The Use of Pinch Technology to Reduce Utility Consumption in a Natural Gas Processing Plant

Abstract

The present work aims at investigating opportunities for energy conservation in Western Desert Gas Complex (WDGC) through modification of the heat exchanger train. Process simulation of the plant was performed using HYSYS steadystate simulation program. This step was necessary to furnish stream property data requested for heat analysis as well as condenser and reboiler duties. Adopting the pinch design technology, minimum heating and cooling energy requirements were calculated for different values of minimum approach temperature (T min ). Two methods were used, the problem table algorithm of the pinch method and the linear programming method. Then designing the heat exchanger network (HEN) took place according to the pinch design method to achieve target utilities for each T min . The optimum HEN is that which achieves considerable heat recovery with least annualized total cost. The optimum HEN design was found to correspond to T min of 10 ı C and achieved saving of hot and cold utilities as 42 and 21%, respectively, compared to the actual utilities consumption of the existing plant. These savings can be realized by adding only two heat exchangers to the existing network with a payback period of 1 year.

Heat exchanger network design for the optimization of total annual cost of the Catalytic Reforming Unit

“…process-to-process heat integration (Barnes, 2013). There have been feasible and progressive successes in the industrial application of optimal heat exchanger network, which have also yielded financial gain by reduction in external energy consumption over the years (El-Temtamy et al, 2010). In this work, the Pinch Technology as available in Apen Pinch was used to synthesize and evaluate the heat exchanger network of the catalytic reforming unit of KRPC.…”

Improving the Energy Efficiency for Propane Recovery from Natural Gas using Pinch Technology: A Case Study

“…Considering the cold side of the pinch there are no cold streams reaching the pinch, i.e., no pinch matches are required; therefore, we are free to match any hot stream with any hot stream [9][10][11][12]. Figure6. shows the grid diagram with five pinches; only one pinch (101.7-93 o C) is the process pinch, others are utility pinches.…”

Advances in Energy Systems Engineering and Process Systems Engineering in China—A Review Starting from Sargent’s Pioneering Work

“…In the meantime, research on the synthesis of heat exchanger network (HEN) emerged. HEN can be defined as a heat recovery system consisting of a set of heat exchangers [31]. By suitable arrangement of heat exchangers, the resulting HEN can have higher heat efficiency and make better use of thermal energy, leading to reduced energy consumption and costs.…”