Imperial College London
Alternate

ProfessorBenoitChachuat

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering

Professor of Process Systems Engineering
 
 
 
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Contact

 

b.chachuat Website

 
 
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Location

 

609Roderic Hill BuildingSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Rodríguez-Vallejo:2020:10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b05516,
author = {Rodríguez-Vallejo, DF and Guillén-Gosálbez, G and Chachuat, B},
doi = {10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b05516},
journal = {ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering},
pages = {3072--3081},
title = {What is the true cost of producing propylene from methanol? the role of externalities},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b05516},
volume = {8},
year = {2020}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The demand for olefins has increased steadily in recent years, with a propylene demand around 100 million tons per year and an expected annual growth of 3–4%. Most propylene is presently produced via steam cracking of naphtha, but on-purpose processes based on selective propane dehydrogenation or utilizing methanol as an intermediate are also being investigated and deployed. The coal-to-propylene route in particular has gained wide interest in China. This paper presents an assessment of such emerging propylene production routes from methanol by combining detailed process simulation with life-cycle assessment and monetization of the environmental impacts. Though presenting a competitive direct production cost, the coal-to-propylene route has by far the highest total monetized cost after accounting for the human health and ecosystem quality externalities. As for the natural-gas-to-propylene route, it has about double the total monetized cost of conventional steam cracking of naphtha or propane dehydrogenation because of high human health and resource depletion externalities. These results provide a clear indication that both the coal-to-propylene and natural-gas-to-propylene routes are unsustainable. They also highlight the importance of accounting for negative externalities in assessing the techno-economic performance of industrial processes as it can radically change the outcome of the analysis.
AU  - Rodríguez-Vallejo,DF
AU  - Guillén-Gosálbez,G
AU  - Chachuat,B
DO  - 10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b05516
EP  - 3081
PY  - 2020///
SN  - 2168-0485
SP  - 3072
TI  - What is the true cost of producing propylene from methanol? the role of externalities
T2  - ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b05516
UR  - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b05516
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/77198
VL  - 8
ER  -
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