COMPUTER-AIDED EXERGY OPTIMIZATION OF CHEMICAL-ENGINEERING PROCESSES

Methods of exergy evaluation as the basis of energy and material analysis of chemical processes have been used for some years to evaluate these processes from the view point of the First and Second Law of Thermodynamics and with regard to their influence on the environment. This paper introduces a tool for computer-aided exergy analysis and optimization of complex process plants. This tool is based on a flowsheeting program that is extended to calculate the exergy of material, heat, and work flows. The optimization problem of process plants is solved in a two level approach by parameter optimization and structural optimization. The parameter optimization is realized automatically by the extended flowsheeting program. The structural optimization is based on heuristic rules and experiences of the process engineer.