Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Design [antikvár]

PREFACE Improved process engineering in general and better process design specifically hold the key to technology advancement in the chemical as well as biological, electronic, and other processing industries. This has been recognized, for example, by the establishment by the National Science Foundation of its Design Theory and Methodology program, its support of the Engineering Design Research Center at Carnegie Mellon University, and the identification of Computer-Assisted Process Engineering as one of seven key frontiers in the National Research Council's Amundson Report. Given these challenges within the industrial environment, it is appropriate that new process design theories and methodologies in chemical and other domains, as well as advances in chemical and mechanical product design, be discussed, critiqued, and debated. This volume contains the proceedings of the Third International Conference on Foundations of Computer-Aided Process Design (FOCAPD) held July 9-14, 1989 in Snowmass Village, Colorado. The conference was sponsored jointly by the Computing and Systems Technology (CAST) Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and the nonprofit CACHE (Computer Aids for Chemical Engineering Education) Corporation with support from the National Science Foundation. Earlier conferences in this series were held in 1980 and 1983. The FOCAPD series is a companion to two other series of conferences jointly sponsored by CAST and CACHE, namely Computer Process Control (CPC) and Foundations of Computer-Aided Plant Operations (FOCAPO). 170 participants from 19 countries attended the present conference. Government agencies, operating companies, engineering contractors, software vendors, academic institutions, and graduate researchers were all represented. The specific objectives of the conference were to provide a forum for an in-depth review of the current state of the art in chemical process design as well as an introduction to process and product design in other disciplines, an evaluation of current and future needs in process design, a formulation of new research directions in computer-aided process design, and an examination of educational needs in chemical engineering design. It is hoped that the presentations as reflected in these proceedings will act as a bridge between established areas of design and design paradigms and the new directions in design theory and methodology, and a catalyst to foster an expanded scope of process design and its impact on product formulation, operational quality, and economic robustness of manufacturing and processing systems. The nine sessions of the conference focused on design theory and methodology, artificial intelligence applications in process engineering, chemical process synthesis, nonlinear systems analysis, batch and retrofit design, process engineering environments, chemical and nonchemical product design, recent process design research results, and speculations on the future of process design.