Optimal design of heat exchanger network considering the fouling throughout the operating cycle

A model is established for minimizing the cost of heat exchanger network (HEN) throughout the operating cycle, with fouling, heat exchanger area margin, the location and opening of bypass considered. The Genetic Algorithm (GA) is applied to generate the economically potential structures; the neural network is used to predict the relationship of heat exchange area and cost. The flow velocity and bypass opening are optimized simultaneously by the Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP) method. The optimization of HEN throughout the operating cycle is a mixed-integer nonlinear problem and is solved by the stage wise solution procedure. The proposed method can efficiently optimize the design and operation of a HEN throughout the operating cycle. For the studied case, the total cost can be reduced by 62% after the optimization. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.