(398f) Systems Integration across Multiple Processing Clusters: Design of a Cluster of Clusters

Planning an efficient utilization of material and energy resources should be performed so as the economic development is achieved while considering climate action goals and commitments. This requires an optimal integration of the resources within a system and across multiple systems. The wholistic approach would allow the determination of the best processing pathways that allow resources to be utilized, produced, and exchanged while maximizing profit and meeting global environmental constraints. Previous studies in the field of Process Systems Engineering proposed optimization tools that integrate resources within a processing cluster under different economic and environmental objectives. However, such studies do not consider the supply chain of the exported and imported resources and the interactions through that between multiple systems. This work presents a comprehensive method that allows the integration between different processing clusters by considering the supply chain of the exchanged resources as an additional cluster. The representation of the multiple clusters would allow the optimization of the integration within each cluster and through the supply chain across the different systems to increase the generated profit while meeting allowable levels of emissions and waste generation. The method is demonstrated through a case study in which supply chain of energy carriers considering the processing of resources at an energy importer and exporter is optimized to yield the lowest cost of achieving a sustainable energy transition.