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Process Integration, Synthesis, and Design
The research in this area focuses on process synthesis, design, operation, integration, and optimization, molecular and product design, as well as industrial pollution prevention. The key theme is the development of systematic methodologies that enable chemical engineers to identify optimum, sustainable, and creative strategies that lead to productivity enhancement, yield improvement, debottlenecking, pollution prevention, and energy conservation. Three main areas are investigated:
- Mass integration
- Energy integration
- Property integration
Specific research problems include the synthesis of separation networks, material recycle networks, reaction pathways, combined heat and power, utility system optimization, debottlenecking strategies, and capital-productivity maximization. Fundamental chemical engineering principles are coupled with systems engineering approaches to develop graphical, algebraic, and computer-aided optimization tools that are generally applicable and can address a wide variety of existing and new processing facilities such as the petroleum, petrochemical, fiber, pharmaceutical, food, mineral processing, and micro-electronics industries.
Integrating Process and Molecular Design
A key challenge in the process industries is the selection of alternative raw materials, reaction pathways, material utilities, and products Our research focuses on integrating the design of molecules and reaction pathways with the design of the process. Systematic techniques are employed to synthesize functional groups into molecules that are optimally integrated with the process. In particular, we have introduced the new concept of property integration which provides a powerful framework for integrating process and molecular design and can substantially reduce the cost of experimental work by nominating a focused set of candidate species and reaction pathways that demonstrate optimal performance from the perspectives of the process and the species.
Process Modeling, Analysis, and Control
An effective research program in process modeling and control is necessarily interdisciplinary in nature. Systems engineering overlaps with applied mathematics and computer science. Furthermore, applications of systems engineering can be found in almost any engineering discipline as well as in physics and biology. The main focus of research in this area is on applying sophisticated systems engineering techniques to, and developing novel techniques for, complex dynamic systems in order to understand their intrinsic characteristic up to the point that predictions about future behavior under different conditions are possible.
The tools for the analysis of complex dynamic systems can be categorized as follows: methods related to the analysis of the input-output behavior of a system and techniques based upon identifying critical points in the parameter space of a system. The gained information is applied to improve operation, safety, and control of processes; to reduce the size of a given controller; to identify which parts of a model contribute to its dynamic behavior; to optimize processes; or to improve experimental design. In order to perform modeling and analysis of these systems, large-scale nonlinear models have to be developed that require modern computational approaches for their solution, parameter estimation, and optimization. The systems under study range from traditional chemical engineering processes to the life sciences, where research in recent years has created a large volume of experimental data that needs to be analyzed and interpreted.
Global Optimization
Many process synthesis and design activities can be formulated as mixed integer nonlinear programs. As a result of the nonconvexity of most of these programs, there is a significant need for developing rigorous tools for attaining global optima. Decomposition and bounding techniques are employed to identify rigorous bounds on the solution and excluding local optima. Computer-aided tools are used to automate the search till the global solution is identified.
