Application of the chain rule of differentiation to sequential modular flowsheet optimization

Abstract An algorithm for the application of the chain rule of differentiation to sequential modular flowsheeting is described. This algorithm has been used to provide derivatives for the efficient steady-state optimization of homogenous flowsheets such as flotation circuits, but can be extended to heterogeneous ones. The work also compares two infeasible-path successive quadratic programming (SQP) methods.