ABSTRACT
The issues of sustainable production have gained significant attention and have become an important business factor in the chemical industry. Sustainable production can be defined as the creation of goods and services using processes and systems in a sustainable manner. Analogous to chemical process simulation is supply chain simulation, which is a powerful tool for analyzing the effects of changes in the supply chain design and configuration and operating policies along the supplier–manufacturer–distributor chain. Recently, it has also been applied to evaluate both the economic and environmental impacts of various supply chain decisions related to inventories, distribution network configuration, and ordering policy. In recent years, a number of indicator metrics have been proposed to enable a consistent comparison and identification of sustainable alternatives. To name a few, a methodology called Waste reduction (WAR) algorithm has been developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency for evaluating the relative environmental impact of any given chemical process.
