Heat Exchanger Network Design

This lecture covers the strategy for designing heat exchanger networks, starting with defining the delta T minimum and identifying the pinch point. The use of graph theory to calculate the minimum number of connections and the cost of heat recovery is explained. The lecture also delves into the placement of heat exchangers, the structure of interconnected heat exchangers, and the rules for cooling and heating streams above and below the pinch point. Various techniques, including path following and loop breaking, are discussed for optimizing the heat exchanger network design. The application of mathematical programming to systematically generate and optimize heat exchanger configurations is detailed, along with the importance of considering practical aspects in decision-making.