Multi-objective decision analysis for acrylic acid purification process considering economic benefits and carbon reduction

Acrylic acid, a fundamental chemical and key intermediate in the chemical industry, supports the development of numerous high-value-added downstream industries. During the purification process, how to ensure the process economical and environmentally friendly, without compromising product quality, is a critical challenge. To this end, we first model the acrylic acid purification process using Aspen Plus based on the heterogeneous azeotropic distillation method. We then formulate a multi-objective optimization problem with the goals of maximizing economic benefits and minimizing carbon dioxide emissions, and solve it using multi-objective optimization algorithms to obtain a set of Pareto-optimal trade-off solutions. To facilitate decision-making, we apply the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal (TOPSIS) method to select the optimal operating point from the solution set. Experimental results show that the optimal operating point increases profits by 3.19% and reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 31.21% compared to the initial operating point. To further investigate the influence of environmental policy measures, a carbon tax penalty mechanism is introduced to assess the economic implications of carbon pricing. Subsequently, the steady-state model corresponding to the optimal operating point is imported into Aspen Dynamics for control strategy design and dynamic simulation. The results indicate that the proposed control strategy effectively suppresses the impact of feed flow disturbances on the system and demonstrate strong anti-interference capability. Overall, this study offers a new perspective to the multi-objective operation optimization and decision making for acrylic acid purification process considering economic benefits and reduction.