University of Alicante

Alicante, Spain

After almost twenty years of existence, the University of Alicante has a very significant potential for socio-economic development in the province, becoming the fourth in total GDP of Spain. The University of Alicante includes around fifty study programmes, over seventy university departments and research groups in the areas of Social Sciences and Law, Experimental Technology, Humanities, Education and Health Sciences and five university research institutes developing the most outstanding research activities in the country.

Our University is the first company in the province of Alicante with over 2,000 employees (administrative and academic staff) and an annual budget of around 90 million Euros. It is indeed a referent for many companies with which it has contracts for technical assistance, technology transfer, internships, postgraduate education … It is also a place of reference in international relations: conventions, university venues, mobility and exchange, cooperation between various innovative projects in various parts of the world. More information…

Our Area for Industrial Experimentation and Research Services (Analytical Lab, Pilot Plants,Laboratories, Computer Service, Information, Bibliographical and Documentation Systems,European Data Centre, New Business Creation Centre, Employment Development Centre, Technology Transfer Office, European Innovation Rely Centre (CENEMES), Office of the Vice President for Technology and Educational Innovation, Image Workshop, International Relations Centre …)

The Institute of Engineering of Chemical Processes and the Department of Chemical Engineering have a marked vocation of service, by what the development of their researchers goes headed to the resolution of those problems that can pose in the society with regard to the chemical processes. Their activities contemplate the possibility of collaboration with organisms of the local administration, provincial or autonomic for the resolution of problems of this field. At the same time, the collaboration with the private industry for the improvement or replacement of processes constitutes another of their main purposes. The main research lines include: Synthesis and Optimisation of chemical processes, Process and Thermal Degradation of Polymers, Analysis of contaminants, Calculations and Determination of Complex Phase Equilibrium Data, Environmental Management, etc.

The UA Team

The research Group CONCEPT (Computer OptimizatioN in Chemical Engineering Processes and Technologies) was created at the University of Alicante in the year 2013, as a result of the joint work from some years in fields of synthesis, design and optimization of chemical processes by professors and researchers in the Institute of Chemical Process Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering in the University of Alicante.

Since its creation, the objective of the research group has been develop systematic methodologies for the design of efficient chemical processes taking simultaneously into account among others, aspects like energy efficiency, security and environmental impact.

Application Areas

Energy efficiency, renewable energy, integration of energy in processing plants.
Advanced separation sequences based on distillation. Sequences with thermal coupling and simultaneous energy integration. Divided Wall Columns.
Hybrid systems of separation (e.g. distillation + vapour membranes)
Processes ‘flowsheet’ design.
Discontinuous processes.
Planning and scheduling of batch processes.
Optimization of the supply chain.

Methodologies

Integration of chemical process simulators with algebraic modelling languages.
Numerical modelling analysis and simulation of chemical processes.
Systematic methods for the generation of superstructures for chemical processes synthesis
Modelling of problems at different levels of abstraction (from aggregated models to rigorous models with high level of detail).
Mathematical programming (optimization) with discrete and continuous variable – MI(N)LP- and generalized disjunctive programming (GDP)
Synthesis and design of chemical products and processes.
Hybrid models simulation – optimization using in each case the best available model to achieve rigorous and reliable results.
Multiobjective optimization, to take into account simultaneously several goals that sometimes can be contradictory.
Life Cycle Assessment of products and processes.