Inherent Safety and Economic Graphical Rating (InSafE) method for inherent safety and economic assessment

Abstract

Incorporation of the economic aspect into the inherent safety assessment during the early design stage, especially the research and development (R&D) design stage, is currently scarce, however, there are various works which consider economic aspects at the later stage of process design. Similar economic evaluation is very hard to accomplish during the R&D design stage due to the limited amount of data available. This work introduces the Inherent Safety and Economic Graphical Rating (InSafE), a graphical inherent safety and economic evaluation for R&D design stage application. InSafE consists of gross profit and net profit margin for its economic assessment and eight inherent safety parameters taken from the GRAND method for its inherent safety assessment. Application of this method on methyl methacrylate process routes shows TBA and i-C4 routes as the safest and most profitable process routes. InSafe is also designed to be applicable for other inherent safety assessment methods for R&D design stage; for example, the Prototype Index for Inherent Safety (PIIS), the Inherent Chemical Safety Index (ICSI), and the Cumulative Index (CI). Economic evaluation during the R&D design stage enables users to compare the inherent safety level of a process route with its economic potential; hence, helping users in determining the best chemical process route in terms of inherent safety and economic potential before going to the next process design stage. If either one of these two aspects are not in accordance with the user's preference, modifications can still be made on the process to achieve their inherent safety and economic preferences as it is still in the R&D stage of process design.