Nlewis65, 68 71,96 Lecture Siirola 16 No 2 SPRING 1982 CEE
Nlewis65, 68 71,96 Lecture Siirola 16 No 2 SPRING 1982 CEE
Nlewis65, 68 71,96 Lecture Siirola 16 No 2 SPRING 1982 CEE
SPRING 1982 69
oth@rA 11 a 11tructural param@t@r,' a continuous ram@tc:!rs, lfoww0r, inoquality con1tnints on d0-
variabl@ which r@pr@A@nt§ th@ fraction of :tlow to sirn variubl@s may ro8ult in a discontinuous
b@ §plit to @ach of th@ altc:!rnaw d@8timition8, A§ f0,u1iblo rorion boundary noce88itatins- di~cr0tc:!
fraction§, 8tructural param@t@r§ Ar@ con§trttin@d docision8 tho structural paramotor mothod wati
to b@ non=n@rtttiv@ and to §Um to unity for all dovelopod to circumvont, Inoquality con8traints
branch@§ from a junction, Th@§@ 8tructural pa= a11Mciatod with oquipmont dolotc:!d from tho 1upor-
ram@t@r§ aro includod with othor oquipmont and 11tructuro during structural paramotor optimiza-
oporatinr paramotor§ in an ovorall do§ig"n optia tion can forco con1train0d bohavior in tho romain-
mization, Should a 8tructural paramotor bo inr fftructuro, For many problom1 a complmoly
optimizod to zoro, tho corr{!§pondinr intorconn@c- continuous formulation m9.,y not bo po11dblo,
tion 18 dolotod from tho 8upor8tructuro, and §hould Tho optimal a1111ignmont formalfam from
all :tlow§ A§§Ociatod with an itc:!m of oquipmont oporation r@soarch is anothor optimization ap-
bo zoro, it too 18 dolotod from tho §tructuro, In proach that has boim appliod to tho 11ynthosis of
offoct, tho di§croto doci§ion maldnr a§poct§ of ho,it intogration notworks, Th11 synthesis 8Ub-
problom concorns tho hoatinu and coolins- tasks
which must bo porformod within a proceH. Tho
Contldoroltlo 11vln11 may problm statoment includes a complete\! doscription
rotult If polrt of complomont1ry hooting of tho streams to be heat0d or cooled, de~criptions
and coo!lng t11k1 con Ito m1do to drlvo ooch of auxiliary utiHties capabl0 of performinu tho r0-
othor r1thor than roqulro tho uto
of 1uxlll1ry utllltlot, quirod tasks, and descriptions and d0siS'fl equa-
tions for equipm0nt (furnaces, reboilers, con-
don10r8, and other hoat 0xchan10r!l, 0tc,) usoful
proco§ff synthosis ar@ roplac0d by a continuouff for implmnenting the tasks, Th0 obj0ct ls to
nonlinoar con§trainod optimization for which syntho!lize a scheme to accomplish th0s0 tasks in
solution tc:!chniquos 0xist, Mme optimal mannor, for oxamplo at minimum
Unfortunatoly, tho m0thod do0s not provid0 net preHnt cost, Comlidorablo SAvings may rosult
ruidanco for tho initittl ronoration of th0 sup0r= if pairs of complom0ntary hoatins- and coolins-
structuro, Tho largor th0 suporstructur@, th0 ta1ko can be made to driv0 each othor rather than
groawr will bo th0 numbor of structural pa- roquiro the UH of auxiHary utiliti011,
ramot0rs and tho sizo of th0 oorr0spondinr Of.I• Tho di1croto procoH of selecting th0 oequonce
timization, Th0 problom of assuring that th0 of eneriy intorchangos amons- 1treams and utili-
optimal structur0 has bo0n includod within a ties to bo heated and cooled is accompli!lhed by
givon solution formulation is ono which ari10s r0- dividinr the heat loads of thoso streams into suit-
poatodly in procoss synthe8is ro§oarch, In the ably 1mall, 0qual-siz0 el0montt1. Subject to thermo-
pres0nt ca10, human oxporionc0, rul0s=of-thumb, dynamic temp@rature con1traintt1, a cmit can be
and othor dosign aids ar@ used to sol0ct the ltlli!Ociatod for the 'allocation' (effected by a tiny
oquipmont and intercmnnoction8 to be includod in exchanger) of heat from any element of a 1tr0am
tho 8Uf.lorstructur0, or ut111ty to be cooled to a suitable element to be
Bocau8o of tho ffiH of th0 optimizations l'O= hoated. If it is as1mmed that theH costs are inde-
quirod, tho structural parametor method has b0en pendent of each other, then linoar pros-rammins-
appliod primarily to smallor synthmds sub- mm bo employod to perform an optimal allocation,
probloms (gonorally fowor than ten int0rconnoc- Later, if multiplet adjacent elements for two
tion8) tmch 11 roactor and di8tillation networks, streams aro found to bo paired, tho tiny 0x-
Soveral 8olution technique§ have been investigated changer1 are morgod into a larger cotmtorcurront
including 1imultaneom1 and soquential optimiza- unit. In this mannor, tho amount of heat to be
t1cm of tho 1tructural paramotor8 and othor do- tran1forrod in each exchanifer in the structure
1ign variablos by a varioty of codH. The foaaiblo has also boon made di1crot0,
rogion is ofton multimodal and 10arch mothod1 Differont ldnd1 of structuro1 can be synthe-
1tarting from diiforont points may bo requirod to 1ized dopending on whether the oritrinal streams
ffnd a global optimum. The convergonce rato of 1ro divided into elemonts sequentially, or partly
