Rules for paths construction for HENs debottlenecking

This paper is based on the heat exchanger network retrofit techniques, developed by Tjoe and Linnhoff and extended by Asante and Zhu. It considers, under the Network Pinch framework, two important cases — the Retrofit Initialisation and Topology Modification when the direct application of the classic Network Pinch concept and rules is not possible. With the help of a system of simple heuristics, these limitations are overcome which extends the application range of the Network Pinch framework.