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Energy Systems Engineering

Process Intensification

Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Institute

SYNOPSIS – Synthesis of Operable Process Intensification Systems

The Texas A&M Energy Institute is leading a 4-year $6.3M RAPID Institute project titled, “SYNOPSIS – Synthesis of Operable Process Intensification Systems,” which will focus on the development of a systematic framework for the discovery of highly-intense, verifiable, operable and safe chemical process systems. The result will be generic software platforms, operability assessment tools, and model libraries for intensified operable modular chemical processes.

Faculty affiliates of the Texas A&M Energy Institute, a joint institute between the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station and the Texas A&M University Division of Research, will also work on this project with faculty members from the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) and Auburn University, as well as industry representatives at the Dow Chemical CompanyRoyal Dutch Shell, and PSE Ltd. Texas A&M faculty contributors include Professors M. Sam Mannan, Faruque Hasan, and Joseph Sang-II Kwon. Georgia Tech contributors include Professor Matthew Realff, and former postdoctoral associate of the late Professor Christodoulos A. FloudasProfessor Fani Boukouvala.

Deploying Intensified, Automated, Mobile, Operable and Novel Designs (DIAMOND) for Treating Shale Gas Wastewater

Mahmoud El-Halwagi, a Texas A&M Energy Institute faculty affiliate, professor of chemical engineering, holder of the Bryan Research and Engineering Chair in Chemical Engineering, and managing director of the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Gas and Fuels Research Center (GFRC), is the principal investigator (PI) of a $5.3M Department of Energy (DOE) research project through the Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Manufacturing Institute of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers(AIChE) titled “Deploying Intensified, Automated, Mobile, Operable and Novel Designs (DIAMOND) for Treating Shale Gas Wastewater.” The team includes university and industry at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Texas at Austin and U.S. Clean Water Technology.

The project is focused on developing integrated design and operating approaches for modular systems that can be deployed in the treatment of flowback and produced water resulting from shale gas production.

Education Program on Computer-Aided Process Intensification

As a part of an award from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Institute, which is overseen by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the Texas A&M Energy Institute is developing a comprehensive educational and workforce development training program specifically focusing on computer-aided and process systems engineering-based strategies for modeling and simulation of process intensification systems.

The COMPLETE project is developing a comprehensive educational and workforce-development training course in the area of modeling and simulation (M&S) for Process Intensification (PI) and Modular Chemical Process Intensification (MCPI). PI and MCPI are relatively new concepts for many practitioners in the chemical industry. Furthermore, conventional chemical engineering education in the areas of process modeling, design, operation, and control does not often adequately address the unique nature of modular and intensified systems.

eLearning Courses on Process Intensification

The Texas A&M Energy Institute and the Rapid Advancement in Process Intensification Deployment (RAPID) Manufacturing Institute, a Manufacturing USA Institute under the U.S. Department of Energy and operated by the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, have joined forces to develop two online, eLearning courses that will provide learners with a basic understanding of computer-aided process intensification (PI).

The first course, Process Design for Process Intensification, provides learners with a basic understanding of computer-aided PI and design methods. It spans the topic from a basic introduction of design methods to different representation and optimization-based approached for generating process flowsheets with PI alternatives.

The second course, Modeling and Simulation for Process Intensification, provides learners with a basic understanding of computer-aided process modeling and simulation of various PI technologies and designs. 

Modeling, Sustainability, and Energy Transition

Energy Transitions Scenario Analysis

This Energy Institute’s effort on Energy Transitions Scenario Analysis focuses on the development of software tools that will accelerate the transformation of the global energy sector from a basis in predominantly fossil fuel sources to a basis in predominantly low- or zero-carbon sources.

To increase the penetration of renewable energy into the power grid and avoid curtailment and overgeneration of electric power, greater investment in energy storage technologies is necessary. However, supply and demand uncertainties pose significant investment risks for renewable power systems with energy storage, which are large capital-intensive projects. Likewise, without considering the potential future operations of a renewable power system during its design and investment planning phase, the undersizing or oversizing of the requisite power and storage capacities could become costly miscalculations.

To address these issues, the EI team has developed decision-making strategies that systematically model the design and operation of renewable power systems with energy storage considerations, all while minimizing capital and operational costs. Using integrated design and scheduling models, in the form of mixed-integer optimization problems, they consider possible investments into new power (wind, solar, biomass) sources, as well as their potential storage capacities. Additionally, operational strategies are also suggested, which consider both the generation potential and associated storage needs, based on the energy demand.