Chapter 17 - Synthesis of Combined Heat and Reactive Mass-Exchange Networks

Abstract

Heretofore, the presented mass-exchange (physical and reactive) synthesis techniques were applicable to the cases where mass-exchange temperatures are known ahead of the synthesis task. In a typical mass-exchange network (MEN), there is a strong interaction between mass and heat. For instance, the mass-exchange equilibrium relation of a mass-separating agent (MSA) is affected by its temperature. Therefore, heating or cooling may be beneficial to the performance of the MEN. However, heating/cooling may incur an additional cost. Indeed, there is a trade-off between the mass and heat objectives. Ideally, it is desired to minimize the total cost of heat and mass exchange. Since the mass-exchange equilibrium relations are dependent upon temperature and the selection of optimal mass-exchange temperatures is an important element of design, the selection of these temperatures should involve a trade-off between the cost of the MSAs and the cost of the heating/cooling utilities. This leads to the problem of synthesizing combined heat and reactive mass-exchange networks (CHARMEN). The problem statement and solution approach are presented next.