ISO Approves Development of PSECommunity.org’s Proposed eTEA Standard

PSEcommunity.org has been a leading proponent of the development of an international standard for conducting eco-technoeconomic analyses (eTEA) for several year. [See our Standards page].

1. ISO/WD TS 14076 Is Born

The member countries of ISO TC 207/SC 5 voted overwhelmingly to approve the development of a new technical specification. A new working group was also formed to do the work of creating the text of the standard. Prof. Thomas Adams (McMaster University, Canada) was also voted as Convenor of the new working group. Prebantha Moodley (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa) is Secretary.

Technical experts to the working group have been nominated by their respective national standards organizations. Additional nominations are forthcoming. At least 14 countries have nominated experts so far.

As the work progresses, status updates will be provided on the ISO’s development page for the TS 14076 document. It is important to recognize that although it has been given an ISO number (14076), the standard has not yet been fully written, approved, or published.

The basic process is as follows:

2. Overview of the Draft Technical Specification

The key principles of this technical specification will include:

  • Describing the basic principles, guidance, and best practices of an eco-technoeconomic analysis (eTEA)
  • Specifying the framework in which an eTEA can be conducted
  • Specifying the minimum requirements for conducting an eTEA.

The scope is general, and will apply to process systems at all scales and in all applications.

The proposed technical specification will not require or suggest particular numbers, methods, or parameters to use in an eTEA. It is intended to be general.

3. What Happens Next

The technical details and actual text of the working draft of the technical specification will be developed in the working group in the coming months, and will require many iterations. The details are expected to evolve during this process. The up-to-date version of abstract can be found on the ISO’s development page for the TS 14076 document.

4. Stay Updated

Although the draft of the document will remain within the Working Group during its development, you can stay updated with the latest developments on our Standards page

Thomas A. Adams II

Professor of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University