Minimizing the Energy Requirement in Batch Water Networks

Abstract

Energy and water are the major resources required in process industries. Simultaneous energy and water minimization gives an extra opportunity for optimization by exploring the interlinks between energy and water and hence gives overall benefits. Minimizing energy and water simultaneously has been extensively explored using mathematical optimization and graphical methods for the continuous process in the last few decades. However, very few works have been proposed for energy and water minimization in the batch process. No insight-based/graphical method has been reported for energy and water minimization in the batch process. In this paper, a graphical technique to determine the minimum energy requirement for batch water allocation networks is described where the role of concentrations of impurities can be neglected. The proposed methodology calculates the minimum requirement of utilities before entering into the detailed design of the water allocation network and/or heat exchanger network. The graphical m...