Propylene oxide

Activity Propylene oxide by the chlorohydrin process with lime, GLO: the inventory of 1 kilogram of its reference product, attributional, cut-off.

Calculation maturity: not assessed Design maturity: Concept (research)Not independently reviewedpropylene-oxide-1:propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime:product:propylene-oxidePreliminaryReport a problem with this dataset

Research outputAn inventory from a research design at the design maturity its process states, not verified plant data: check its calculation maturity and review status before use. Background activities are referenced by name only; no background data is included. All caveats

What it is

Tier 0 screening estimate per 1 t of propylene oxide, gate-to-gate: hypochlorination of propylene, saponification of the chlorohydrin with milk of lime, steam stripping and distillation. Stoichiometry with a sourced dichloropropane by-product and lime use, effluent from the LVOC BREF, electricity and steam from the IEA's Western European averages for propylene oxide (route not named, ASSUMED to apply).

Reference product: 1 kilogram of Propylene oxide
Chemical: propylene-oxide
CAS: 75-56-9
Code: propylene-oxide-1:propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime:product:propylene-oxide
Dataset: propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime version 0.1.0 · UUID b9224296-5a10-54f0-b2e8-59c8056430eb
Activity UUID: not available (the library assigns none; use the code)
Database: cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4 (version preview-a3c52e4)
Process: Propylene oxide by the chlorohydrin process with lime
Geography: GLO · background inputs with a site rule link at the user's site location (default DE)
Time period: 1976 · valid until 1990
Technology: chlorohydrin process with lime (calcium chloride brine); the caustic (cell liquor) variant with brine recycle to chlor-alkali, HPPO, PO/SM and PO/TBA are not modelled · level current
Boundary: gate-to-gate: hypochlorination tower, saponifier and stripper, PO distillation; chlorine, lime, steam and power from outside; brine to the site's wastewater treatment
Classification: ISIC Rev.4 2011 (taxonomy/families.yaml (ISIC Rev.4) of the process's families)
System model: attributional, cut-off (docs/system-model.md, methodology 1.1.0)
Allocation: mass, 100 % of the dataset to this product (rule single-output, from default)
one product: nothing to allocate
Rights: CC-BY-4.0

Exchanges per 1 kilogram of Propylene oxide

As exported: allocated and scaled to the reference product. Provenance: 4 calculated, 5 given, 1 assumed. Pedigree scores (1 best, 5 worst): reliability, completeness, temporal correlation, geographical correlation, further technological correlation.

Preliminary3 exchanges are not yet linked to a background dataset. They count no burden, so the inventory is incomplete: do not read a result from it as complete.

