A Novel Approach for Cost-effective and Sustainable Capacity Expansion Utilizing Process Intensification in Chemical Process Industries

Sustainable and cost-effective capacity expansion in chemical process industries is essential. In this work, a systematic capacity expansion procedure is developed based on reactor intensification, which can help reliably formulate the expansion horizon and investment plans to be determined from a large solution space. Using the developed approach, the case study showed the impact of ethylene oxide reactor intensification on various capacity expansion modes. With a base case of 100 kton/yr, the Brownfield process is the cheapest capacity expansion option up to 112 kton/yr. Subsequently, the retrofitted mode yielded a minimum cost until a capacity of 157 kton/yr, and above that, we would need green field capacity expansion. On the other hand, in terms of utility carbon emission, Greenfield was the lowest carbon producer among the investment alternatives.