Thermal integration, an element in design of chemical engineering processes

Thermal integration is an important element in the planning and design of c hemical engineering processes. This is especially true when energy optimisa tion is embedded in a software environment permitting unimpeded data transf er and exchange between the design elements can take place in a straightfor ward and intelligent manner, i.e. in a manner supporting the user. These ad vantages are demonstrated for a selected process. Expert systems which can extract data relevant for thermal integration from the process data and hen ce generate an entry data set for subsequent processing in a thermal integr ation program have proved to,be particularly advantageous. in addition, the process engineer also has the possibility of modifying the data manually a nd undertaking appropriate adaptions and corrections. Subsequent analysis o f thermal Integration (e.g. by the pinch method) often suggests improvement s extending beyond the pure thermal regime and lead process flow chart.