الفهرس 
Chapter 1: Introduction and Literature SurveyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 95 |  |  |
| | | from | 95 | | |
Abstract
This study presents an algorithm for the optimization of mass exchange network which is a part of process integration. Fuzzy logic approach is used to calculate the optimal minimum allowable composition difference (ɛ) to target the minimum total annualized cost (TAC) of a mass exchange network (MEN), which is based on combining composition interval diagram (CID) with fuzzy set theory. The importance of minimum allowable composition difference (ɛ) lies in its direct effect of the TAC. When (ɛ) is increased, the operating cost would increase, whereas the capital cost would decrease, so the values of (ɛ) should be taken as optimal variables and optimized to obtain a minimum TAC. By utilizing this decision algorithm it gives the opportunity to calculate the optimum composition difference by decision making from a wide range of (ɛ) assumed. This method is very simple and more convenient than the methods previously published; as the decision is taken without calculating TAC for every assumed (ɛ).This method considers the capital cost and operating cost simultaneously with the TAC as an objective to obtain the optimal (ɛ) values and the network structure of the MEN by means of simple mathematics and programming. The algorithm is applied on two case studies and a comparison between TAC for several other techniques is made and resulted in success of the fuzzy approach to find the optimal TAC using an easier mathematical algorithm.