Multi‐scale systems engineering for energy and the environment: Challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Reprinted fromComputers and Chemical Engineering, 81, M. M. F. Hasan et al., A multi-scale framework for CO 2 capture, utilization, and sequestration: CCUS and CCU):2-21, Analysis is determined from the Web of Knowledge database over all research domains, including science technology, social science, and arts humanities.

Oxygenated commodity chemicals from chemo‐catalytic conversion of biomass derived heterocycles

“…Due to the wide variety of chemicals that can be produced from biomass (including drop‐in products and new molecules) as well as the number of process technologies involved, techno‐economic modeling of biomass conversion processes presents a complex problem. Process systems engineering approaches are thus required to address new challenges (e.g., diversity of biomass feedstocks; reliable property and cost models; systems tools to tackle novel process alternatives), thereby allowing us to systematically identify viable bio‐refinery strategies in competition with petrochemical processes . The design of the biomass supply chain should also be optimized taking into account geographically distributed feedstock availability, available transportation modes and associated costs, candidate plant locations, and demand patterns .…”

Operational strategy and planning for raw natural gas refining complexes: Process modeling and global optimization

“…Prior to the breakthrough of an alternative clean and renewable energy technology, the carbon-heavy fossil fuels are still the main sources to meet energy demand. 1,2 Among the carbonheavy fossil fuels, coal is the dirtiest, while natural gas is the cleanest with significant reserves. 1,3 As a result, the demand of natural gas as a primary energy source is sharply increasing in the last decades.…”

“…1,2 Among the carbonheavy fossil fuels, coal is the dirtiest, while natural gas is the cleanest with significant reserves. 1,3 As a result, the demand of natural gas as a primary energy source is sharply increasing in the last decades. For example, China, facing grand challenges of environmental protection and greenhouse gas reduction, is forced to change configurations of primary energy sources.…”

“…The optimization using advanced techniques in natural gas industry has received much attention during the last decades, 5 similar to other sectors such as petroleum industry, pharmaceuticals, food industries, and batch processes. 1,6,7 Most of those contributions in natural gas industry are limited to the optimization of natural gas productions (recovery), gas pipeline network, and gas market problems. [8][9][10] For instance, Diaz et al 11 proposed a turbo-expansion process model and integrated it into the MINLP optimization problem to optimize the design and debottlenecking of natural gas processing plants.…”

Modelling of solar thermochemical reaction systems

“…Such high temperatures, variations in length scales, temporal scales and physical complexity represent significant challenges when numerically modelling STRSs. A recent perspective by Floudas et al (2016) highlights the challenges of multi-scale phenomena for the energy sector as a whole.…”