An approach for simultaneous computer-aided solvent design and process design for CO2 chemical absorption processes

Abstract In the field of Computer-Aided Molecular and Process Design (CAMPD), a variety of solution methods have been developed to handle the complexities associated with the non-convexity and non-linearity of molecular structure-property and process models. However, mostalgorithms are prone to failing to generate feasible solutions when the integrated solvent-process model renders a significant portion of the search space infeasible. In this work, we propose a solution approach for the integrated design of an optimal chemical absorption process in which tailored feasibility tests are incorporated into a process optimisation problem. The solution approach allows the exploration of a design space without unnecessary difficulties by recognising infeasibilities. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated on an aqueous amine solvent-based CO2 capture process.