A NEW ALGORITGMIC HEURISTICS FOR THE SYNTHESIS OF OPTIMAL HEAT EXCHANGER NETWORT

This paper proposes a new method for the discovery and design of an optimal heat exchanger network. The method is based upon the concept of pinch, a problem reduction technique and the heuristics developed in this work. It generates subproblems in a logical way and solves the subproblems by the heuristics to synthesize an optimal network structure. It is thought that the heuristics can preserve the minimum utility consumption, the minimum number of heat exchanger units, and the minimum number of stream splittings needed for a given problem. The minimum heat exchanger area for the optimal network can then be obtained by adjusting the temperatures associate with the heat exchanger in the optimal network structure. The method is applied to the problems appeared in the literatures. The results show the reductions in the number of heat exchanger units for some problems.