A simultaneous synthesis method for combined heat and mass exchange networks

Abstract Mass-exchange operations are highly impacted by heating and cooling. Therefore, there is a natural coupling between the problems of synthesizing mass exchange networks (MENs) and heat exchange networks (HENs). The objective of this paper is to introduce a systematic method for the simultaneous synthesis of combined mass- and heat- exchange networks (CM&HEN). The proposed method is based on a novel approach that integrates the pseudo-T-H diagram approach (PTHDA) for HEN synthesis, with the mass pinch technology (MPT) for MEN synthesis. The applicability of the proposed approach is shown through an example problem, where a significant reduction in the total annual cost is obtained.