General methodology for exergy balance in ProSimPlus® process simulator

Abstract

International audienceThis paper presents a general methodology for exergy balance in chemical and thermal processes integrated in ProSimPlus® as a well-adopted process simulator for energy efficiency analysis. In this work, as well as using the general expressions for heat and work streams, all of exergy balance is presented within only one software in order to fully automate exergy analysis. In addition, after exergy balance, the essential elements such as source of irreversibility for exergy analysis are presented to help the user for modifications on either process or utility system. The applicability of the proposed methodology in ProSimPlus® is shown through a simple scheme of Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) recovery process and its steam utility system. The methodology does not only provide the user with necessary exergetic criteria to pinpoint the source of exergy losses, it also helps the user to find the way to reduce the exergy losses. These features of the proposed exergy calculator make it preferable for its implementation in ProSimPlus® to define the most realistic and profitable retrofit projects on the existing chemical and thermal plants

Exergy as a tool for measuring process intensification in chemical engineering

“…Exergy analyses have also been implemented in simulation tools. For example, Hinderink et al integrated the subroutines of exergy calculations with the Aspen Plus flowsheeting simulator for the synthesis gas production from natural gas; Querol et al developed a visual basic application for Microsoft Excel 2007 as a helpful tool to perform mass, energy, exergy and thermoeconomic calculations during the systematic analysis of energy processes simulated with Aspen Plus; Abdollahi‐Demneh et al implemented exergy calculations in Aspen HYSYS; and Baudet et al and Ghannadzadeh et al are implementing exergy analyses in ProSim. The integration of exergy analyses by those tools makes the evaluation of processes easier and straightforward.…”

Evaluation of an alternative chlorine production process for energy saving toward sustainability

“…To overcome these limitations, a general exergy balance methodology was developed and integrated in a commercial process simulator. In this methodology, a panel of solutions enumerating the major sources of irreversibility and clues for process improvement for each class of unit operations was constructed based on the identified exergy losses sources and previously published studies .…”

“…In this methodology, a panel of solutions enumerating the major sources of irreversibility and clues for process improvement for each class of unit operations was constructed based on the identified exergy losses sources and previously published studies . However, this panel is not exhaustive and needs to be gradually enriched during the analysis of different case studies such as Natural Gas Liquids (NGL) recovery process and ammonia production process where the results are provided in the form of visualized exergetic process flowsheets .…”

“…However, unlike these analyses, this study does not only find the worst unit operation through a comprehensive exergy analysis, but also proposes improvement methods based on the key sources of irreversibilities. Although some of these improvements can also be identified by competent chlorine process developers, the exergy analysis using the panel of solution makes sure all the possible significant improvements are taken into account through a systematic approach.…”

“…The diagnosis of the entire process and individual blocks is included and the results are presented in the form of visualized exergetic process flowsheets. These flowsheets help to use the proposed solution panel to suggest systematic ways to reduce the main sources of losses in different blocks; thus, achieving a higher overall efficiency and enhancing the sustainability aspects of production process.…”