Dec. 6: "Optimal Synthesis and Planning of Sustainable Chemical Process and Energy Systems"
Date: Wednesday, December 6, 2023
 
Time: 9:30-10:30AM
 
Location: Health Science Technology Building (HST), Forum Room 101
 
This event features Ignacio Grossmann, as the Distinguished Schiesser lecture, who will talk about "Optimal Synthesis and Planning of Sustainable Chemical Process and Energy Systems", as part of the Lehigh University Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering's Fall 2023 Colloquium Seminar Series.
 
The lecture series is supported by a fund established by Dolores T. Schiesser for an annual lecture in interdisciplinary scientific computation. Dr. William E. Schiesser is Emeritus McCann Professor of Computational Biomedical Engineering and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, and Professor of Mathematics at Lehigh University. His research is directed toward numerical methods and associated software for ordinary, differential-algebraic and partial differential equations (ODE/DAE/PDEs). He is the author, coauthor or coeditor of 32 books, and his ODE/DAE/PDE computer routines have been accessed by some 5,000 colleges and universities, corporations and government agencies. 

Abstract

In this seminar we give an overview on the applications of recent models and algorithms for the discrete and continuous optimization of a variety of challenging applications in the optimal synthesis and planning of sustainable chemical processes and energy systems. We provide an overview of applications of deterministic models based on mixed-integer linear/nonlinear programming (MILP/MINLP), Generalized Disjunctive Programming (GDP) and global optimization to highlight the progress that has been made in the application of these optimization techniques to process and energy systems, many of which have been developed by chemical engineers in the area of process systems engineering. We first consider applications of MILP in energy systems that include optimization of hydrogen supply chains, and the long term expansion planning of electric power systems with high penetration of renewables. These problems give rise to optimization models with millions of variables and constraints, which can be effectively solved with special decomposition techniques such as Benders decomposition. We briefly discuss the retrofit of crude oil refineries for processing biomass to produce sustainable aviation fuels. Next, we consider applications of MINLP and GDP that include synthesis of lignocellulosic ethanol, optimization of shale gas infrastructures, and synthesis of intensified distillation columns. These models have the capability of handling rigorous nonlinear models involving thousand and millions of design alternatives. Next, we consider recent algorithms for rigorous global optimization of nonconvex optimization models for which we consider applications in optimal process water networks that involve reuse and recycle, optimal maritime transportation planning under carbon intensity constraints, and optimal design of centralized and distributed manufacturing facilities for biomass production. The significance of these models is that they provide rigorous global optimal solutions. The variety of applications that we cover in this lecture, clearly illustrates the scope that optimization techniques have towards the optimal synthesis and planning of sustainable chemical processes and energy systems.

About the Speaker

Ignacio E. Grossmann is the R. R. Dean University Professor in theDepartment of Chemical Engineering, and former department head at Carnegie MellonUniversity. He obtained his B.S. degree at the Universidad Iberoamericana, MexicoCity, in 1974, and his M.S. and Ph.D. at Imperial  College in 1975 and 1977, respectively. He is a member and former director of the Center for Advanced ProcessDecision-making, an industrial consortium that involves about 20 petroleum, chemical, engineering, and software companies. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and former associate editor of AIChE Journal. He has received the following AIChE awards: Computing in Chemical Engineering, William H. Walker for Excellence in Publications, Warren Lewis for Excellence in Education, Research Excellence in Sustainable Engineering, Founders Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Chemical Engineering. In 2015 he was the first recipient of the Sargent Medal by the IChemE. He has honorary doctorates from Abo Akademi in Finland, University of Maribor in Slovenia, Technical University of Dortmund in Germany, University of Cantabria in Spain, Russian Kazan National Research Technological University, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina, Universidad de Alicante in Spain, and RWTH Aachen, Germany. He is a 2019 top cited scientist in Computer Science and Electronics: 53 Worldwide, 38 National. He has authored more than 700 papers, several monographs on design cases studies, the recent textbook Advanced Optimization in Process Systems Engineering, and the textbook Systematic Methods of Chemical Process Design, which he co-authored with Larry Biegler and Art Westerberg. He has also organized the virtual library on process systems engineering. Grossmann has graduated 68 Ph.D. and 34 M.S. students.

 

Professor,
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Carnegie Mellon University

Dr. William E. Schiesser