The Green Value Engineering Methodology: A Sustainability-Driven Project Management Tool for Capital Projects in Process Industry

Alessandro Rosengart (), Maja Granzotto, Rudi Wierer, Gianluca Pazzaglia, Alessandro Salvi and Giovanni Dotelli
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Alessandro Rosengart: VTU Engineering Italia Srl, Via G. di Vittorio n. 16, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Maja Granzotto: Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “G. Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
Rudi Wierer: VTU Engineering Italia Srl, Via G. di Vittorio n. 16, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Gianluca Pazzaglia: VTU Engineering Italia Srl, Via G. di Vittorio n. 16, 39100 Bolzano, Italy
Alessandro Salvi: Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “G. Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy
Giovanni Dotelli: Department of Chemistry, Materials and Chemical Engineering “G. Natta”, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza L. da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 20, 1-21

Abstract: Process industry renovation is mostly driven by business objectives like productivity enhancement and cost reduction, which hinder the “shift towards a sustainable manufacturing” called by political and academic institutions. In this paper, the project management methodology of Value Engineering, used for cost reduction in large capital projects, is extended to improve not only economic figures, but also environmental sustainability indicators. The methods can guide project design to reduce the consumption of natural resources and the generation of waste, closing a gap between sustainability targets and production needs. Sustainability metrics derived from a simplified life cycle assessment approach are used to achieve quick but reliable estimates of the environmental impact reductions against a base scenario. The project governance is thus supported when assessing potential trade-offs between environmental and economic advantage, encouraging shared and de-risked decisions. Even though limited by the project boundaries of time and budget and by the simplified impact assessment approach, the method promotes a lean and incremental implementation of sustainable manufacturing practices, applicable also to routinary interventions. The methodology is illustrated through application examples from a real case study, an EUR 100 M chemical plant expansion project for a pharmaceutical company in Italy.

Keywords: sustainability; project management; Green Value Engineering; Capex projects; chemical industry; life cycle thinking (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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