Assessing options for process changes via water cascade analysis

Abstract

Water Cascade Analysis (WCA) is a newly developed technique to establish the minimum water and wastewater targets for water-using processes. The WCA is a numerical alternative to the graphical water targeting technique known as the water surplus diagram. By eliminating the tedious iterative steps of the water surplus diagram, the WCA can quickly yield accurate water targets and pinch point locations for a water network. In this work, WCA is utilised to assess options for process changes in a water network. A case study on water minimisation involving acrylonitrile production (El-Halwagi, 1997) is used to illustrate the developed procedure.