Computer Aided Flowsheet Design using Group Contribution Methods

In this paper, a systematic group contribution based framework is presented for synthesis of process flowsheets from a given set of input and output specifications. Analogous to the group contribution methods developed for molecular design, the framework employs process groups to represent different unit operations in the system. Feasible flowsheet configurations are generated using efficient combinatorial algorithms and the performance of each candidate flowsheet is evaluated using a set of flowsheet properties. A systematic notation system called SFILES is used to store the structural information of each flowsheet to minimize the computational load and information storage. The design variables for the selected flowsheet(s) are identified through a reverse simulation approach and are used as initial estimates for rigorous simulation to verify the feasibility and performance of the design.