A rigorous targeting algorithm for resource allocation networks

Techniques of process integration can be applied to conserve resources such as energy, freshwater, cooling water, hydrogen, solvent, etc. Process integration methodologies are broadly classified into two categories: methodologies based on the mathematical optimization techniques and methodologies based on the conceptual approaches of pinch analysis. In this paper, a mathematically rigorous methodology is proposed to minimize the requirement of a natural resource in a chemical process industry. The proposed methodology combines the simplicity of the pinch analysis with the mathematical rigor of mathematical optimization techniques. Conservation of resource in a chemical process industry is posed as a network flow optimization problem and a simple algebraic methodology is proposed to solve the optimization problem. The proposed algebraic methodology is mathematically proved in this paper. The proposed algorithm is numerically faster than the general mathematical optimization methods used for solving optimal resource allocation problems.