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Infinite DimEnsionAl State-space: A Systematic Process Intensification Tool With Application to Hydrogen Production

Abstract

In this work, process intensification is identified as a process synthesis activity aiming at significant improvements over traditional process designs. The infinite-dimensional state-space conceptual framework is proposed as a systematic process intensification tool, as it can identify intensified process designs, and can assess fundamental limitations to the attainable performance of networks of technologies under consideration. The synthesis of intensified flowsheets, in an energy efficiency sense, is pursued through simultaneous synthesis of the flowsheet and its heat exchange network, and through use of Gibbs free energy minimization based reactor models. The employed approach enables a broad state-space search, for process intensification opportunities, even by low dimensional IDEAS linear programming approximations that are always feasible. Application of the proposed method to natural gas reforming based hydrogen production, identifies intensified process designs featuring hot utility costs that can be lower by over an order of magnitude to those of traditional designs.

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