Sustainability Metrics For Biofuel Production Process Design

Sustainability is an important concept for chemical engineering process design. In process design for biofuel production, this is even more critical as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS 2) classifies biofuels on the basis of meeting specific environmental sustainability standards. This paper will present an example of how process design software can be used as a tool to develop estimates for sustainability metrics. The metrics that will be used to compare a sustainable design include, but are not limited to: capital cost, operating cost, heat integration potential, and equipment material. Additionally, we will present how feedstock supply chain considerations can significantly affect the environmental sustainability biofuel production processes.