GLOBAL OPTIMIZATION OF BILINEAR PROCESS NETWORKS WITH MULTICOMPONENT FLOWS

This paper deals with the global optimization of networks consisting o f splitters, mixers and linear process units and that involve multicom ponent streams. Examples include pooling and blending systems and shar p separation networks in which nonconvexities arise in the bilinear eq uations for the mass balances. A reformulation-linearization technique is first applied to models expressed with compositions and total flow s in order to obtain a relaxed LP formulation that provides a valid lo wer bound to the global optimum. This formulation is used within a spa tial branch and bound search. The application of this method is consid ered in detail for sharp separation systems with single feed and mixed products. Numerical results are presented on 12 test problems involvi ng up to a few hundred variables. It is shown that only a few nodes ar e commonly required in the branch and bound search.