Études expérimentale et numérique des mécanismes de condensation de vapeur d’eau au sein d’un mini-canal d’échangeur

The depletion of resources and the accumulation of pollutant gases in the atmosphere are nowadays of growing concern. The current energy transition requires that certain material and energy transformation processes be partially modified or profoundly reconsidered to fit more sustainable operating conditions. Low-carbon electricity and hydrogen can substitute fossil fuels, leading to an energy mix with a low greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. In addition to hydrogen, the production of alternative fuels and high value-added products is another way to support the energy transition.Looking for optimal, sustainable and economical processes is therefore a major challenge that process engineers are facing. The present work has thus focused on the intensification of mass and energy transformation processes, through multifunctional units, which take advantage of the synergies between elementary functions of transformation (reaction, transfer, separation, etc.) within an intensive equipment. The concept of multifunctional reactors, coupling several elementary functions, has been a real success when historical demonstrators were created (Eastman-Kodak process, etc.), but their implementation has not been generalized, due to a lack of practical design methodology.This work focuses on the implementation of some intensification methodologies to understand and improve the performance of a process involving balanced exothermic reactions. The dimethyl ether (DME) direct synthesis from CO₂ and H₂ is considered as a case study. Different exploratory ways for the DME direct synthesis process development have been investigated based on modeling and simulation. Reactor- Heat exchanger, multifunctional reactor (reactor-heat exchanger-membrane separator), hybrid elementary block processes and a process involving the cooled reactor in a conventional process environment in the presence of additional unit operations and recycle loop are studied from different angles. Different optimization cases and strategies have been addressed which differ by the decision variables and the solving method. The different methodologies applied have demonstrated the relevance of the solutions obtained and the opening towards process innovation.At the equipment level, the profiles optimization represents the heart of the methodology. The results demonstrate the potential of multifunctional reactors: a CO₂ conversion per pass of 98%, a DME yield of 95% and the possibility to remove a distillation column are obtained. In order to assess the maximum achievable performance in a multifunctional reactor, a hybrid process of elementary blocks has been optimized. At the process scale, the reactor behavior has been studied to further understand the impact of the reactor integration in a recycle loop and to estimate the local and global effects on the multiple performance criteria. Based on various criteria (overall DME yield, overall CO₂ conversion, TRL, etc.), the comparison of the different designs revealed that a reduction of the equipment number by a factor of 11 is possible in the case of a multi-functional reactor choice.