Process synthesis, design and analysis using a process-group contribution method

• A systematic framework for process synthesis–design based on group-contribution methodology.
• Fast screening of generated alternatives using group-contribution based flowsheet property models.
• Sustainable and safety metrics to further benchmark the alternatives.
• Innovative storage and retrieval system of flowsheet information – SFILES.
• Application to industrially significant problem.

This paper describes the development and application of a process-group contribution method to model, simulate and synthesize chemical processes. Process flowsheets are generated in the same way as atoms or groups of atoms are combined to form molecules in computer aided molecular design (CAMD) techniques. The fundamental pillars of this framework are the definition and use of functional process-groups (building blocks) representing a wide range of process operations, flowsheet connectivity rules to join the process-groups to generate all the feasible flowsheet alternatives and flowsheet property models like energy consumption, atom efficiency, environmental impact to evaluate the performance of the generated alternatives. In this way, a list of feasible flowsheets are quickly generated, screened and selected for further analysis. Since the flowsheet is synthesized and the operations in the flowsheet designed through predictive models to match a set of design targets, optimal solution of a given synthesis problem is guaranteed.