STOCHASTIC OPTIMIZATION OF COMPLEX-REACTION SYSTEMS

This work presents a new synthesis approach for the design of chemical reactors. The proposed method is based upon a general system represen tation which assumes the form of a superstructure network with differe nt types of reactors and interconnections among the units. The superst ructure provides the domain of a stochastic optimisation search which is achieved using Simulated Annealing. The search is based upon the su ccessive generation and evaluation of reactor configurations in which changes of stream locations, unit sizes and operating conditions are a ddressed within a statistical cooling schedule. The application of the annealing algorithm enables uphill and downhill moves and represents a reliable optimisation procedure to bypass local extrema and limitati ons arising from nonconvexities and multiplicities which regularly app ear in complex reaction processes.