization produced a
carbon dioxide and
methane reduction corresponding to 84%, methanol reduction by 98%, hydrogen iodide reduction by
9% while
methyl
iodide is completely removed. There
is also an overall electricity requirement
reduction corresponding to 52%. Results for the sustainability assessment before and after the optimization
will also be discussed in this presentation, including
the tradeoffs between variables such as process conditions and utility requirements towards
a more sustainable
process operation.