Hybrid method and associated tools for synthesis of sustainable process flowsheets

The chemical industry is constantly evolving by developing new technologies, green chemistry and designing chemical processes or products that are sustainable. However sustainable development is a complex and holistic approach that requires appropriate tools and consistent strategies to assist decision making at various stages. This work focuses on the development of a suite of systematic methods and integrated computer-aided tools for obtaining sustainable process flowsheets. These methods are based on a flexible three-stage process synthesis-design-innovation approach that can be used to solve different types of process engineering problems. This flexible approach can be used for solving new process synthesis problems, retrofit design problems or can be used as a process analysis tool to study any chemical process in detail. This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the following aspects: How to solve complex process synthesis, design, and innovation problems by breaking them into small hierarchical subproblems and solving them efficiently and consistently so that one can obtain innovative and sustainable solutions. This work also highlights the degree of digitalization that can be achieved by using computer-aided tools like ProCAFD. The integration of ProCAFD with other computer-aided tools, including commercial simulation software to enhance the application range and scope of ProCAFD is also highlighted.