OPTIMIZATION OF COMPLEX CHEMICAL PLANTS BY A GRADIENT TECHNIQUE

The gradient technique and Lagrange multiplier are used to obtain the optimum of complex chemical plants. The advantage of this approach is its ability to handle nearly all types of complex stages in a natural way. This approach is used to solve a heterogeneous complex chemical process with recycle. It is shown that although there are many different iteration loops, the convergence rate is fast even with rough starting values and only 0.3 minute is needed to obtain the optimum operating conditions. Copyright © 1969 American Institute of Chemical Engineers