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6E - Life cycle management (MOP/216) Avoided load concept in Low Density Polyethylene process. Yrigoyen González, Haydée1, Kulay, Luiz2, Castells Piqué, Francesc1, 1 Universidad Rovira y Virgili, Tarragona, Tarragona, Spain2 Universidad of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil ABSTRACT- Nowadays industries effort to reduce environmental loads is a common practice. The polymerization process was studied, focused on the most important aspect: steam use produced in boiler and steam production in the reactor, both aspects introduce the avoided load concept, and show the importance of an Life Cycle Inventory Analysis (LCInvA). In order to obtain the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), four stages are considered: steam boiler production (by natural gas), polymerization, process steam generation and electricity consumption (from Spanish Electrical Network). The reaction heat in polymerization process is used to generate low pressure steam, which is exported to other process. Otherwise, this steam should be generated in boiler with the consequent consumption of natural resources and air pollution generation. This is the avoided environmental load meaning. At the same time, the cogeneration as a new alternative was analyzed; more electricity than required was obtained and the pollution amount was reduced. The information obtained is useful to recognize the impact from each stage and helps decision makers to identify potential improvements or process changes. Key words: ecovector, avoided load, cogeneration, LDPE |
