| A strategy is presented which unifies the synthesis of high integrity operating procedures and the improvement of process flowsheets. Also, a methodology for algorithmically generating new designs, originally developed for designs of mechanical systems, is articulated for chemical processing designs and extended to produce a new class of design topologies. The novel features of this dissertation are: (1) a methodology for unifying the planning of high integrity operating procedures and the retrofit synthesis of process flowsheets, (2) an examination of the role of stationary states for supporting inherently safer and more reliable operations, (3) a modeling technique for describing process equipment for the establishment of stationary states, (4) a methodology for the quantitative risk evaluation of chemical operations, (5) a methodology for qualitative stationary state stability evaluation, and a scheme for identifying inherently stable operating states, (6) a unified risk reduction strategy for chemical operations, including the flowsheet, control/alarm system, and operating procedures, (7) the Procedural and Structural Planner (PSP), an implementation of the unified operating procedure and process flowsheet synthesis strategy, written in object-oriented LISP, (8) an articulation for chemical engineering problems of 1{dollar}sp{lcub}rm st{rcub}{dollar}PRINCE, a methodology originally developed for algorithmically generating new designs in the domain of mechanical systems, (9) Input Variable Expansion (IVE), a new design space expansion technique for algorithmically generating another class of design topologies within the 1{dollar}sp{lcub}rm st{rcub}{dollar}PRINCE methodology, and (10) an implementation of IVE, written in Mathematic a.; The unified synthesis and evaluation of operating precedures and process flowsheets is demonstrated in the design of a hydrocarbon chlorination startup and that of a pump startup. The algorithmic design generation methodology is illustrated in several examples, including the design of a chemical reactor for first order and more complex kinetics. |
