Sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems

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Highlights

  • State-of-the-art review of sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems.

  • Research challenges of the superstructure optimization approach.

  • Incorporating consequential LCA into sustainable energy systems design.

  • Handling uncertainties using a multi-stage robust optimization approach.

  • Perspectives on multi-scale energy system optimization.

This paper provides an overview of sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems. We review recent progress and present major research challenges of the superstructure optimization based approach in terms of: (1) systematic generation of comprehensive process superstructures; (2) building optimization models that integrate techno-economic assessment with life cycle sustainability analysis while addressing uncertainty issues; (3) efficient computational algorithms for solving the resulting mixed-integer nonlinear optimization problems. Process integration and process intensification are briefly outlined as alternative approaches to sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems. This paper identifies several future research directions for sustainable design of energy systems, such as broadening the scope of sustainable design with a consequential perspective, handling uncertainties using multi-stage robust optimization techniques, and integrating standalone energy systems through multi-scale optimization.

Introduction

Energy systems involve a broad range of systems that are related to the generation and consumption of energy [1, 2]. This paper focuses on systematic methods for sustainable design and synthesis of such systems as they relate to chemical engineering. Energy production is integral to our society both now and in the future. As nonrenewable sources diminish, it will be critical to design and synthesize sustainable energy systems to meet future energy demands. In previous years, process systems engineering has expanded to incorporate sustainability issues in energy systems design. Accordingly, methods such as superstructure optimization, process integration, process intensification, among others, and their applications to sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems have become an active research area [3].

This paper reviews recent progress in this area and presents three major research challenges of the superstructure optimization based approach for energy systems design. The first challenge is to generate comprehensive process superstructures in a systematic manner; the second challenge involves developing optimization models based on the superstructure and integrating techno-economic assessment and life cycle sustainability analysis methodology with the model while also addressing uncertainty issues; the third challenge lies in the development of efficient computational algorithms for solving the superstructure optimization problem to obtain the sustainable design and synthesis decisions. Additionally, to address these research challenges we identify future research directions, including the introduction of a consequential perspective into sustainable design, the application of multi-stage robust optimization techniques to hedge against uncertainties, and the utilization of multi-scale optimization to determine the best integrated energy systems.

The rest of this article is organized as follows. The next section briefly outlines three approaches to process synthesis. Later, we review recent contributions and present research challenges in sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems, followed by other approaches to sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems. Future research directions are discussed in the penultimate section. The article is concluded in the last section.

Section snippets

Approaches to process synthesis

Several systematic methods have been developed to search among technology and process alternatives [4••]. The first one is total enumeration, which simply evaluates every alternative and selects the one with the best performance [5]. This method is straightforward in principle but demands large amounts of computational or labor resources unless the number of alternatives is considerably small. The second method, referred to as the evolutionary method, begins with a feasible base-case design and

Sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems based on superstructure optimization

Sustainability has recently emerged as an important consideration in the design and synthesis of energy systems [22••]. Evaluating sustainability metrics during the conceptual design phase provides a straightforward method to assess the sustainability of an energy system. However, this static method does not support the search for the most sustainable design, even though arduous, iterative evaluations can improve the sustainability of a design gradually. A trending systematic method for

Other approaches to sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems

In addition to superstructure optimization, there are other approaches for sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems. One group of approaches falls into the category of process integration. Pinch analysis is among the most well-known approaches to process integration for sustainable design due to straightforward graphical representations [74, 75]. A series of extensions based on pinch analysis methods have been devoted to sustainability analysis with emphases on heat and power

Future research directions for sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems

With a clear understanding of recent progress and research challenges for sustainable design and synthesis, we propose three directions for future research on energy systems design.

Conclusion

Sustainable design and synthesis of energy systems is an active research field. We reviewed recent progress and summarized major research challenges of the superstructure optimization approach in terms of systematic generation of comprehensive process superstructures, superstructure optimization models that integrate techno-economic assessment and LCA while addressing uncertainty issues, and efficient computational algorithms for solving the resulting mixed-integer nonlinear optimization

References and recommended reading

Papers of particular interest, published within the period of review, have been highlighted as:

  • • of special interest

  • •• of outstanding interest

Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern University (ISEN).

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