A numerical tool for simultaneous targeting and design of mass exchanger networks

Abstract

Design of cost-effective Mass Exchange Networks (MENs) that involves mass integration can help to minimize the amount of mass separating agent (MSA) purchased, waste MSA generated by industries, reduce operating costs and mitigate environmental issues associated with MSA disposal. Design of MENs can be done using graphical and numerical methods, as well as using mathematical modelling. This work describes a new approach for simultaneous targeting and design of MENs in which both targeting and network design stage can be solved in a single template, in order to overcome the limitation of graphical tools such as MENs Composite Curves (CCs) and Grid Diagram. CCs cannot completely map individual rich and lean process streams, or process and utility streams. On the other hand, the numerical technique known as Composition Interval Table (CIT) failed to show individual rich and lean stream mass cascades and cannot be used for MENs design. The newly developed numerical approach in this paper employs the Segregated Composition Interval Table (SECIT) to simultaneously locate mass pinch point, determine the minimum utility targets and perform SECIT Mass Allocation (SMA) that can be used to visualize in SECIT Network Diagram (SND).This work can be applied in industries to minimize liquid waste and reduce environmental pollution A case study is presented to demonstrate the validity and advantages of the proposed approach. This paper also shows that SECIT and SND can be a vital combination of numerical and graphical visualization tools for targeting and design of complex MENs.