Operations Research 2025
Abstract Submission

196. An industry perspective on the design of heat exchanger networks

Invited abstract in session WE-3: District heat and heat networks, stream Energy and Sustainability.

Wednesday, 16:30-18:00
Room: H5

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Daniela Gaul
OPTANO GmbH
2. Felix Borgelt
OPTANO GmbH
3. Stephen Braun
Energiesystemtechnik, University of Paderborn
4. Florian Schlosser
Energiesystemtechnik, University of Paderborn

Abstract

Increasing sustainability requirements and rising energy costs are prompting companies to reduce CO2 emissions from process heat. The use of waste heat through heat recovery and heat pumps offers untapped potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, among other hurdles, a lack of knowledge about optimal integration points is currently preventing the large-scale implementation of waste heat recovery.

The aim of the project HeatTransPlan is to support industrial companies on their way to climate-neutral process heat. To this end, in collaboration with University of Paderborn, OPTANO GmbH provides the decision-making basis for a holistic transformation process using mathematical optimization. We present an industry perspective on the design of optimal heat exchanger networks. After explaining the basic concepts of thermodynamics and heat exchange, we present a mixed-integer linear program, which is solved using a commercial solver. The performance is then enhanced by constraints derived from pinch analysis.

Keywords

Status: accepted


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