The synthesis of cost optimal heat exchanger networks. An industrial review of the state of the art

The industrial heat exchanger network synthesis (HENS) problem is very complex and involves combinatorial problems in the “matching” between hot and cold streams to enhance heat recovery, temperature dependent physical and transport properties, the choice of flow configuration and materials of construction for the heat exchangers, the combination of “hard” and “soft” problem data (some target temperatures must be met, while others may be varied within limits if this is of advantage for the total process economy), various kinds of constraints (forbidden and compulsory matches) and different types of streams (liquid, vapour and mixed phase). Pressure drop limitations and the cost of piping are also important. The design objective includes a quantitative part (cost of heat exchange equipment and external utilities) and a qualitative part (safety, operability, flexibility and controllability). This makes it difficult to establish a single objective function to evaluate the design. Due to topological effects (services are added or removed), the investment cost function exhibits discontinuities since there is a unit cost involved in the equipment. Some of the qualitative aspects mentioned above cannot easily be formulated ahead of time. The cost of flexibility can be calculated, but only for given situations (networks). The global optimum is thus hard to guarantee and the engineer has to resort to simplifications of the model and some heuristic rules that will lead towards a near optimal solution. Research is progressing along three different fines which are the use of thermodynamic concepts, mathematical methods and the use of knowledge based systems for process design. In order to solve real life industrial problems, the engineer should take advantage of all these disciplines. However, the skill and experience of the engineer himself will remain of vital importance.

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