Carbon dioxide is often promoted as a sustainable solvent, as CO 2 is non-flammable, exhibits a relatively low toxicity and is naturally abundant. However, injudicious use of carbon dioxide in a process or product can reduce rather than enhance overall sustainability. This review specifically examines the use of CO 2 to create greener processes and products, with a focus on research and commercialization efforts performed since 1995. The literature reveals that use of CO 2 has permeated almost all facets of the chemical industry and that careful application of CO 2 technology can result in products (and processes) that are cleaner, less expensive and of higher quality.

Supercritical and near-critical CO2 in green chemical synthesis and processing

A multi-step and multi-level approach for computer aided molecular design

Process intensification offers the potential to drastically reduce the energy consumption and cost of producing chemicals from both bulk and distributed feedstocks. This review article aims to offer an extensive survey on state-of-the-art process systems engineering (PSE) approaches for process intensification. From both academic and industrial perspectives, this paper provides an overview of the development of various process intensification technologies, specifically those under the categories of separation, reaction, hybrid reaction/separation, and alternative energy sources. A current status analysis in the areas of modeling and simulation is then provided. An indicative list of PSE publications specialized on process intensification is presented to illustrate the progresses made so far towards the deployment of novel process intensification technologies. We also highlight some recent advances for the modeling, design, and synthesis of intensified systems, as well as for the assessment of their controllability/operability/safety performance. Key open questions in these areas include: (i) how to systematically derive intensified designs, and (ii) how to ensure the operability and optimality of the derived intensified structures while delivering their expected functionality.

An overview of process systems engineering approaches for process intensification: State of the art

Process considerations for the scale-up and implementation of biocatalysis

This paper presents a review of advances that have taken place in the mathematical programming approach to process design and synthesis. A review is first presented on the algorithms that are available for solving MINLP problems, and its most recent variant, Generalized Disjunctive Programming models. The formulation of superstructures, models and solution strategies is also discussed for the effective solution of the corresponding optimization problems. The rest of the paper is devoted to reviewing recent mathematical programming models for the synthesis of reactor networks, distillation sequences, heat exchanger networks, mass exchanger networks, utility plants, and total flowsheets. As will be seen from this review, the progress that has been achieved in this area over the last decade is very significant.

Mathematical programming approaches to the synthesis of chemical process systems

An integrated computer aided system for integrated design of chemical processes

Design and analysis of supercritical extraction processes

An integrated computer aided system for integrated design and control of chemical processes

Computer aided process design and optimization with novel separation units

Computer based design and analysis of super-critical extraction processes is performed within the context of choice and need of computational tools, consistency and accuracy of simulation results and importance of the need to study the conditions of operation of the process. Brief descriptions of the computational tools employed in this work are given. Numerical results demonstrating the correct and consistent use of the thermodynamic models in design, steady-state simulations and dynamic simulations are presented for two super-critical extraction processes whose details have been obtained from the open literature. The sensitivity of the conditions of operation on the phase stability of the streams which may cause operability problems are also illustrated for the two supercritical extraction processes. Finally, with a simple example, the scope for the reduction of energy utilization in super-critical extraction processes is demonstrated.

Glen Hytoft

Papers

An integrated computer aided system for integrated design of chemical processes

Design and analysis of supercritical extraction processes

An integrated computer aided system for integrated design and control of chemical processes

Computer aided process design and optimization with novel separation units

Design and Analysis of Super-Critical Extraction Processes