MILP APPROACH FOR THE DESIGN OF VERTICAL VAPOR-LIQUID SEPARATION VESSELS- COMPARISON WITH HEURISTICS

In this article we compare results from different heuristics approaches for the design of VLE separation vessels. In addition, we present an MILP model that embeds the aforementioned heuristics and considers the discrete nature of the geometric variables. We show that different heuristics render different results. In addition, while results from heuristics and MILP often coincide sometime, departures take place. Finally, we show that straight enumeration is viable option for stand-alone design.