A NEW APPROACH FOR COMBINED MASS AND HEAT EXCHANGER NETWORKS DESIGN

Abstract

In many chemical processes, mass exchanger network and heat exchanger network are interconnected. Therefore, combining heat exchanger networks (HENs) and mass exchanger networks (MENs) can result in significant process improvements. These improvements can lead to the conservation of resources and to the reduction of the total annual cost of the process. Developing an optimum combined mass and heat exchange network (CMHEN) is still challenging for grassroots and retrofit design. This study suggest new approaches for the synthesis of CMHEN grassroots and retrofit design. Several case studies are investigated to validate the suggested approaches. The suggested approaches lead to significant combined cost reductions.