Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.15, No.3, 369-375, 2007
Synthesis of water utilization system using concentration interval analysis method (II) discontinuous process
The first part of the series of this article proposed a systematic method for the synthesis of continuous water-using system involving both non-mass-transfer-based and mass-transfer-based operations. This article, by extending the method, proposes a time-dependent concentration interval analysis (CIA) method to solve the problems associated with the synthesis of discontinuous or batch water-using systems involving both non-mass-transfer-based and mass-transfer-based operation. This method can effectively identify the possibility of water reuse and the amount of water reused under time constraints for minimizing the consumption of freshwater in single or repeated batch/discontinuous water-using systems. Moreover, on the basis of the heuristic method adapted from concentration interval analysis method for the continuous process network design, the network design for the discontinuous or batch process can be obtained through the designs for every time interval. Case study illustrates that the method presented in this article can simultaneously minimize the freshwater consumption in single or repeated batch/discontinuous water system and can determine a preferable storage tank capacity for some problems.