CO2 emissions reduction targeting for existing plant through heat exchanger network retrofit and fuel switching with MINLP

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission reduction targeting is an important move in atmospheric CO₂ concentration control. Idea of applying HEN retrofit and fuel switching in existing plant has been proposed to be applied simultaneously in achieving CO₂ emissions reduction. Graphical approach combining the mentioned idea has been proposed, but involves potentially time consuming manual procedures. Besides, quality of solution produced greatly depends on designer´s experience and judgment, and graphical approach hardly account for the cost factor during the design phase, thus potentially generate complex design. This paper introduces a MINLP model for simultaneous CO₂ emissions reduction targeting via fuel switching and HEN retrofit for existing plant. A model execution strategy was proposed along with proposed model. Application of proposed model onto case study proven workability of the model to generates solution for targeted CO₂ emissions reduction in minimum payback period manner.