No longer is it appropriate to evaluate processes for economic feasibility alone; social benefits and environmental impacts must also be considered. This work develops a multi criteria systematic framework for optimum process design with sustainability considerations and addresses a major challenge in process design as engineers will now be able to design for multiple criteria, specifically sustainability concerns. A novel multi objective optimization algorithm capable of handling a multitude of objectives in mixed integer nonlinear search space and a novel decision making methodology are integrated with a sequential modular process simulator to optimize processes with a multitude of objectives rigorously and efficiently. The application of this research extends well beyond sustainability considerations to the very vast area of optimum design with multi criteria. The application of the proposed framework is demonstrated through a case study for process retrofit of Dimethyl Ether production plant. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.