(140r) Price-Targeting through Repeated Flowsheet Re-Synthesis in Developing Novel Processing Equipment

Novel processing equipment, i.e., an operating unit, such as any of various separators is continually under development for commercialization. An innovative strategy has been proposed to establish the economically viable target price of such an operating unit through repeated flowsheet re-synthesis by parametrically reducing its current price. The proposed strategy resorts to the P-graphs (process graphs)-based algorithmic method for process-network synthesis. The strategy has been demonstrated to be highly efficient by determining the target price of the pervaporating unit for downstream processing of biochemically manufactured butanol. It is worth noting that the proposed strategy for price-targeting in developing a novel and immature operating unit, such as pervaporation, is fundamentally different from retrofitting, which involves only the mature operating units at their current costs.