Framework for assessing sustainability from an organizational perspective in early chemical product and process design

This work presents a framework for sustainability assessment during the early design stages of chemical products and processes from an organizational perspective by incorporating prioritization factors. The framework follows a progressive approach, beginning with a set of sustainability principles at a strategic level. These are gradually translated into specific criteria, providing guidance for designers when comparing different alternatives, which are subsequently evaluated through indicators, calculated based on specific system properties or operating conditions. This hierarchical approach helps information transfer from the strategic to the operational level, where technical design occurs, allowing the designers to align engineering decisions with the organization's sustainability objectives. The framework is applied in four stages: i) definition of principles and criteria according to organizational priorities; ii) identification of alternatives and information gathering; iii) assessment of alternatives through a multicriteria decision analysis method (MCDA); and iv) Decision-making. Two case studies are presented: the selection of a chemical route to produce a chemical product (i.e. ethyl acetate) and the design of structured product (i.e. cosmetic) containing it. In this case, the MCDA was conducted by using MAUT method. Utility functions were defined considering the meaning of the indicators, as interpreted through principles from the organizational context. The proposed methodology could be further used in the design of products and processes for different industries.