This paper describes our experience at the University of Coimbra in introducing discrete optimization topics in an Operations Management (OM) course and how those topics and associated tools are then exploited in subsequent senior courses, namely Process Integration and Intensification, Product Design and Process Design.
This method consists of three steps, namely process simulation, capacity-oriented process intensification, and design validation.
Microchannel technology has attracted great interest due to its potential for process intensification and design of compact devices.
By intensification of design and operating conditions, the reactor allows the methyl acetate production to be carried out in a fast and continuous operation, but the purity of methyl acetate obtained at reactor outlet is limited by initial composition of the reactants.
For working faces of coal seams with low gas contents, which have higher intensification, the designed production capacity can be achieved according to the pattern of 'one coal mine, one mining area, and one working face'.
The presented results can have potential application in process intensification and optimum design of heat exchangers.
However, intensification of the design feature of the built environment in developed areas may work in the opposite direction; the modeling results showed a 1% increase in grid-like network being associated with 0.8% increase in household vehicle emissions.
A possible solution is offered by process intensification (PI), a design approach offering concrete benefits in manufacturing and processing, substantially shrinking equipment size, boosting plant efficiency, saving energy, reducing capital costs, increasing safety, minimizing environmental impact and maximizing the raw materials exploitation.
Process intensification concerns the design of novel equipment based on scientific principles and new production methods and is obtained in using either multifunctional reactors, or new operating modes, or microengineering and microtechnology for both high throughput and formulation screening, and for chemical production.
