Review of Methods for Sustainability Assessment of Chemical Engineering Processes

Integrating sustainability principles as a design goal in chemical engineering has become a major challenge facing modern society. This review aims to provide a comprehensive investigation regarding available methods that can potentially be used by industries to quantify the sustainability performance of chemical processes. First, the expansion in the definition of sustainable processes is summarized, forcing corresponding methods to broaden the assessment scope. Then, 30 methods are classified into three categories based on their scope to facilitate their analysis: material and energy flow analysis, life cycle assessment, and sustainability assessment. Key attributes of methods in each category are extracted and discussed in detail. In addition, illustrative examples have been introduced to demonstrate the applicability of these methods. Finally, challenges of the present methods and future research directions for sustainability assessment methods are also highlighted, such that the objective of efficient, environmentally friendly, and economic processes can be realized.