Simultaneous MINLP synthesis of heat and power integrated heat exchanger networks

This paper describes the simultaneous MINLP synthesis of heat and power integrated heat exchanger networks. The objective of this work is to obtain feasible networks with optimal tradeoffs between investment, utility and power consumption caused by pressure drops in heat exchangers, and to use a detailed design model for exchangers in the synthesis in order to represent pressure drops and heat transfer coefficients as functions of exchanger design variables. In this way, the simultaneous synthesis of HEN and the detailed exchanger design become completely consistent and optimal.