Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Burning Bright: Trends in Process Integration

2001; American Institute of Chemical Engineers; Volume: 97; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

0360-7275

Nick Hallale,

Zeolite Catalysis and Synthesis

In the past, the major research emphasis in process design has been placed on the analysis, or simulation of processes. The synthesis of processes or process integration has, in comparison, received little attention. However, this is all changing. Until recently, process integration was virtually synonymous with pinch analysis and energy integration. However, over the past few years, there have been two significant trends that change this picture. First, a wider range of solution techniques is now used. Rather than using only thermodynamic, or pinch methods, the advantages of mathematical programming and optimization have been combined. The insights from thermodynamics have been retained and combined with the power of mathematical methods for data handling, optimization and automatic design. The approach used as far as possible is to develop a deep understanding of the physical principles underlying problems, and only then to develop practical methodologies that employ the necessary mathematics. As a result of the first trend, a much wider range of problems can now be addressed. Process integration can now be considered to cover four major areas - efficient use of raw materials, energy efficiency, emissions reduction, and process operations. From these four research areas, we can see that process integration is far more concerned with material (mass) processing issues than in the past. Mass integration and energy integration, in fact, complement one another. This article will discuss how the two subjects are brought together in the latest research and development at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology).