Specifically, each tray in a distillation column is represented by a liquid block and a vapor block with a shared semi-restricted boundary representing the interface. In this work, we first present a general representation of thermally driven vapor-equilibrium phenomenon using abstract building blocks. This is due to the lack of a generalized representation of all plausible alternatives in a single modeling and optimization framework. Although significant efforts have been made in the past, we still lack a method for systematic identification of novel pathways for process intensification of distillation system.

The large number of plausible design alternatives increases the combinatorial complexity for screening. All these make the more » design and intensification of distillation systems a challenging task. Even when a sequence is fixed, each column in the sequence can have a plethora of design alternatives to consider. These sequences can be constructed as direct sequence, indirect sequence or thermally coupled columns. Complex separation may also involve multiple distillation in a sequence to achieve the desired products. These include simple distillation, dividing wall columns, pressure swing distillation, thermally coupled distillation and reactive distillation. While it is based on a simple thermally driven vapor-liquid equilibrium phenomenon at the two-phase region, different variants of distillation systems exist. = ,ĭistillation is commonly used for separating homogeneous fluid mixtures. more » The framework is demonstrated using a case study on an ethylene glycol process. Such a general framework is critical to reduce the risk of eliminating potential intensification pathways and candidate flowsheets at the conceptual design stage. Here, this common multiscale representation enables an mixed-integer nonlinear optimization-based single framework for the sequential or simultaneous synthesis, integration, and intensification of chemical processes. Depending on the attributes assigned to the interior and the boundaries of these two-dimensional abstract building blocks, they can represent various intensified or isolated phenomena at the lowest level, various tasks at the equipment level, and various unit operations at the flowsheet level. We demonstrate that the building block representation, originally proposed in our earlier work on process intensification, has the potential to bridge this gap.

This disconnection between the three paradigms limits the ability to systematically discover optimal design pathways. Often times, these designs are not known beforehand, and a phenomena-level representation of chemical processes are required to identify them. Process intensification, on the other hand, combines multiple physicochemical phenomena and exploits their interactions to create innovative designs. Current synthesis and integration methods are able to find optimal design targets and process configurations when all the alternatives are known beforehand. Process synthesis, integration, and intensification are the three pillars of process design.

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