HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32

Module05
Lecture32:HENOptimization
Keywords:HEN,Loopbreaking,PDM,utilitypath,

Inlectures29,30and31itwasshownhowtodesignMaximumEnergyRecovery(MER)HENs.
InMERHENscoldandhotutilitiesasexactlysameastargeted.However,MERHENsarenot
thebestHENsasfarastotalannualcost(TAC)isconcerned.Nowthequestioniswhether,the
MERHENsdesignedinLecture2931canbeimprovedfurther?Theanswertothisquestionis
yes.
Using the PDM a HEN structure can be created based on the assumption that no heat
exchanger should have a temperature difference less than T
min
. However, the structure thus
createdcantbetermedoptimumandsomeprocedureforoptimizationcanbeadopted.Letus
onebyoneseethedrawbacksoftheHENcreatedbyPDM.
In an MER design, the pinch divides the problem into two thermodynamically independent
regionsasshowninFig.5.48(a).HENdesignsareperformedindependentlyforthesetwoparts
andoncedonearejoinedtogethertogetacompleteHENfortheproblem.Duetothisprocess
someweaknessescreepintothedesign.
Now,supposethedesignisconvertedintoanonMERdesignbyallowingamountofheatto
pass through pinch division, then the hot and cold utility amount will rise to Q
Hmin
+ and
Q
Cmin
+ respectively as shown in Fig.5.48(b). Now the earlier regions( Hot end & cold end)
defined in MER design is no longer thermodynamically independent. Thus, if the number of
unitstargetisappliedtothewholeproblem,ignoringpinchdivision,thenonewillobservethat:
U
min(
NonMER)U
min
(MER)
The above result is an expected one and can be explained as follows: When one applies unit
targettoaMERdesign,streamsthatcrosspinchdivisionarecountedtwiceandthusinaMER
design the total number of units are always more than a nonMER design. This clearly shows
thatbyallowingheattotransferthroughpinchdivision,thoughtheamountofutilityincreases,
the number of units is decreased and thus offers an opportunity to decrease the fixed cost of
theHEN.Thusthereisatradeoffbetweenenergyrecoveryandnumberofunitsemployed.
TradingoffunitsandEnergy
TheabovefactsareexplainedthroughtheexamplegiveninTable5.10.

HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32

Table5.10Afourstreamproblemtodemonstrateenergyvs.no.ofunitstradeoff(T
min
=10
0
C)
StreamName SupplyTemperature TargetTemperature CP

H1 160 60 2.5
H2 140 30 1.5
C1 20 125 2
C2 80 130 3.5

The hot pinch temperature for the above problem is 900 C whereas, the cold pinch
temperature 80
0
C. The hot utility requirement is 15 kW whereas that of cold utility
requirementis45kW. ThestreamdiagramisshowninFig.5.49.Thehotendaswellcoldend
designoftheHENwascarriedoutfortheproblem.AfterjoiningthehotandcoldendHENsthe
overall MER HEN is shown in Fig.5.50. It can be seen that the overall number of units in this
designis6includingheaterandcoolerswhereasanonMERdesignshouldproduce5(=4+21)
units. This clearly shows that there is a scope of decreasing one unit in a nonMER design
Q
HMIN

Q
CMIN

COLD END
HOTEND
Pinch
U
min
(MER)=U
min
(HotEnd) +U
min
(ColdEnd)
MaximumEnergyRecovery(MER)Design
NonMERDesign (noconceptof pinch division)

Q
CMIN+

Q
HMIN+

U
min
(nonMER)=N1
U
min
(nonMER)U
min
(MER)
(a)
(b)
Fig.5.48Targetingfornumberofunitsin(a)MERaswellasin(b)nonMERdesigns
HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32
however, at the cost of increased hot and cold utility which is to be investigated to strike a
tradeoff.ThereasonforoneextranumberofunitisduetothepresenceofaloopintheMER
design(pleaseseeLecture14).Thusiftheloop(inFig.5.50)isbrokenthenoneunitcanbe
reduced in the design. However, this will convert the MER design to a nonMER design and
someamountofheatwillpassthroughpinchdivision.Nowthequestioniswhatshouldbethe
properwaytodoitsothatwegetthebenefitofreducednumberofunitsintheHENandatthe
sametimetheamountofheatpassedthroughthepinchisalsonotmuch.
Fig.5.51showsanattempttobreaktheloopbyremovingtheheatexchanger(45kW)placedat
onesideoftheloopandaddingthisloadwiththeheatexchanger(75kW)ontheothersideof
theloopmakingitsloadas120kW.Fromcommonsenseitappearsthatthisarrangementwill
work. However, it violates the T
min
criterion and thus the design is not acceptable. Fig.5.52
showsanalternatearrangementwheretheamountofhotaswellascoldutilitiesareincreased
by 45kW( load of the removed heater). Theoretically, this design works and does not violates
theT
min
criterionandthusacceptable.However,theutilityloadsareincreasedsignificantly.
Nowthequestioniscantherebeathirdalternativetothedesignwhichwilldecreasetheutility
loadsbutwillprovideafeasibledesign?Theanswerisyes,itcanbedonebyutilizingtheutility
pathasdiscussedbelow:

Fig.5.49StreamdiagramfortheproblemshowninTable5.10.
HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32

Fig.5.51GriddiagramoftheHEN(MERDesign)
175kW
75kW+45kW
15kW
75kW
45kW
60C
57.5C
T
min
violation
117.5C
Fig.5.50GriddiagramoftheHEN(MERDesign)
U
min
(MER)=6
175kW
75kW
15kW
75kW 45kW
45kW
HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32

