Supply and target based superstructure synthesis of heat and mass exchange networks

This paper presents new methods for superstructure heat exchanger network synthesis (HENS) and mass exchanger network synthesis (MENS). The techniques developed in this study explore the use namely supply temperatures/compositions and target temperatures/ compositions in HENS and MENS to define the intervals of superstructures. Such superstructures are modelled as mixed integer non linear programmes (MINLP) with the objective of simultaneous minimisation of the total annual cost (TAC) of each network. The two superstructures presented in this paper are based on the supply based superstructure (SBS) developed previously. The first uses the supply temperatures/compositions of hot/rich streams and the target temperatures/compositions of cold/lean streams, denoted supply and target based superstructure (S&TBS), while the second uses the target temperatures/compositions of hot/rich streams and the supply temperatures/compositions of cold/lean streams, denoted target and supply based superstructure (T&SBS). Three HEN examples and three MEN examples are presented, and the results obtained compare well with those in the literature.