Question

We have Innovation and Entrepreneurship Competition , as chemical engineer what should I choose , I mean which project? It’s big competition, I need your help to advice me , for example prepare new product or something like that? If anyone has any idea plz help me , I will appreciate your help. Thank you

Answer 1

These days one of the growing concerns of chemical industry is the CO₂ emissions and pollution control. The quantification of emissions and environmental impacts of a chemical process is very important in order to identify and minimize the potential high impact causing steps in a process. The quantification of environmental impacts is done by using a framework called Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).

LCA methodology is getting importance these days in process designing. You could propose a LCA consultancy as an entrepreneurial idea where you help chemical companies in reducing their environmental impacts. As of my knowledge there very few companies offering such service today

All you need is to understand LCA process and how it works the information you can easily find on internet. There are some opensource softwares for LCA such as OpenLCA which you can get for free. You can show a demonstration project such as LCA of a small chemical company producing a particular chemical. Then you can show based on your LCA results which process steps are causing most environmental impacts and how as a consultant you can help the company to reduce these impacts.

For example if a company is producing a polymer and you find the most environmental impact causing step is the heat generation in boiler. So you can  look for alternative to boiler fuels and suggest a low impact cauisng fuel or a different boiler design with higher efficiency.

Just look for LCA on internet, you shall find plenty of resources.