In this paper, a review of the methodologies that have been applied to the synthesis of mass exchange networks is presented, including their chronology. The paper also discusses the differences between a heat exchanger network and a mass exchanger network, highlighting aspects where it is difficult to establish a direct analogy between the two networks. The paper reviews the different mass exchanger network synthesis problem types that have been synthesized using the existing methods, as well as discussions on the benefits of combining the synthesis of heat and mass exchange networks, and a critical analysis of the aspects of mass exchanger network problems that still need to be investigated to fully establish the utility of this process synthesis problem.
