Operational Strategy of Reconfigurable Multi-Effect Evaporation Processes for Bio-Based Amino Acid Production

Abstract

The techno-economic impact of implementing a reconfigurable system in the integrated process was investigated, when L-threonine and L-valine were coproduced with a 5-effect preheater-integrated feed-forward evaporator, followed by single-stage evaporative crystallizers. A superstructure-based modeling and simulation framework was developed to consider all possible multieffect evaporator configurations. Evaporative capacity constrained by solubility limitations and fluid scaling was rigorously examined, providing the knowledge to select the most appropriate configuration and minimize steam consumption without compromising productivity. For L-threonine production, the 4-5-3-2-1 sequence with a preheater showed the highest energy efficiency, with a maximum reduction of 8.4% in steam usage compared to the standard condition. For L-valine production, the 5-4-3-2-1 sequence without a preheater was most energy-efficient, showing a maximum reduction of 7.3% in steam usage compared to the standard condition. These results clearly illustrate the agility of the reconfigurable multieffect evaporation system under various uncertain operational factors.