A systematic approach is presented for the assessment of operability i
n design of chemical plants. This approach provides a new quantitative
measure of the process operability, and allows the designer to system
atically select the best design. An integrated strategy based on dynam
ic MINLP formulation is introduced in order to incorporate flexibility
and controllability aspects into the design procedure. A mini integra
ted plant is considered as an example to illustrate the application of
the proposed methodology.