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Lookup NU author(s): Funmi Osuolale, Dr Jie ZhangORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND).
This paper presents a neural network based strategy for the modelling and optimisation of energy efficiency in distillation columns incorporating the second law of thermodynamics. Real-time optimisation of distillation columns based on mechanistic models is often infeasible due to the effort in model development and the large computation effort associated with mechanistic model computation. This issue can be addressed by using neural network models which can be quickly developed from process operation data. The computation time in neural network model evaluation is very short making them ideal for real-time optimisation. Bootstrap aggregated neural networks are used in this study for enhanced model accuracy and reliability. Aspen HYSYS is used for the simulation of the distillation systems. Neural network models for exergy efficiency and product compositions are developed from simulated process operation data and are used to maximise exergy efficiency while satisfying products qualities constraints. Applications to binary systems of methanol-water and benzene-toluene separations culminate in a reduction of utility consumption of 8.2% and 28.2% respectively. Application to multi-component separation columns also demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method with a 32.4% improvement in the exergy efficiency.
Author(s): Osuolale FN, Zhang J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Energy
Year: 2016
Volume: 106
Pages: 562-578
Print publication date: 01/07/2016
Online publication date: 12/04/2016
Acceptance date: 11/03/2016
Date deposited: 18/03/2016
ISSN (print): 0360-5442
ISSN (electronic): 1873-6785
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2016.03.051
DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2016.03.051
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