Computer aided environmental analysis of a large-scale production of chitosan micro-beads modified with thiourea and magnetite

Abstract

In this work, environmental assessment of a large-scale production of chitosan micro-beads modified with thiourea and magnetite was performed using Waste Reduction Algorithm (WAR). This methodology evaluates eight impact categories, four toxicological and four atmospherics. Initially, the simulation of production process of micro-beads was realized. Then, WAR GUI software, which is based on WAR algorithm, was employed to quantify potential environmental impacts (PEI) generation and output rate for this process under 4 different cases. The synthesis of micro-beads was analysed using computer-aided process engineering, this is related to the fact that there is no bibliography reported for the industrial scale-up, simulation and environmental evaluation of this type of process Results shows that photochemical oxidation potential is the evaluated category which emits the biggest output rate of PEI, contributing in all cases with more than 49% of the total rate. In general terms, the process has a negative generated PEI which means that the process has a convenient environmental performance. This leads to the conclusion that the process is environmentally beneficial because it consumes environmental impacts.