Optimal interplant water networks for industrial zones: Addressing interconnectivity options through pipeline merging

To date, alternative design options that exist for interconnecting transmission and distribution networks have not been considered in water reuse network synthesis. Existing approaches that do incorporate piping expenses in the design of interplant water networks assign a separate pipeline for every water allocation. However, merging together common pipeline regions for the transmission of water from, or to nearby but different processing facility destinations may improve the overall water network performance not only in terms of cost efficiency but also in terms of complexity. A novel approach that is capable of accounting for pipeline merging scenarios that could exist within a water reuse network is introduced in this article. Two different pipeline branching possibilities have been introduced in this work, for the purpose of merging: (1) forward branching and (2) backward branching. The approach is implemented for the design of interplant water networks considering direct water reuse amongst several coexisting processing facilities within an industrial zone. A case study is presented to illustrate the application of the approach and its benefits. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 2853–2874, 2014