Optimum design of heat exchanger networks

The optimum design of heat exchanger networks is considered in two stages. In the first, the optimum configuration for fixed values of the continuous variables is determined using an implicit enumeration algorithm. In the second stage the optimization of continuous variables of the network is performed solving a large scale nonlinear programme. The proposed method for discrete variables lessens considerably the computational effort for solving the combinatorial problem in the first stage. The results show the importance of optimizing the continuous variables of these networks.