Green process design, green energy, and sustainability: A systems analysis perspective

This paper presents a systems analysis perspective that extends the traditional process design framework to green process design, green energy and industrial ecology leading to sustainability. For green process design this involves starting the design decisions as early as chemical and material selection stage on one end, and managing and planning decisions at the other end. However, uncertainties and multiple and conflicting objectives are inherent in such a design process. Uncertainties increase further in industrial ecology. The concept of overall sustainability goes beyond industrial ecology and brings in time dependent nature of the ecosystem and multi-disciplinary decision making. Optimal control methods and theories from financial literature can be useful in handling the time dependent uncertainties in this problem. Decision making at various stages starting from green process design, green energy, to industrial ecology, and sustainability is illustrated for the mercury cycling...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: CCE
• Authors: Urmila M. Diwekar, Yogendra N. Shastri
• Keywords: CCE 2010, Green Energy, Green Process, Industrial Ecology, Software Engineering