nonlinoar con1trained optimization is often 8low, in parallol re1ulting in stream splitting, and also
and transformations have boon 1ugg01tod to on how exchangers are merged, In fact, networks
oliminato con1traints on tho 1tructural pa- that involve minimum total exchanror area can be
70 OHIMIOAL llNQl)fl!lUINO l!lDUOATION
synthesized graphically without linear pro- mercial, laboratory, or literature scheme for the
gramming by recognizing that maximum thermo- same or similar product or process, or it may have
dynamic efficiency for the total network results been obtained by the application of a series of
when the temperature driving force is mini- design rules or by some other synthesis technique.
mized in individual exchangers. Some methods use cost and functional analysis or
In addition to problems related to choosing the thermodynamic analysis to detect weaknesses and
size and division of the heat load elements, the suggest structural modifications, whereas others
principal difficulty with the optimal assignment concentrate on systematic reordering of design
approach is that the synthesis problem is not rules, or processing tasks. Two-level Lagrangian
linear and the match costs are not independent of analysis can confirm the advantage of an evo-
each other. Large merged exchangers cost less lutionary change, sometimes without requiring a
per unit area than small ones. Near-minimum complete optimization of the revised design.
area networks generated by this method are Evolutionary methods for structural improve-
characterized by a large number of small ex- ment are quite appealing, possibly because they
changers, whereas minim1un cost networks tend resemble much historical process development.
to have much fewer exchangers. Furthermore, They have been applied to almost all synthesis
some versions of the method automatically ex- subproblems including heat integration, separa-
clude the warmest portions of the streams to be tion systems, and even entire :flowsheets. These
heated and the coolest parts of the streams to be methods, like the embedded superstructure OP-
cooled from integration, assigning them im- timization approaches, are concerned with the
mediately to an auxiliary heating or cooling utility structural optimization aspects of process syn-
which, however, might not be the optimal policy thesis. Their success depends critically, as do
where multiple utilities of varying cost are avail- most gradient-type searches in highly irregular
able.
Recently, it has been suggested that process
synthesis problems be solved by mixed-integer
Evolutionary methods for strudural
linear programming techniques. Discrete vari- improvement are quite appealing, possibly
ables not only indicate the existence of specific because they resemble much historical
equipment and interconnections but also make process development.
possible very good approximations of many non-
linearities inherent in real systems such as fixed
plus variable operating costs. Mixed-integer linear domains, on the nature of the starting point.
programming codes, which generally use branch Given a poor initial design, they will rarely evolve
and bound algorithms to handle the discrete vari- to a truly novel globally optimal :flowsheet.
ables, exist which can handle quite large problems
of this type. The question remains whether it is SYSTEMATIC GENERATION APPROACHES
more efficient to let such a generalized algorithm
blindly find appropriate values for numerous dis- To find new, less prejudiced, or more creative
crete variables or whether specific features of the solutions for synthesis problems, it may not be
synthesis problem and other external procedures desirable to use existing designs singly as the
should be utilized to set combinations of variables starting point for evolutionary approaches or in
known in advance to be feasible and expected to combination for embedded optimization ap-
be near-optimal. proaches. Yet efforts to invent new designs face
enormous combinatorial difficulties arising from
the large number of processing tasks that may be
EVOLUTIONARY APPROACHES required and technologies available to perform
Another class of process synthesis approaches them. Recognizing that it is generally not possible
attempts to systematize the methods and aids that to consider all possible equipment arrangements
many successful engineers are thought to use to simultaneously, a synthesis approach based on a
improve upon initial design concepts. These ap- decomposition was proposed whereby any design
proaches assume the existence of a feasible design problem for which a solution is not known is
and examine it for evolutionary improvement op- broken into smaller subproblems. Such a de-
portunities. The initial design may be a com- Continued on page 96.
