Automatic design of conventional distillation column sequence by genetic algorithm

Abstract

AbstractSynthesis of the optimum conventional (with non‐sharp separations) distillation column sequence (DCS) is a challenging problem, in the field of chemical process design and optimization, due to its huge search space and combinatorial nature. In this paper, a novel procedure for the synthesis of optimum Conventional Distillation Column Sequence is proposed. The proposed method is based on evolutionary algorithms. The main criterion used to screen alternative DCS's is the Total Annual Cost (TAC). In order to estimate the TAC of each DCS alternative all columns that exist in the DCS are designed using short‐cut methods. The performance of the proposed method and other alternatives are compared based on the results obtained for four standard benchmark problems used by researchers working in this area. Based on the results of the comparison, the proposed method outperforms the other methods and is also more flexible than other existing methods.