The waste reduction (WAR) algorithm: environmental impacts, energy consumption, and engineering economics

A general theory known as the waste reduction (WAR) algorithm has been deve loped to describe the flow and the generation of potential environmental im pact through a chemical process. The theory defines indexes that characteri ze the generation and the output of potential environmental impact from a p rocess. The existing theory has been extended to include the potential envi ronmental impact of the energy consumed in a chemical process. Energy will have both an environmental impact as well as an economic impact on process design and analysis. Including energy into the analysis of environmental im pact is done by re-writing the system boundaries to include the power plant which supplies the energy being consumed by the process and incorporating the environmental effects of the power plant into the analysis. The effect of this addition on the original potential impact indexes will be discussed . An extensive engineering economic evaluation has been included in the pro cess analysis which inherently contains the cost of the consumed energy as an operating cost. A case study is presented which includes a base process design and two modifications to the base design, Each design is analyzed fr om an economic perspective and an environmental impact perspective. The env ironmental impact analysis is partitioned into the impacts of the non-produ ct streams and the impacts of the energy generation/consumption process. Th e comparisons of these analysis procedures illustrate the consequences for decision making in the design of environmentally friendly processes. Publis hed by Elsevier Science Ltd.