Ezra's Round Table / Systems Seminar: Mahmoud El-Halwagi (Texas A&M) - Sustainable Design Through Process Integration

Location

Frank H. T. Rhodes Hall 253

Description

Industrial processes exert some of the most profound impacts on the ecosystem. These impacts are attributed to several factors including the significant usage of natural resources, the environmental discharges associated with the processing, and the ecological effects of the products. Sustainable design of industrial processes is aimed at achieving several objectives including resource conservation, recycle/reuse, pollution prevention, yield improvement, and profitability enhancement. These objectives can be methodically addressed using systems-based approaches. In this context, process integration offers an effective framework for sustainable design. The presentation focuses on two branches of process integration: mass and property integration. Mass integration has evolved as a holistic approach to the generation, separation, and routing of species and streams throughout the process. It is a systematic methodology that provides a fundamental understanding of the global flow of mass within the process and employs it in identifying performance targets and optimizing the allocation and generation of streams and species. The presentation starts by discussing key concepts and tools in the area of mass integration and how this methodology can be used to provide global insights on the process performance. Special emphasis is given to the notion of targeting which enables the benchmarking of process performance ahead of detailed design. The second part of the presentation discusses the concept of property integration which is defined as a functionality-based, holistic approach to the allocation and manipulation of streams and processing units which is based on tracking, adjustment, assignment, and matching of functionalities throughout the process. In particular, the presentation will show systematic rules and visualization techniques for the identification of optimal mixing of streams, their allocation to units based on their properties, task identification, and integration with molecular design. Case studies will be used to illustrate the basic concepts and applicability. Bio: Dr. Mahmoud El-Halwagi is the McFerrin Professor at Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, and the Managing Director of the Gas and Fuels Research Center at Texas A&M University. Dr. El-Halwagi’s main areas of expertise are process integration, synthesis, design, operation, and optimization. Specifically, Dr. El-Halwagi’s research focuses on sustainable design. In addition to the theoretical foundations he helped lay down in these areas, he has been active in education, technology transfer, and industrial applications. He has served as a consultant to a wide variety of chemical, petrochemical, petroleum, gas processing, pharmaceutical and metal finishing industries. He is the coauthor of more than 300 papers and book chapters, the co-editor of seven books, and the author of three textbooks. Dr. El-Halwagi is the recipient of several awards including the American Institute of Chemical Engineers Sustainable Engineering Forum (AIChE SEF) Research Excellence Award, the National Science Foundation's National Young Investigator Award, the Lockheed Martin Excellence in Engineering Teaching Award, the Celanese Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Fluor Distinguished Teaching Award. He is a fellow of the AIChE. Dr. El-Halwagi received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles and his M.S. and B.S. from Cairo University.