Input	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree	Linked to
Propylene feed:propylene stoichiometry C3H6 + Cl2 + H2O -> C3H7ClO + HCl, C3H7ClO + HCl + CaO -> C3H6O + CaCl2 + H2O, and C3H6 + Cl2 -> C3H6Cl2 for the sourced DCP; compare 0.94 t/t of the older US data (ANL 1980, Fig. 4.58; benchmarks/oxygenates.yaml)	0.7804	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (chemical 'propylene'); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Chlorine, gas feed:chlorine stoichiometry C3H6 + Cl2 + H2O -> C3H7ClO + HCl, C3H7ClO + HCl + CaO -> C3H6O + CaCl2 + H2O, and C3H6 + Cl2 -> C3H6Cl2 for the sourced DCP; compare 1.59 t/t of the older US data (ANL 1980, Fig. 4.58; benchmarks/oxygenates.yaml)	1.315	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4	Atlas (pinned): Chlor-alkali by membrane-cell electrolysis (100 kt/a Cl2, 50 wt-% caustic soda, hydrogen) (Dry chlorine gas to the consumer (400 kPa(a)), GLO) compatible: grade the input names chlorine only; chlorine (Dry chlorine gas to the consumer (400 kPa(a))) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation shares (deviation); boundary plant gate (pinned): no distribution or losses; the consumer's dataset counts its delivery
Lime (quicklime), slaked to milk of lime on site feed:lime Gaines, L.L. and Shen, S.Y. (1980) Energy and materials flows in the production of olefins and their derivatives, Argonne National Laboratory ANL/CNSV-9 (US DOE, OSTI 7013430), Fig. 4.58, p. 154; read as CaO (ASSUMED)	1.09	kilogram	given	4 4 5 4 4	Atlas (pinned): Quicklime by calcination of limestone in a natural-gas-fired parallel flow regenerative kiln (Calcium oxide, Quicklime, high-calcium, lump (counted as CaO), RER) compatible: grade the input names calcium-oxide only; calcium-oxide (Calcium oxide, Quicklime, high-calcium, lump (counted as CaO)) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (deviation); boundary plant gate (pinned): no distribution or losses; the consumer's dataset counts its delivery
Water to the process (dilution, milk of lime and stripping steam) feed:water ASSUMED: the effluent water plus the water that slakes the excess lime, so that the water balance closes; the condensed stripping steam is part of it	40.04	kilogram	assumed	4 4 4 4 4	market for water, deionised (water, deionised, RoW) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Electricity feed:electricity IEA Information Paper (Saygin et al. 2009), Table 13, p. 51 (Western European average for propylene oxide, 1.0 GJ/t at 3.6 GJ/MWh; "industrial sources", route not named); applying it to the chlorohydrin process is ASSUMED. ANL/CNSV-9's single figure is not used (see parameter elec_gj) electricity	0.2778	kilowatt hour	given	4 4 4 3 4	market for electricity, medium voltage (electricity, medium voltage, DE, site location) in your background (default ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff)
Steam, as heat delivered feed:steam IEA Information Paper (Saygin et al. 2009), Table 13, p. 51 (Western European average for propylene oxide, 18.0 GJ/t at 3.6 GJ/MWh; "industrial sources", route not named); applying it to the chlorohydrin process is ASSUMED. The sensible heat of the brine alone is about 8.4 GJ/t (see parameter steam_gj)	5	kilowatt hour	given	4 4 4 3 4	Atlas: heat from steam, per kWh (Atlas unit proxy) (heat from steam, by energy, GLO)
1,2-Dichloropropane, by-product (sold or incinerated; fate not stated) output:dichloropropane Nielsen, K.A. (Union Carbide), US patent 4,560,451 (1985), description of the prior art (0.1 to 0.2 t/t, midpoint); modelled as C3H6Cl2 with the chloro ethers included (ASSUMED)	0.15	kilogram	given	4 4 5 4 4	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Unreacted lime (as Ca(OH)2) with the effluent or as grit; its treatment is not stated output:lime-residue the sourced lime less the stoichiometric CaO, as Ca(OH)2 (ASSUMED)	0.1645	kilogram	calculated	4 4 5 4 4	unlinked unlinked, no technosphere mapping: no mapping (no chemical slug or factor id); add it to lci/mappings.yaml technosphere or to the process's lca/mappings.yaml exchanges
Effluent water to wastewater treatment output:wastewater EU JRC (2017) LVOC BREF, EUR 28882 EN, doi:10.2760/77304, section 2.1.2.8, p. 29 (about 40 t/t); before biological treatment the effluent is in the classes above 10 kg COD/t and above 100 g AOX/t (Table 2.5, p. 67), not quantified here	40	kilogram	given	4 4 3 3 4	Atlas (plant): wastewater to treatment, per kg (Atlas unit proxy) (wastewater, by mass, GLO) compatible: grade the input names wastewater only; wastewater (Wastewater treated) is taken; unit kilogram; system model cutoff (one database); allocation mass (single-output); boundary plant gate of a site utility: no utility market yet (docs/markets.md)

Elementary flows

Flow	Direction	Compartment	Amount	Unit	Provenance	Pedigree
Dissolved solids cfecebe1-1e13-458d-85bc-d40a9f934927	emission	water / surface water	1.911	kilogram	calculated	4 4 4 4 4

Where these numbers come from: each exchange names its source above; the dataset is processes/propylene-oxide-1/lca/datasets/propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime.yaml in library version a3c52e4.

Used by

No other activity of this database links to it.

How good it is

Review: Not reviewed: no LCI review record yet
Data quality: not available
Mass and carbon closure: Not available: a hand-written dataset: no lca/manifest.json records its balance
Change report: Not available: this build has no change report against an earlier release.

