Reaction path synthesis methodology for waste minimization

It is a key step for reducing waste generation in chemical processes to design optimal reaction paths. In this paper, methods of waste minimization for reaction path synthesis problems are proposed to realize eco-industrial production mode with minimum waste emission. A new conception of simple stoichiometric reaction is presented for reaction path synthesis problem. All simple stoichiometric reactions can be obtained by mathematical transformation for atom matrix of a reaction system. Based on the conception, a two-tier optimization method for complex reaction path synthesis problems is addressed. The first step is to determine the economic optimal overall reactions, and the second step to decompose each overall reaction into several sub-reactions and find out the best thermodynamic feasible reaction path. Further, a method of reaction path synthesis with waste closed-cycle is proposed based on simple stoichiometric reactions for achieving zero waste emission to poly-generation problem of multi-products. Case studies show that the proposed methods can efficiently solve practical reaction path synthesis problems.