A Systematic Comparison of Stagewise/Interval based Superstructure Approaches for the Optimal Symthesis of Heat Exchange Networks.

Abstract

This article describes a study in which the various stagewise and interval-based superstructures for the mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) optimization of heat exchanger network was systematically compared, using exactly the same basis. The effect of using different logarithmic mean temperature difference (LMTD) approximation on the Total Annual Cost of the network and network structure were examined. The accuracy of the approximations was also analyzed over a wide range of temperature difference ratios. It is concluded that the best approximation, which is the Underwood-Chen approximation, should be used in future mathematical optimisation of Heat Exchanger Network Synthesis problems.