Components of sustainability considerations in management of petrochemical industries

Sustainability comprises three pillars of social, environmental, and economic aspects. Petrochemical industry has a great inter-related complex impact on social and economic development of societies and adverse impact on almost all environmental aspects and resource depletion in many countries, which make sustainability a crucial issue for petrochemical industries. This study was conducted to propose components of sustainability considerations in management of petrochemical industries.A combination of exploratory study-to prepare a preliminary list of components of sustainable business in petrochemical industries based on review of literature and Delphi-to obtain experts' view on this preliminary list and provide a detailed list of components and sub-components that should be addressed to bring sustainability to petrochemical industries, were used.Two sets of components were provided. First general components, which include stakeholders (staffs, society, and environment) with four sub-components, financial resources with 11 sub-components, improvement of design and processes with nine sub-components, policy and strategy of cleaner production with seven sub-components and leadership with seven sub-components. The second operational components included raw material supply and preparation with five, synthesis with ten, product separation and refinement with nine, product handling and storage with five, emission abatement with eight, and improvement of technology and equipment with 16 sub-components.