A new methodology for the synthesis of an optimum flexible water networks

•A new method, named corner points method, is proposed.•The method allows to design globally optimal and flexible water networks for fixed flow rate model.•Optimal and flexible water networks have the simplest possible structure.•The method allows to specify the possible flow rate in pipelines.•Case studies illustrate the efficacy and correctness of the method.

This paper presents a new optimization model for the synthesis of direct reuse/recycle water networks with data uncertainties. In this case, data uncertainties were originated from the varying parameters of the water sources and sinks, which fluctuate within a given range of values. The aim of the method is to design an optimum flexible water network (FWN) that ensures minimum fresh water consumption and yet fulfilling all process constraints and uncertain parameters. The resulting FWN also features the minimum number of pipelines, which will ease process operation and control. Due to the complexity of the problem, multistep solving method based on theorem of corner points has been developed. The FWN obtained using the proposed method also includes information on the maximum flow rate in the pipelines, which is essential for detailed network design stage. The resulting model is a mixed integer linear problem (MILP), which may be solved to obtain global optimum solution. Two case studies were used to elucidate the newly proposed method.

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