Optimal synthesis of complex distillation columns using rigorous models

The synthesis of complex distillation columns has remained a major challenge since the pioneering work by [Sargent, R.W.H., & Gaminibandara, K. (1976). Optimal design of plate distillation columns. In L.C.W. Dixon (Ed.), Optimization in action. New York: Academic Press]. In this paper, we first provide a review of recent work for the optimal design of distillation of individual columns using tray-by-tray models. We examine the impact of different representations and models, NLP, mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) and generalized disjunctive programming (GDP), as well as the importance of appropriate initialization schemes. We next provide a review of the synthesis of c f d t ©