phosphorus trichloride production, UPR, ecoinvent 3.6, Undefined
Location: GLO - Global
Phosphorus trichloride is a colorless, volatile liquid. A main use of phosphorus trichloride is in the manufacture of phosphoryl chloride, phosphorus pentachloride, thiophosphoryl chloride, phosphonic acid, and organophosphorus compounds. It is also an essential intermediate when producing phosphate ester insecticides. Moreover, in organic chemistry, phosphorus trichloride is employed as catalyst and chlorinating agent (Bettermann et al., 2000).
References: Bettermann, G., Krause, W., Riess, G. and Hofmann, T. 2000. Phosphorus Compounds, Inorganic. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Electronic Release, Vol.27, pp.1-17. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim.
For more information on the model please refer to the dedicate ecoinvent report, access it in the Report section of ecoQuery (http://www.ecoinvent.org/login-databases.html)
Undefined unit processes (UPRs) are the unlinked, multi-product activity datasets that form the basis for all of the system models available in the ecoinvent database. This is the way the datasets are obtained and entered into the database by the data providers. These activity datasets are useful for investigating the environmental impacts of a specific activity (gate-to-gate), without regard to its upstream or downstream impacts.
The production of phosphorous trichloride is modelled as the reaction of liquid white phosphorus and chlorine. Bettermann et al. (2000) describe the production of phosphorus trichloride by combusting phosphorus in a dry stream of chlorine ( P4+ 6 Cl2 →4 PCl3).
Chemical Reaction:
4 H3P + 6 Cl2 → 4 PCl3, with an assumed conversion efficiency of 0.95.
This inventory representing production of a particular chemical compound is at least partially based on a generic model on the production of chemicals. The data generated by this model have been improved by compound-specific data when available.
The model on production of chemicals is using specific industry or literature data wherever possible and more generic data on chemical production processes to fill compound-specific data gaps when necessary. The basic principles of the model have been published in literature (Hischier 2005, Establishing Life Cycle Inventories of Chemicals Based on Differing Data Availability). The model has been updated and extended with newly available data from the chemical industry.
In the model, unreacted fractions are treated in a waste treatment process, and emissions reported are after a waste treatment process that is included in the scope of this dataset. For volatile reactants, a small level of evaporation is assumed. Solvents and catalysts are mostly recycled in closed-loop systems within the scope of the dataset and reported flows are for losses from this system.
The main source of information for the values for heat, electricity, water (process and cooling), nitrogen, chemical factory is industry data from Gendorf. The values are a 5-year average of data (2011 - 2015) published by the Gendorf factory (Gendorf, 2016, Umwelterklärung, www.gendorf.de), (Gendorf, 2015, Umwelterklärung, www.gendorf.de), (Gendorf, 2014, Umwelterklärung, www.gendorf.de). The Gendorf factory is based in Germany, it produces a wide range of chemical substances. The factory produced 1657400 tonnes of chemical substances in the year 2015 (Gendorf, 2016, Umwelterklärung, www.gendorf.de) and 740000 tonnes of intermediate products.
Reference(s):
Hischier, R. (2005) Establishing Life Cycle Inventories of Chemicals Based on Differing Data Availability (9 pp). The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp 59–67. 10.1065/lca2004.10.181.7
Bettermann, G., Krause, W., Riess, G. and Hofmann, T. 2000. Phosphorus Compounds, Inorganic. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry. Vol. 27, pp. 1-17, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim.
Gendorf (2016) Umwelterklärung 2015, Werk Gendorf Industriepark, www.gendorf.de
For more information on the model please refer to the dedicate ecoinvent report, access it in the Report section of ecoQuery (http://www.ecoinvent.org/login-databases.html)
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