Model-based conceptual design and optimization tool support for the early stage development of chemical processes under uncertainty

•A new computer tool for the modeling and optimization of flowsheet superstructure problems was developed.•The tool was applied to and tested using the hydroformylation process examined by the collaborative research center SFB/TR 63 Inprompt of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.•The tool features a customized hybrid evolutionary algorithm using a gradient-based solver for the local refinement of the solutions.•It was shown in a theoretical case study, that considering uncertainties in model parameter can lead to better results in the design optimization.

Despite many efforts to formalize the early phase of conceptual process design, no tool-supported systematic method for the conceptual design of chemical processes has been developed to date. This contribution presents a methodology and a software tool for the early conceptual design phase, which is characterized by limited and uncertain information on the available process units. The proposed methodology supports the graphical modeling of hierarchical superstructures which are subsequently optimized by a hybrid evolutionary algorithm considering uncertainties in model parameters.