The incorporation
of sustainability aspects
into the design of chemical processes has been increasing since the
last century. Hence, there are several proposed methodologies and
indicators to assess chemical facilities through process analysis
techniques. A comprehensive assessment involving economic, environmental,
safety, and exergy parameters of two alternatives for butanol production
from
Manihot esculenta
Crantz
(cassava waste) is presented in this study. The modeling of process
topologies involved using Aspen Plus software. Topology 1 generated
a product flow rate of 316,477 t/y of butanol, while this value was
367,037 t/y for topology 2. Both processes used a feed flow of 3,131,439
t/y of biomass. This study used seven technical indicators to evaluate
both alternatives, which include the return of investment, discounted
payback period, global warming potential, renewability material index,
inherent safety index, exergy efficiency, and exergy of waste ratio.
Otherwise, this study implemented an aggregate index to assess overall
sustainability performance. The results revealed that topology 2 presented
higher economic normalized scores for evaluated indicators, but the
most crucial difference between these designs came from the safety
and exergetic indexes. Topology 1 and topology 2 obtained weighted
scores equaling to 0.48 and 0.53; therefore, this study found that
the second alternative gives a more sustainable design for butanol
production under evaluated conditions.