Filling a void in chemical engineering and optimization literature, this book presents the theory and methods for nonlinear and mixed-integer optimization, and their applications in the important area of process synthesis. Other topics include modeling issues in process synthesis, and optimization-based approaches in the synthesis of heat recovery systems, distillation-based systems, and reactor-based systems. The basics of convex analysis and nonlinear optimization are also covered and the elementary concepts of mixed-integer linear optimization are introduced. All chapters have several illustrations and geometrical interpretations of the material as well as suggested problems. will prove to be an invaluable source—either as a textbook or a reference—for researchers and graduate students interested in continuous and discrete nonlinear optimization issues in engineering design, process synthesis, process operations, applied mathematics, operations research, industrial management, and systems engineering.