ISSN:
0930-7516
Keywords:
Chemistry
;
Industrial Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
Source:
Wiley InterScience Backfile Collection 1832-2000
Topics:
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Process Engineering, Biotechnology, Nutrition Technology
Notes:
The following deliberations are concerned with the application of economy criteria to the optimization of process-engineering plants. We are therefore not concerned here with criteria for investment decisions, i.e., decisions on the implementation orabandonment of an investment project, nor with criteria for the selection of the most profitable investment options from a series of alternatives. Instead, we are interested here in the question of how a plant, while at the planning stage, can best be designed, i.e., the most rational method of selecting process parameters, such as throughputs, pressures, temperatures, concentrations, etc. The problem of plant optimization only occurs, however, when there are design parameters which can be selected at will or can, at least, be varied within certain limits. This is however, virtually always the case. There is then a need for an optimization strategy in the form of an objective function which is either reduced to a minimum, where lowest possible production costs are the target, for instance, or advanced to a maximum, where high profitability is the aim. The inclusion of engineering economy functions, in the form, namely, of the net present value function and the internal rate of return function for definition of such objective functions, provides better defined information on the best possible choice of process parameters than was possible with methods previosly used, such as the annuity method, for instance. One obtains different values for the process parameters to be optimized, depending on the objective functionused, and therefore different investment costs and utility consumptions. These differences are delineated and quantified using a process-engineering example in the course of the following discussion. The example selected is a gas scrubber, the function of which is to remove and recover useful components from a flow of gas. The specific problem examined is one of heat recovery.
Additional Material:
9 Ill.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ceat.270200112
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