Speaker
Description
Highlights:
- Flexible, modular TEA-LCA framework enabling integration of parametric process models.
- Framework applied to a simulated Haber-Bosch process using electrolytic hydrogen.
Integrated environmental assessments in chemical process design are often constrained by current tools. Standard process simulators typically report only direct and energy-related $\mathrm{CO_2}$ emissions (Scope 1 and 2) [1], lacking the broader ecological scope provided by life cycle assessment (LCA) tools such as Brightway. Custom tools coupling process simulation to Brightway typically produce fixed life cycle inventories from individual simulations, often without support for parameter variation or scenario exploration [2, 3].
We present a Python-based framework enabling holistic, parametric assessment of both operational and investment-related impacts through integrated techno-economic analysis (TEA) and LCA. Users structure data from parameterized or interface-linked process models into an abstraction layer composed of resource, equipment, and process classes. These classes are aggregated, linked, and passed to the TEA and
LCA modules within a consistent system boundary. The framework is demonstrated using a simulation-based Haber-Bosch process.
This unified approach allows engineers to systematically analyze economic and environmental trade-offs, capture parameter dependencies, and explore design alternatives in the early stages of process development.
[1] AVEVA Group Limited, AVEVA Process Simulation, 2025.
[2] L. Spiekermann et al., Automatic Life Cycle Assessment from Chemical Process Simulations, ESCAPE-34, 2024.
[3] N. Bertoldo, Aspen-x-bw: Integrating Aspen Plus Simulations with Brightway 2.5 for Sustainable Process Design, LCIC 2024,
2024.
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