Systematic Synthesis of Mass Exchange Networks for Multicomponent Systems

The synthesis of mass exchange networks (MENs) is an important systematic tool for screening mass-separating agents (MSAs) and satisfying the mass transfer demands while considering process, environmental, and economic requirements. Most of the MEN research has focused on single-component problems. Much less attention has been given to the multicomponent problem. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop a systematic method to deal with the multicomponent MEN synthesis problem. The concept of interception is introduced to account for compatible mass transfer of the multiple components in a way that can be practically realized in mass exchange units. A mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model is established to embed potential configurations of interest Linearization, disjunctive programming, and relaxation are used to enhance the solvability of the optimization program, which is aimed at minimizing the total annualized cost (TAC) of the MEN. Two case studies from the literature, the recovery of copper from an etching plant and the simultaneous removal of H2S and CO2 from coke-oven gas (COG), are solved to illustrate the application of the proposed method.