Process Analysis Using Umberto Carbon Footprint Tool

The software Umberto Carbon Footprint calculates CO2 footprint of products or activities. It is based on analysis of primary and secondary footprints during the product lifecycle. It uses the ecoinvent database to analyse individual contribution of the resources consumption required for the footprint of the final product. Umberto Carbon Footprint was applied to two processes where the streams and resources were characterized using the process simulator Aspen Plus: A) production of cumene from benzene and B) production of acetone from IPA (Isopropyl alcohol). The analysis was carried out for each process at two different scenarios (with and without simplified energetic integration). The results show an improvement on the carbon footprint value for the scenarios with energetic integration and a good agreement with ecoinvent database values Umberto Carbon Footprint was also applied at one Portuguese chemical company to a formaldehyde process (patent Perstorp Formox(R)). Real industrial data was used on the streams and resources characterization. The carbon footprint obtained for F-100 (maximum production system scenario) shows a relative deviation of 1.8% comparing to ecoinvent database value.