42.5
Fig.5.53Identificationofloop(reddottedline)intheMERHENdesign
Loop1
A
B
C
D
Heater
Cooler
90
60
42.5
117.5
80
T
min
=10C
175kW
75kW
15kW
75kW 45kW
45kW
Fig.5.52GriddiagramoftheHEN(NonMERDesign)
175kW
75kW
15kW+45kW
75kW
45kW+45kW
90C
57.5C
95C
HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32

GiventheHENasinFig.5.53itispossibletoidentifyloopsandutilitypaths.IntheFig.5.53a
loopwhichisshownbyreddottedlinesconnectsexchangersBandD.Itispossibletotracea
closepathinthenetworkforaloop.Thoughtheexistenceofaloopintroducessomeelement
offlexibilitybytransferringloadfromoneunittootherintheloop,itaddsonemoreunitper
loop.Forexample,theloadofexchangerBcanbetransferredtoDwhichispresentinthe
sameloop.Further,bymakingtheloadofanexchangerzerotheexchangercanberemoved
fromtheloopandtheloopcanbebroken.ForexampleiftheloadofexchangerDismade
zeroandtocompensatetheloadtheloadofexchangerBisincreasedto120(=75+45)kW,
thentheloop1canbebroken.However,thiswilldisturbtheheatflowinthenetworkand
violationofT
min
(Fig.5.54)willtakeplacewhichhastoberestoredtokeeptheutilitiesnear
targetedvalue.
TherestorationoftheT
min
canbedonethroughautilitypath.Utilitypathsarethosepaths
whichconnectstwodifferentutilities.Thispathcouldbepathjoininghotutility,steamtocold
utilitycoldwaterorapathfromhighpressuresteamtolowpressuresteam.
ForthepresentcaseinFig.5.55autilitypathfromheaterthroughexchangerBtocooler(
purpledottedline)canbetracedtofindaT
min
compensationplanfortheproblem.
Fig.5.54Identificationofloop(reddottedline)
Loop1
A
B
C
D
Heater
Cooler
60
117.5
57.5
T
min
=10C
45kW45kW=0 75kW+45kW
T
min
violation
175kW
75kW
15kW
75kW 45kW
45kW
HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32

IfweaddheatloadofXtotheheater,itloadbecomes15+XkW,thenforenthalpybalance
theloadofexchangerBshouldbedecreasedbyXamountandtheloadoncoolerbe
increasedbyXamount.Letthetemperatureofstream2beT
1
aftertheexchangerB.Now
torestoretheT
min
,T157.5shouldbeequalto10C.
Theaboveispossiblewhenfollowingequationissatisfied.
140(120X)/1.5=T
1
=57.5+10=67.5C
Or30+(45+X)/1.5=T
1
==57.5+10=67.5C
TosatisfytheaboveequationthevalueofXshouldbe11.25kW.
TheabovesolutionisclearlybetterthanthesolutionofferedinFig.5.52

PDM creates network structures based on the assumption that none of the exchanger in the
network should have a temperature difference less than T
min
. Once a HEN structure is
designed based on PDM, it can be subjected to optimization to improve its cost effectiveness.
Theconstraintimposedonitcanberemovedonebyonetogetimprovedsolutionintermsof
fixedcostofHEN,numberofunitsorshellsinHENorfinallyTACofHEN.
175kW
75kW
75kW
90kW
90kW 120kW
175kW 175kW
75kW
15kW
75kW 45kW
45kW
Fig.5.55Identificationofloop(reddottedline)intheMERHENdesign
A
B
C
15+XkW
Cooler T
1

57.5
T
min
=10C
120XkW
45+XkW
HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32
1. Theconstraintthatnoneoftheexchangershouldhavetemperaturedifferencelessthan
T
min
canberelaxed
2. Theexchangerdutiescouldberedistributedorevensettozerotoremoveoneofit.
3. RemovalofextranumberofunitsintheHENbybreakingloops.
4. ProperselectionofutilitypathsintheHENafterloopbreakingtorestoreT
min
.Utility
pathsandloopsprovidedegreeoffreedomforoptimizationandshouldbeutilizedto
improvecosteffectivenessofHEHs.
5. Streamsplittingalsooffersanadditionaldegreeoffreedomintheprocessof
optimizationandshouldbemanipulatedfortheimprovementofHENs.

References
1. AngelMartn*,FidelA.Mato,Hint:Aneducationalsoftwareforheatexchanger
networkdesignwiththepinchmethod,educationforchemicalengineers3(2008)e6
e14
2. Linnhoff,B.andFlower,J.R.,1978,Synthesisofheatexchangernetworks,AIChEJ,24(4):
633.
3. Linnhoff,B.andHindmarsh,E.,1983,Thepinchdesignmethodforheatexchanger
networks,ChemEngSci,38(5):745.
4. Linnhoff,B.,Townsend,D.W.,Boland,D.,Hewitt,G.F.,Thomas,B.E.A.,Guy,A.R.and
Marsland,R.H.,1994,AUserGuideonProcessIntegrationfortheEfficientUseof
Energy.(TheInstitutionofChemicalEngineers,Rugby,Warks,UK).
5. Smith,R.2005,ChemicalProcess:DesignandIntegration(seconded.),(J.Wiley,JWiley.

HENoptimization Module05 Lecture32