Development and application of methodologies to get sustainable industrial systems

Abstract

This thesis aims to develop and apply methodologies to get sustainable industrial systems. Three tools, included in the scope of Life Cycle Thinking, are considered for this purpose: Best Available Technique (BAT) Analysis, Material and Energy Flow Analysis (MEFA), and process simulation. All these tools are individually analysed and validated in different real case studies, so that their advantages and limitations can be identified and overcome in the proposal of three methodologies that differently combine them. The nexus between the combined tools are the Improvable Flows (IF), defined during this work as those material or energy flows whose management in the considered process is not optimised, and can be improved from a sustainable point of view. The results are integrated methodologies that thoroughly analyse the considered process, identify the potential IF, propose alternatives to enhance such flows and, in some cases, evaluate the suitability and the potential benefits of the proposed alternatives.