A deterministic algorithm for the synthesis of maximum energy recovery heat exchanger network

This paper presents a general mathematical optimization model and the related deterministic algorithm for synthesizing heat-exchanger networks (HEN). The methodologies commonly used to solve a HEN problem are based on heuristic methods. These algorithms reach a presumed best solution with respect to the investigated set of process streams, whereas our approach determines the optimal configuration.In this paper the proposed method is applied to the solution of a few simple HEN synthesis problems and the results are compared with those obtained utilizing heuristic or meta-heuristic methods.HEN's problem is represented by a general mathematical model that can be applied to small and medium sized problems and is solved by using a deterministic method with a reasonably brief computation time.Notably, this approach can represent a unique general model of a wide class of heat-exchanger networks, independently of their specific physical configuration.