Process synthesis and simulation strategies for integrated biochemical process design

The aim of this collaborative project is to develop an efficient computational tool to synthesise a number of plausible initial flowsheets and carry out further detailed process analysis by process simulation. An integrated biochemical process synthesis, design and simulation methodology has been identified and is under development within the above two Universities. The combinatorial natural of the synthesis problem prohibits the complete evaluation of all the alternatives by flowsheet simulation. We focus on developing an efficient approach to eliminate the non-plausible options in the early design stage to minimize the size of the synthesis problem. The ease of separation based on the differences in properties among components of the mixture is exploited by the key driving forces related to corresponding separation techniques. Separability ratios are computed to be used by a pattern matching algorithm to systematically evaluate the separation feasibility between components and separation methods. The simulator DYNSIM is being modified for use on biochemical processes for evaluation of plausible flowsheets. Mathematical models for unit operations found typically in biochemical processes are being implemented. A cell model approach, in which the bioreactor is divided into number of inter-related cells, providing the option for heterogeneous mixing simulation, is implemented in DYNSIM. Appropriate numerical techniques for the solution of the set of differential and algebraic equations representing a bioreactor and model simplification techniques will also be implemented.