Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes, Third Edition

Chapter 15 Pinch Technology

15.1 Introduction

Whenever the design of a system is considered, limits exist that constrain the design. These limits often manifest themselves as mechanical constraints. For example, a distillation of two components that requires 400 equilibrium stages and a tower with a diameter of 20 m would not be attempted, because the construction of such a tower would be virtually impossible with current manufacturing techniques. A combination of towers in series and parallel might be considered but would be very expensive. These mechanical limitations are often (but not always) a result of a constraint in the process design. The example of the distillation column given above is a result of the difficulty in separating ...