Life cycle assessment and economic analysis of aspirin production

Abstract

As one of the most widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the world. However, in the production chain of aspirin, every link from active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production, galenic formulation and packaging involves energy consumption and environmental emissions. In this study, life cycle assessment (LCA) combined with economic analysis was used to investigate the cradle to gate system of aspirin products. In the API production phase, two main acetic anhydride production processes were compared, namely, oxo synthesis process and ketene cracking process. In the packaging phase, in order to explore more environmentally friendly and economical packaging solutions, four alternative packaging types were studied, including two packaging material types (TS-02 and TS-03), one bottled packaging (TS-04) and one sachet packaging (TS-05). The results of LCA analysis show that the packaging stage is the largest contributor to the environmental impact, followed by the API production stage, and the galenic formulation has the least impact. The economic cost analysis showed that the cost of API was the highest, reaching 41.15%. In the improvement measures, the production of acetic anhydride by the process of oxo synthesis has obvious advantages, which can significantly reduce the environmental impact of the production of API. In addition, the use of hydro, wind, nuclear and photovoltaic can conspicuously reduce the environmental burden of aspirin production. In the substitution of packaging materials, it was found that PET and PE packaging materials showed significant environmental improvements, and the TS-04 packaging type performed better in both environmental and economic terms. This study intends to provide constructive suggestions for the process improvement and emission reduction of aspirin production from the life cycle perspective.