KPI benchmark positions

KPI	Value	Reference range	Position
Calcium chloride in the effluent per t of propylene oxide	– t/t	2 to 2 t/t Nielsen, K.A. (Union Carbide Corp.) Electrolytic process for the production of alkene oxides. US patent 4,560,451, granted 1985-12-24 (other)	not evaluated
1,2-Dichloropropane by-product per t of propylene oxide No open source with a DCP figure independent of the dataset found (2026-11-05). US 4,560,451 (description of the prior art) gives 0.1 to 0.2 t per t for the conventional lime process, the dataset's own source, whose midpoint it takes. ANL/CNSV-9 (1980, Fig. 4.58) states no by-product; its chlorine and propylene figures imply about 0.58 t of by-products per t (README), which is a reading, not a stated value. The LVOC BREF 2017 section 2.1.2.8 gives no DCP figure.	– t/t	not available	not evaluated
Chlorine consumption per t of propylene oxide, chlorohydrin process	– t/t	1.59 to 1.59 t/t Gaines, L.L. and Shen, S.Y. (1980) Energy and Materials Flows in the Production of Olefins and Their Derivatives. Argonne National Laboratory, ANL/CNSV-9, for the US Department of Energy (government)	not evaluated
Electricity per t of propylene oxide, chlorohydrin process	– kWh/t	3,990 to 3,990 kWh/t Gaines, L.L. and Shen, S.Y. (1980) Energy and Materials Flows in the Production of Olefins and Their Derivatives. Argonne National Laboratory, ANL/CNSV-9, for the US Department of Energy (government)	not evaluated
Propylene consumption per t of propylene oxide, chlorohydrin process	– t/t	0.94 to 0.94 t/t Gaines, L.L. and Shen, S.Y. (1980) Energy and Materials Flows in the Production of Olefins and Their Derivatives. Argonne National Laboratory, ANL/CNSV-9, for the US Department of Energy (government)	not evaluated
Steam (as heat) per t of propylene oxide, chlorohydrin process No open source with a steam figure for the chlorohydrin process independent of the dataset found (2026-11-05). The IEA information paper (Saygin et al. 2009) gives 18.0 GJ/t as the Western European average for propylene oxide (Table 13, p. 51, route not named) and 14.2 GJ/t at best practice (Table 1, p. 15, estimated as 20 % below), that is 3944 to 5000 kWh/t; the dataset takes the average, so binding it would be transcription only. ANL/CNSV-9 (1980, Fig. 4.58) shows no steam input (see po-chlorohydrin-specific-electricity). The sensible heat of the brine, about 2322 kWh/t, is a lower bound by first principles, not a reference. Also read: LVOC BREF 2017 section 2.1.2.8 and US 4,560,451 (no energy figures).	– kWh/t	not available	not evaluated
Waste water per t of propylene oxide, chlorohydrin process	– t/t	43 to 43 t/t Nielsen, K.A. (Union Carbide Corp.) Electrolytic process for the production of alkene oxides. US patent 4,560,451, granted 1985-12-24 (other)	not evaluated

How to use it

Downloads

cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx · bw2io ExcelImporter workbook (bw2io 0.9 Excel layout) · the whole database
code propylene-oxide-1:propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime:product:propylene-oxide
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4-olca-jsonld.zip · openLCA JSON-LD (olca-schema) (2) · the whole database
process b9224296-5a10-54f0-b2e8-59c8056430eb (processes/b9224296-5a10-54f0-b2e8-59c8056430eb.json)
cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4-multifunctional.json · Brightway 2.5 multifunctional database (JSON, for the multifunctional package) (cheme-as-code/lci-multifunctional/v1) · the whole database
code propylene-oxide-1:propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime:product:propylene-oxide
cheme_as_code_lci-0.1.0-py3-none-any.whl · the installer

A file with this activity alone is not available: each file above is the whole database, and the line under it says how to find this activity there.

import bw2data as bd
from cheme_as_code_lci import install

bd.projects.set_current("my-project")   # holds your licensed background + biosphere3
install("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4.xlsx", background="ecoinvent-3.11-cutoff", location="DE")
activity = bd.get_activity(("cheme-as-code-atlas-preview-a3c52e4", "propylene-oxide-1:propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime:product:propylene-oxide"))

While any exchange of the database has no mapping, install() writes nothing and only lists the unlinked exchanges. So the last line finds no activity until the gaps are mapped: the download section gives the ways to use the database now.

How to cite

Propylene oxide, from Propylene oxide by the chlorohydrin process with lime (dataset propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime 0.1.0), ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database preview-a3c52e4, activity propylene-oxide-1:propylene-oxide-chlorohydrin-lime:product:propylene-oxide. Cite the Process Atlas paper (in preparation, 2026), by Artur M. Schweidtmann and Jana M. Weber, and the ChemE-as-Code Process Atlas LCI database version preview-a3c52e4.

DOI: none yet (the Process Atlas paper is in preparation)

For the data, cite the Process Atlas paper; for the platform that builds and checks it, the ChemE-as-Code paper.

Schweidtmann, A. M. & Weber, J. M. (2026, in preparation). Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title).

BibTeX

@unpublished{schweidtmann_process_atlas,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M. and Weber, Jana M.},
  title = {{Process Atlas: an open, git-native, reproducible library and life cycle inventory of chemical processes (working title)}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://atlas.cheme-as-code.org},
  note = {in preparation}
}

Schweidtmann, A. M. (2026). ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering. arXiv:2611.07947. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947

BibTeX

@misc{schweidtmann_cheme_as_code,
  author = {Schweidtmann, Artur M.},
  title = {{ChemE-as-Code: An Open-Source Platform for Agentic AI in Chemical Engineering}},
  year = {2026},
  eprint = {2611.07947},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  doi = {10.48550/arXiv.2611.07947},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.07947}
}