Status
I started my Ph.D. studies in 1995 and will finish my doctoral degree in 1998. My doctoral work is financed by the Norwegian Research Council, and my advisors are Prof. Signe K. Ratkje and Prof. Kristian M. Lien. Part of the work is done on processes belonging to Norsk Hydro, where I also have an office (Hydro Vaekeroe, Avd. for Prosessteknikk).
Research area
In 1995, I completed the theoretical basis for a new principle for process design and optimization, called equipartition of forces. The principle states that the best trade-offs between energy dissipation (related to operating costs) and transfer area (related to investment costs) are achieved when the thermodynamic driving forces are uniformly distributed over the transfer area. I have also worked on the application of this principle to distillation columns and presented this work at the ECOS'95 conference. One of the columns optimized belonged to Norsk Hydro. Later on, Iworked together with Prof. Dr. Ing. Ricardo Rivero at the Mexican Institute of Petroleum in order to compare our theoretically derived optimal designs to his optimal design derived by simulations and experiments. The work uncovered failures in both approaches, which has given valuable input to the further implementation of the general optimization principle to distillation columns. I have also studied "Numerical Calculations" and "Thermodynamics of Fluids" as part of the doctoral degree.
Activities
Publications
Plans for 1996
Next year I will continue my work on optimization of distillation columns and proceed in the direction of azeotrope and reactive distillation. I will also be a co-arranger/co-lecturer of a course at the new thermodynamic centre in Trondheim and present a paper at the ECOS'96 conference in Stockholm