Roadmap for Environmental Impact Retrofit in chemical processes through the application of Life Cycle Assessment methods

• A framework for process retrofit assessment considering LCIA methods is proposed.
• A framework guiding decision-maker in the prioritization of future retrofit actions is presented.
• A Pareto analysis is introduced to identify the most critical impact categories.
• A case study is presented to illustrate the proposed framework.

The European Commission presented the Life Cycle Assessment as the best framework for evaluating the environmental impact of products/processes. Companies are trying to reduce the environmental impact of products/processes, therefore the European Commission underlined the need for guidelines that select the most relevant impact categories depending on the type of product/process analysed. This work aims to propose a new framework called Roadmap for Environmental Impact Retrofit, which assesses different retrofit design alternatives of a given chemical process, through the application of Life Cycle Impact Assessment methods, and identifies a path for possible environmental impact improvements based on the identification of the most critical impact categories. The framework has been applied to the acetone-chloroform separation process as an illustrative case study. The framework has proved to be an efficient tool to assess different design alternatives in chemical processes in terms of environmental impacts. From the application of the framework, it was possible to conclude that future retrofit actions should primarily focus on some critical impact categories. The most important impact categories are identified by the Pareto principle. The framework allows practitioners to assess retrofit designs in terms of their environmental impact improvements and guides them in the elaboration of a new retrofit action plan, which will give priority to the most critical environmental impact categories. Therefore the framework represents a first step towards the European Commission goals.