Process synthesis identifies processing routes needed to convert selected raw materials to desired products. Flowsheets are common ways to represent a processing route. In Super-O, processing routes are represented in terms of steps (number of steps needed in a flowsheet), the available alternatives in each step (called intervals) and the connections between the intervals of different steps.
The superstructure is modeled through a generic set of models for each interval and the resulting mathematical programming model (MILP or MINLP) is solved through numerical solvers (in-house or external).
The user only needs to describe the superstructure and provide the required input data. Super-O generates the script to call the numerical solvers.