ABSTRACT
Process synthesis, also referred to as process integration, deals with the systematic development of process flowsheets. The process synthesis activity has been described as “the automatic generation of design alternatives and the selection of the better ones based on incomplete information” (1). Design technology is required to help the engineer find novel, improved solutions to process design problems in the context of the incomplete information available. The ultimate aim of chemical process design is to synthesize a process that enables the production of desired chemicals in the most cost-effective and environmentally benign manner possible and is flexible as well as easily operated. Ideally, process synthesis tools should allow one, out of the set of all feasible alternative structural and operational process design options, to systematically determine the most promising process designs, those that approach the performance limits of the system closely and meet the constraints.
