| dc.description.abstract | 21st century energy production, conversion, and delivery systems are expected to succeed in multiple goals such as meeting the increasing energy demand, being economically feasible, being less carbon-intensive, increasing resource utilization efficiency. This requires a transition in technologies, operation strategies, and use of energy in our everyday life. Such a transition necessitates a better understanding and analysis of both the existing and futuristic technologies, pathways, and scenarios.
The aim of my dissertation is to use process systems engineering methods to develop generic frameworks to arrive at realistic integrated solutions to complex energy and environmental problems. Mathematical optimization is at the heart of these systematic and quantitative analysis methods. The systems under investigation range from mesoscale to megascale levels over time horizons from hours to days or years handling chemical engineering problems like modeling, design, planning, and scheduling. The common vision throughout every study is to gain insight on the challenges awaiting the energy transition and provide promising solutions.
This dissertation comprises various studies focusing on both improving the current practices like in the petroleum industry operations or chemical process design and analyzing feasibility of long-range energy transition scenarios that put an emphasis on integrating renewables like solar and wind in power, fuels, and chemicals production. The studies include (i) development of an integrated data-driven modeling and global optimization framework for improving short-term production planning operations in petroleum refineries, (ii) use of a process synthesis and global optimization approach to design optimal ammonia production processes from various pathways including natural gas reforming, biomass gasification, and renewable-powered electrolysis, (iii) development of a novel simultaneous design, scheduling, and supply chain strategy to optimize renewable power generation, storage, and transportation systems, and (iv) an extension of this latter strategy to integrate renewable energy systems with fossil energy systems for multi-product process networks to produce power, fuels, and chemicals in integrated facilities. | en |
