Incorporating heat integration in batch process scheduling

This work presents a methodology for incorporating heat integration in batch process scheduling. The formerly introduced S-graph approach [AIChE J. 48 (2002) 2557-2570] for solving multipurpose scheduling problems is proved to be appropriate for the representation of both scheduling problems and the corresponding heat exchanger network synthesis problem. The proposed procedure is based on the branch-and-bound framework, where two optimisation problems, the scheduling and the heat integration one, are considered simultaneously instead of consecutively. This method is primarily based on combinatorics and combinatorial algorithms. Solution of several examples illustrates the efficiency of the proposed approach and the benefits of considering heat exchanger network synthesis while scheduling batch processes. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.