| Title: | OpenHENS: an open-source tool for heat exchanger network synthesis |
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| Authors: | ID Hall, Keegan Keysers (Author)
ID Nemet, Andreja (Author)
ID Kravanja, Zdravko (Author)
ID Walmsley, Timothy Gordon (Author) |
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| Files: |  1-s2.0-S0098135425004326-main.pdf (17,21 MB)
MD5: AE70236354EA8D0629F5B6AC2179D6E8
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| Language: | English |
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| Work type: | Article |
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| Typology: | 1.01 - Original Scientific Article |
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| Organization: | FKKT - Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
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| Abstract: | The synthesis of heat exchanger networks (HENs) is an NP hard problem, made even more difficult by the requirement of commercial software licenses and coding ability. This paper introduces OpenHENS, a first-of-itskind open-source tool for HEN synthesis. In the literature, HEN synthesis based on mathematical programming almost exclusively relies on commercial MINLP (mixed-integer non-linear programming) solvers (e.g., BARON, Gurobi, etc.). Open source MINLP solvers, in contrast, lack the robustness, scalability and quality that are the hallmarks of commercial solvers. To overcome this challenge, OpenHENS embeds a novel three-step synthesis method that gradually increases the complexity of the model. The first two steps identify economically viable and thermodynamically feasible heat exchanger matches, removing the non-viable matches and reducing the problem size. In the third step, numerous HEN designs are obtained by evolving promising networks to obtain families of near-optimal solutions. OpenHENS was tested on thirteen benchmark problems and seven of the solutions were within 2 % of the total annualised cost (TAC) best-known solutions from literature. In eleven of the benchmark problems, OpenHENS returned more than 10 unique networks within 2 % of the best solution, enabling the engineer to select the most practical design with minimal cost difference. OpenHENS demonstrates that open-source software, when developed correctly, offers comparable performance to commercial software while promoting greater accessibility in industry. |
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| Keywords: | heat exchanger network, process integration, optimization, mathematical programming, open source, Phyton |
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| Publication status: | Published |
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| Publication version: | Version of Record |
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| Submitted for review: | 18.06.2025 |
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| Article acceptance date: | 29.09.2025 |
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| Publication date: | 03.10.2025 |
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| Publisher: | Elsevier |
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| Year of publishing: | 2026 |
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| Number of pages: | 58 str. |
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| Numbering: | Vol. 205, [article no.] 109429 |
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| PID: | 20.500.12556/DKUM-95857  |
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| UDC: | 66:004.8 |
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| ISSN on article: | 0098-1354 |
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| COBISS.SI-ID: | 255569155 |
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| DOI: | 10.1016/j.compchemeng.2025.109429 |
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| Copyright: |
© 2025 The Author(s) |
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| Publication date in DKUM: | 03.11.2025 |
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| Views: | 305 |
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| Downloads: | 12 |
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| Metadata: |    |
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| Categories: | Misc.
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