Eco-efficiency and techno-economic analysis for maleic anhydride manufacturing processes

Maleic anhydride may be obtained from different technological routes, being the selective oxidation of benzene and oxidation of butane the only ones that are currently in operation and, hence, represent competitive alternatives. In this paper, the said technologies are compared with regard to their...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clean technologies and environmental policy 2019-07, Vol.21 (5), p.1073-1090
Main Authors: Mangili, Patrick V., Junqueira, Pedro G., Santos, Lizandro S., Prata, Diego M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anhydrides
Benzene
Butane
Earth and Environmental Science
Economic analysis
Economics
Efficiency
Environment
Environmental Economics
Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology
Environmental policy
Hydrocarbons
Indicators
Industrial and Production Engineering
Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering
Life cycle assessment
Life cycles
Maleic anhydride
Manufacturing industry
Original Paper
Oxidation
Route selection
Sensitivity analysis
Sustainable Development
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Summary:Maleic anhydride may be obtained from different technological routes, being the selective oxidation of benzene and oxidation of butane the only ones that are currently in operation and, hence, represent competitive alternatives. In this paper, the said technologies are compared with regard to their economics and ecological performances in order to assert which one corresponds to the cleanest technology. The economics of each process was estimated on the basis of their respective cash flows, while the environmental comparison was carried out through the Eco-efficiency Comparison Index method by estimating six different categories of eco-indicators and seven life cycle metrics. To the best of our knowledge, such technologies have not been compared in terms of a joint evaluation of life cycle and eco-efficiency metrics, let alone considering the design of their respective utility plants. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was performed in order to analyze how the heuristic parameters for the utility plants considered in this work affect the estimation of the said indicators. The butane technology was shown to be more sustainable than the benzene process, since it was approximately 72% more profitable and 38% more eco-efficient than the latter. Graphical abstract
ISSN:1618-954X
1618-9558
DOI:10.1007/s10098-019-01693-1