Dimethyl Carbonate Production by Urea Transesterification, Process Simulation and Environmental Assessment

Abstract Evaluation of the environmental sustainability to synthesize dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from the urea transesterification with methanol is carried out by using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology for the first time. Foreground data for LCA analysis are supplied by simulation results using ProSimPlus®. The LCA is modelled with SimaPro, and Ecoinvent database provides background data. LCA results show that the urea production has the main impact in 10/11 impact categories whereas the ionizing radiation is mainly influenced by downstream separation. Finally, the urea route shows better results than the oxidative carbonylation of methanol.