Process analysis and economic optimization of intensified process alternatives for simultaneous industrial scale production of dimethyl carbonate and propylene glycol
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Type
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Journal
Article
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Author
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Johannes
Holtbruegge
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Author
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Hanns
Kuhlmann
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URL
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Volume
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93
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Pages
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411-431
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Publication
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Chemical
Engineering Research and Design
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Date
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January
2015
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Abstract
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Several
processes in the chemical and petrochemical industries are limited by
chemical and phase equilibria. Such processes require a number of steps to
produce the desired products with the required purity. These steps result in
high production costs due to the high capital investment required.
In addition, the vast utility demand required by most chemical processes contributes to high operating and production costs. Promising alternatives are intensified processes such as hybrid or integrated reactive separation processes, which can reduce the number of apparatuses as well as the utility demand, thereby increasing process sustainability. However, the identification of the final configuration and dimensions of these apparatuses and an optimal operating point is a challenging task. This task usually involves solving a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem to identify optimal values for the degrees of freedom. Authors present a memetic optimization algorithm, validating its ability to handle such problems by optimizing a benchmark function. This optimization algorithm was applied to economically optimize several intensified process alternatives allowing to compare their capabilities to a base-case process. The transesterification of propylene carbonate with methanol served as a case study with high potential for process intensification and production of dimethyl carbonate in the framework of green chemistry. |
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