Abstract—A case study has been conducted on the use of
solvent substitutes and/or solvent recovery in a resin precursor
manufacturing process. The current process uses the dipolar
aprotic solvent N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) as a synthesis
reaction medium. NMP is associated with harmful
environmental a health effects. Dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO)
and sulfolane are also dipolar aprotic solvents with similar
physical properties of NMP but are less harmful. With the
substitution of NMP for DMSO or sulfolane in the resin
precursor process, total life cycle emissions were reduced by 52%
and 61%, respectively. Distillation processes were designed to
evaluate the environmental impacts of recovering solvent from
the waste. Total life cycle emissions were reduced by 63%
when comparing the current operation using NMP with the
case of the current operation with solvent recovery. There was
no additional significant reduction on life cycle emissions for
the cases with solvent recovery for DMSO or sulfolane. Thus,
the importance of evaluating all green engineering options
through a life cycle assessment is important to fully
understand the environmental impact reduction each option
possesses.
Index Terms—Solvent substitute, solvent recovery, green
engineering, life cycle assessment.
The authors are with the Department of Chemical Engineering, Rowan
University, Glassboro, N J, 08028 (e-mail: savelski@rowan.edu).
[PDF]
Cite: Mariano J. Savelski, C. Stewart Slater, and Christian M. Wisniewski, "The Green Engineering Implications of the Replacement and Recovery of Dipolar Aprotic Solvents in Industrial Manufacturing," International Journal of Chemical Engineering
and Applications vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 123-127, 2018.
