Title: Simultaneous treatment of environmental and financial risk in process design

Authors: Saran Janjira, Rathanawan Magaraphan, Miguel J. Bagajewicz

Addresses: The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand. ' The Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand. ' School of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Okalahoma, 73019, USA

Abstract: In this paper, we propose a new measure for environmental risk and discuss a way of considering it simultaneously with financial risk. Instead of using single numbers to define environmental risk, we propose to use the cumulative probability of emissions, similarly to the cumulative distributions of profit used for financial risk. We also propose to use a risk surface as a generalisation of the known one-dimensional risk representation through cumulative probabilities and we show how different risks can be handled with this scheme. As an example, we use a catalytic reforming unit where CO₂ and benzene emissions are of concern.

Keywords: process design; reforming process; risk management; financial risk; environmental risk; design under uncertainty; emissions probability; pollution prevention; environmental pollution; CO₂ emissions; carbon dioxide; benzene emissions.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2007.012795

International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 2007 Vol.29 No.1/2/3, pp.30 - 46

Published online: 15 Mar 2007 *

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