Optimization of scheduling of cleaning in heat exchanger networks subject to fouling: sugar industry case study.

摘要

Fouling of heat exchangers in the food industry results in frequent cleaning and an operational problem in scheduling production and cleaning periods. The complexity of the problem increases when a network involving more than one exchanger is involved, and requires a solution using integer programming techniques. A new modelling formulation has been developed to solve the resulting MINLP problem and provides near-optimal results. Application of the technique is illustrated with a case study of the raw juice preheat train in a sugar refinery featuring a network of 11 exchangers. Data reconciliation of plant information was used to generate linear fouling models for the simulation and the results are compared with current operating practice.