The emergence of Pinch Analysis from more than four decades ago opened a new area of intense research development that has even accelerated in recent years. Initially, Pinch Analysis (PA) provided a systematic thermodynamic-based approach to address the need for large energy savings around the 1970s oil crises. Since inception, the Pinch Methodology (PM) has flourished considerably, finding meaningful application to a wide range of industrial, regional, and global challenges well beyond heat – it’s most well-known and first application. This review represents an attempt to identify and substantiate future directions of research for the most significant implementations of Pinch Methodology. Reported applications in the literature range from Heat Integration, Total Site and Water Integration through to Emergy and even Financial Investment Planning; cutting across multiple engineering fields – Mechanical, Chemical, Process, Power, and Environmental Engineering – as well as entering the research domains of Management and Finance. Key findings of this review include: (1) the need for more awareness within the engineering and science research communities of the latest and continuing developments of the Pinch Methodology; (2) a need for complete tool sets covering targeting through to engineering design for many of the Pinch Methodology applications; and, (3) the full benefits of Pinch Methodology can only be achieved in developing design solutions with an appreciation for the most recent developments.

New directions in the implementation of Pinch Methodology (PM)

Process Integration supporting process design, integration and optimisation has been around for more than 40 years. Its development has been closely related to developing the Chemical Engineering, implementation of mathematical modelling and the application of information technology. Its development has been accelerating as the methodology has been able to provide answers and support for important issues regarding economic development—energy, water and resources better utilisation and savings. This contribution is targeted towards a short overview of recent achievements and future challenges.

Recent developments in Process Integration

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00675409/document

Recent development in the retrofit of heat exchanger networks

A new graphical method for Pinch Analysis applications: Heat exchanger network retrofit and energy integration

Application of intensified heat transfer for the retrofit of heat exchanger network

Heat exchanger networks are an integral part of chemical processes as they recover available heat and reduce utility consumption, thereby improving the overall economics of an industrial plant. This paper focuses on heat exchanger network design for multi-period operation wherein the operating conditions of a process may vary with time. A typical example is the hydrotreating process in petroleum refineries where the operators increase reactor temperature to compensate for catalyst deactivation. Superstructure based multi-period models for heat exchanger network design have been proposed previously employing deterministic optimisation algorithms, e.g. ( Aaltola, 2002 , Verheyen and Zhang, 2006 ). Stochastic optimisation algorithms have also been applied for the design of flexible heat exchanger networks recently ( Ma et al., 2007 , Ma et al., 2008 ). The present work develops an optimisation approach using simulated annealing for design of heat exchanger networks for multi-period operation. A comparison of the new optimisation approach with previous deterministic optimisation based design approaches is presented to illustrate the utilisation of simulated annealing in design of optimal heat exchanger network configurations for multi-period operation.

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Multi-period design of heat exchanger networks

This is the second part of a series that applies optimization to maximize the productivity and minimize operating costs of existing heat-integrated crude oil distillation systems. This paper presents a two-level retrofit approach for heat exchanger networks. In the first level, simulated annealing proposes topology modifications to the existing network (e.g., adding, removing, and relocating heat exchangers; changing the heat loads of heat exchangers, adding and removing stream splitters, and changing the split fraction of stream splitters). In the second level, a repair algorithm addresses the violation of constraints. These constraints consider the minimum temperature approach, stream enthalpy balances, and existing heat transfer areas. The repair algorithm is formulated as a nonlinear least-squares problem. Temperature-dependent thermal properties are considered in this work for the accurate prediction of stream temperatures. Two case studies illustrate the application of the proposed methodology to decrease total annualized costs.

Optimization of Heat-Integrated Crude Oil Distillation Systems. Part II: Heat Exchanger Network Retrofit Model

Area-based optimization approach for refinery heat exchanger networks

Distillation is the largest single energy consumer in the chemical process industries. However, distillation does not consume energy but degrades the heat input to the reboiler that is subsequently rejected in the condenser. The most effective way to reduce the energy consumption of distillation is by effective heat integration. However, the distillation design and operation must be considered simultaneously with its heat integration. For single distillation columns it is straightforward to identify appropriate heat integration opportunities. For complex distillation systems, the most appropriate combination of distillation system design and operation and heat integration are far from straightforward. The whole separation system together with its heat integration and utility system must be considered simultaneously. This presentation will explain new approaches to be design of heat integrated distillation systems. Examples will be developed from crude oil distillation and from low-temperature separation in chemicals production. Copyright ? 2010, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.

Lu Chen

Papers

Recent development in the retrofit of heat exchanger networks

Multi-period design of heat exchanger networks

Optimization of Heat-Integrated Crude Oil Distillation Systems. Part II: Heat Exchanger Network Retrofit Model

Area-based optimization approach for refinery heat exchanger networks

Heat Integrated Distillation System Design