New Appoaches in the Process Industries: The Manufacturing Plant of the Future

3

From Preliminary Projects to Projects

Chapter 1 was devoted to project management and presented the industrialization process, where several steps are involved. This chapter focuses on the various methods and tools that can be used in process synthesis, going from preliminary projects to projects. Process design can be viewed as an interactive and multiple-step activity in which process flowsheeting has long been recognized as a valuable tool to aid decision making. Special emphasis is put on the coupling between such simulators and optimization methods, namely multi-objective ones that can be particularly useful for taking into account various criteria. This is particularly relevant for eco-design approaches. Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques have also proved to be efficient when many conflicting criteria are involved. The case study of biodiesel process serves as an illustration to show the potential of the coupling between a flowsheeting simulator, an lifecycle assessment (LCA) model and a multi-objective optimization procedure for eco-design.

3.1. Introduction

Process synthesis is a complex activity involving many decision makers (DMs) and multiple levels of decision steps. Some traditional methods exist such as the well-known hierarchical approach (HA) proposed by Douglas [DOU 98] and the design synthesis activity proposed by [BIE 99]. In applying the HA methodology, the designer has to identify dominant design variables and take design decisions. As a ...