As a major consumer of energy and emitter of greenhouse gases, the chemical industry faces the urgent challenge of reducing its environmental footprint. Central to this challenge is the inefficiency of thermal separation processes, which are fundamental to chemical manufacturing but notoriously energy intensive. This requires a systematic and consistent consideration of process intensification during process synthesis and design, extending the concept of classical unit operations. In particular, highly integrated process concepts such as thermally coupled dividing wall columns (DWC), internally heat-integrated distillation columns (HIDiC), and hybrid separation processes have shown tremendous potential for significant energy and cost savings. However, these process concepts are rarely considered in conceptual process design due to a lack of available models in current process simulators and a more complex design with an increased number of design degrees of freedom. This mandates a combined approach that exploits synergies between process intensification and process systems engineering, especially using advanced optimization methods.
