Systematic Optimization of Heat-Integrated Water Allocation Networks

Abstract

This paper deals with the design of heat integrated water utilization networks. The nonisothermal mixing and freely splitting nature of hot and cold streams have made the problem far more complicated than the design of heat exchanger networks (HEN). By establishing an MILP model, promising heat exchange matches between hot and cold streams are obtained first without considering the detailed network design. Subsequently, a stage-wise HEN superstructure is introduced for the detailed network design. The proposed systematic approach can be applied for large scale problems. Examples from literature and a practical example in a PVC plant are used to illustrate the applicability of the approach.