SPRING 1982 71
CHEMICAL PROCESS SYNTHESIS technologies which sharply split a single multi-
Continued from page 71. component feed stream into two outlet streams,
composition of the total flowsheet generation one containing some subset of the feed com-
problem leads to the identification of many of the ponents and the other containing the remaining
synthesis subproblems mentioned before such as components. Differences in various physical
heat integration, separations sequencing, etc. in properties of the components such as volatility or
which much progress has been made. The de- solubility are exploited by various technologies to
composition principle might also be applied re- effect the desired separations. If S different
cursively to the solution of each of these sub- separation technologies are available (such as
problems. A special case arises if the decomposi- simple, azeotropic and extractive distillation, ex-
tion is done in such a manner that at least one of traction, fractional crystallization, etc.), the
the resulting subproblems is recognized im- number of different design sequences for the com-
mediately as solvable by some available technology. plete separation of an N-component mixture is
If this process is repeatedly and successfully on the order of SN-1 (2N-2) !/ (N ! (N-1) !) . •
applied until no unsolved subproblem remains,
EDITOR'S NOTES The concluding section of Dr.
the result is equivalent to the systematic specifica-
Siirola's lecture will be published in the next issue
tion of a finite sequence of technologies which to-
of CEE (Summer, 1982).
gether form a feasible design for the original pro-
cessing problem.
The heat integration synthesis problem de- REVIEW: TRANSPORT PHENOMENA
scribed previously is amenable to such a de- Continued from page 93.
composition strategy. At each stage, a stream to chemical reaction. This subject is only given a
be heated and another to be cooled ( either two very brief treatment by Treybal. The theoretical
process streams or a process stream and a utility) discussion in the present work draws heavily from
for which required tasks remain are selected and, results obtained in studies of chemical absorption.
if thermodynamic or other constraints are met, Although there are a few data for liquid-liquid
simultaneously solved with immediately recog- systems, there should be more. The presentation
nizable technology (an exchanger, furnace, etc.). generally falls short of the state-of-the-art in this
Should this heat exchange match fail to perform area.
the required task completely for a process stream Topics covered by Treybal but not discussed in
(reach the desired final temperature or phase the present work include calculational methods for
state), the remaining task, or 'residual', is simply multicomponent extraction, methods for labora-
included among the other as yet unsolved process tory and small-scale extractions, economics of ex-
heat transfer tasks for consideration in successive traction processes, and the competing factors in-
stages. With appropriate available utilities, this volved in the selection of a solvent. In general,
systematic generation scheme will produce a Treybal's book has the same theoretical basis, but
feasible design in a finite number of steps. Differ- a more practical, process-oriented flavor than the
ent designs result from alternative streams or present work.
possible portions of streams selected for each The subject material is probably too specialized
match and from how strictly the various task for the book to find much use in the undergraduate
specifications and other constraints are met. The chemical engineering curriculum. It seems better
number of such designs for heat integration suited as a reference for students and industrial
among M streams is pn the order of ( (M/2) !) 2 • practitioners with a special interest in liquid ex-
Specification of separation sequences for traction. It would have been more valuable in this
multicomponent mixtures is another synthesis regard had the authors included more references
subproblem for which systematic generation ap- to the recent literature. Only 2 % are from the
proaches have been proposed. The problem arises period 1971-1978, with the most recent of these
in reactor feed preparation, product purification, being from 1974.
by-product recovery, waste treatment and other A final minor criticism: the printing quality in
situations where the tasks of increasing concentra- the review copy was noticeably inferior to that
tion or component isolation are specified. In a found in most technical books printed in the U.S.
simplified form, a mixture is to be separated into The type was uneven and generally too light, and
each of its components using a sequence of pages were often slanted from the verticle. •