Journal of Chemical Technology and Biotechnology J Chem Technol Biotechnol 79:597–609 (online: 2004) DOI: 10.1002/jctb.1027 Environmental assessment in early process development Arno Biwer and Elmar Heinzle ∗ Department of Biochemical Engineering, Saarland University, PO Box 15 11 50, 66041 Saarbruecken, Germany Abstract: A short-cut method for environmental assessment during process development is presented. The method can deal with data uncertainties in early phases, includes all relevant environmental impacts, and is simple and easy to apply. Therefore, it can be used in early phases of process development. The environmental relevance of each substance is represented by the Environmental Factors. These factors are derived from 14 impact categories, where each compound is classified using an ABC methodology. The impact categories are then grouped into six impact groups: Resources, Grey Input, Component Risk, Organisms, Air and Water/Soil. From these, input and output environmental factors are deduced. This factor is combined with mass balance data to yield a number of indices that can be used to optimize the environmental performance of a process in an integrated manner. The method is applied to three case studies: a comparison of chemical and biotechnological production of 6-aminopenicillanic acid, a comparison of two process alternatives in the enzymatic production of α-cyclodextrin and the development of a new process for the fermentative production of pyruvate.  2004 Society of Chemical Industry Keywords: environmental assessment; modelling; simulation; process development; early phases; integrated development NOTATION 6-APA 6-Aminopenicillanic acid CD Cyclodextrin COD Chemical Oxygen Demand EF Environmental Factor EI Environmental Index GEI General Effect Index IC Impact Category ICI Impact Category Index IG Impact Group IGI Impact Group Index MI Mass Index 1 INTRODUCTION Future production costs and environmental burdens are largely determined in the early phases of process development. 1 Thus, sustainability aspects have to be considered before actual process design. However, most of the data necessary for a detailed evaluation are not available at that stage. Modelling and simulation of the future production process can partially fill this gap. Adapted methods are required for a quick and easy environmental assessment. Various methods have already been published for improving the environmental performance of a process during the development of a process. However, most of them consider only the mass of the components involved and consider their environmental properties only to a small extent or not at all. 2–8 On the other hand, complex methods for environmental evaluation like the Life Cycle Assessment 9 cost too much time and resources and are not suitable for early phases of process development. The method presented in this paper includes all relevant environmental impacts and at the same time is simple and easy to apply, so that it can be used in the early phases of process development. Additionally, it can deal with the lack of data in the early phases by using modelling and simulation of the expected production process. Thus, the method provides a sound basis for decision-making. 2 METHOD The overall structure of the method is shown in Fig 1. The inventory analysis of the future production process is the basis for the evaluation. Modelling and simulation of the process in the early phases of process development, based on data available at that time, can provide such an inventory analysis. 10,11 In the first step all relevant process data available are collected. These data are supplemented by data from literature, patents ∗ Correspondence to: Elmar Heinzle, Department of Biochemical Engineering, Saarland University, PO Box 15 11 50, 66041 Saarbruecken, Germany E-mail: e.heinzle@mx.uni-saarland.de Contract/grant sponsor: Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU); contract/grant number: AZ 13040/02 (Received 9 September 2003; revised version received 18 December 2003; accepted 19 December 2003) Published online 16 April 2004  2004 Society of Chemical Industry. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 0268–2575/2004/$30.00 597