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Process boundary approach to separations synthesis
Author(s) -
Pressly Thomas G.,
Ng Ka M.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
aiche journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.958
H-Index - 167
eISSN - 1547-5905
pISSN - 0001-1541
DOI - 10.1002/aic.690450911
Subject(s) - hyperplane , process (computing) , boundary (topology) , separation (statistics) , computer science , block (permutation group theory) , set (abstract data type) , separation process , simplicity , limit (mathematics) , nonlinear system , algorithm , mathematical optimization , task (project management) , mathematics , engineering , geometry , mathematical analysis , machine learning , physics , programming language , systems engineering , quantum mechanics , chemical engineering , operating system
A method for synthesizing separation processes for multicomponent mixtures is presented which identifies the regions, boundaries, and the lower dimensional varieties in an N‐dimensional space. Both thermodynamic and equipment boundaries, which may block or limit a proposed separation step, are considered. To facilitate process synthesis, process boundaries are approximated as linear hyperplanes if appropriate, while nonlinear boundaries are represented using a set of linear hyperplanes. In conjunction with the available separation task selection methods, a step‐by‐step procedure is proposed to generate complete flowsheet alternatives, which allow bypassing both thermodynamic and equipment boundaries to achieve a given separations objective. Several example problems are solved using a spreadsheet program to illustrate the simplicity and applicability of this approach.