Eco-innovative design method for process engineering

Due to the environmental issues, innovation is one way to challenge eco-friendly technologies, create new process options which are needed to meet the increasing demands for sustainable production. To accelerate and improve eco-innovative design, there is a need for the computer aided eco-innovation tools to support engineers in the preliminary design phase. Currently, several computer aided innovation tools with a clear focus on specific innovation tasks exist but very few of them deal with the eco-innovation issues. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to present the development of a computer aided model based preliminary design methodology focused on technological eco-innovation for chemical engineering. This methodology is based on modified tools of the structured TRIZ theory. The general systematic framework gives the same level of importance, to the technological and environmental requirements during the conceptual design phase. Integrating environment oriented design approach at the earliest, in the design phase, is essential for product effectiveness and future development. The methodology employs a decomposition based solution approach in hierarchical steps by analysing the problem faced, formulation of the problem and the generation of possible and feasible ideas. At each step, various methods and tools will be needed. In this paper some existing tools are adapted to chemical engineering and some tools of the structured TRIZ theory are modified and improved to build a specific methodology oriented towards the increasing technological complexity and environmental issues of current designs. Undoubtedly, the selection of materials and substances for a particular generated concept, mainly affects the structure, mechanical factors (processability and dimensions) and the environmental impact. In order to deal with these environmental criteria, the resources and their impacts are considered in the upstream phase of the design process and are introduced as constraints in our model. To highlight its capabilities, the methodology is illustrated through a case study dedicated to tars and ashes issues in biomass gasification. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.