By recognizing similarities in flowsheets, engineers can understand ways in which to improve the design and efficiency of chemical processes. However, there is no prior literature on how to compare flowsheets and mine them for common patterns. To fill this gap, we propose the first systematic methodology to mine patterns in chemical process flowsheets. The proposed methodology consists of three major steps, each of which has a polynomial time complexity. We apply our methodology to several case studies that involve comparisons of up to 18 different flowsheets. The patterns identified by our methodology are consistent with engineering practice and heuristic rules in the process synthesis literature. © 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 65: 592–603, 2019

中文翻译：

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化学过程流程图中的模式识别

通过识别流程图中的相似之处，工程师可以了解改善化学工艺设计和效率的方法。但是，目前尚无有关如何比较流程图以及如何将其挖掘为通用模式的文献。为了填补这一空白，我们提出了第一种系统的方法来挖掘化学过程流程图中的模式。所提出的方法包括三个主要步骤，每个步骤都具有多项式时间复杂度。我们将我们的方法应用于几个案例研究，其中涉及多达18个不同流程图的比较。我们的方法论确定的模式与过程综合文献中的工程实践和启发式规则一致。©2018美国化学工程师学会AIChE J，65：592–603，2019