PRESENTED BY

Shubham Aggarwal (4th yr.)

Chetan Aggarwal (3rd yr.)

Seth Jai Prakash Mukand Lal Institute Of

Engineering & Technology
Radaur,Kurukshetra University
Kurukshetra
Haryana
 Contents
• Introduction
• Techniques available for process
integration
• Pinch technology
• Features and Benefits of Pinch
• Where pinch technology is used?
• Concept of pinch technology
• Phases of pinch technology
• A Retrofit Project
 PROBLEMS OF PROCESS
INDUSTRY RELATED TO ENERGY
• Borrowed, often obsolete technology
• Energy consumption per unit production
much higher than in western industries
• No concept of process integration
ENERGY MANAGEMENT THROUGH
PROCESS INTEGRATION - A REALITY

• Problems of Indian industries can be solved

by using techniques that minimize energy
consumption with minimum investment.
• Process integration is one such technique.
 PROCESS INTEGRATION
The Process Integration is defined as “Systematic
and general methods for designing integrated
production systems, ranging from individual
processes to total sites, with special emphasis on
the efficient use of energy and reducing
environmental effects”.
Process Integration is a part of Process
Intensification (PI).
Ramshaw, 1995, defined PI as:
“A strategy for making dramatic reductions in the
size of a chemical plant so as to reach a given
production objective”.
Techniques available for process
Integration
 Pinch Technology Approach
 MILP/MINLP Approach
 State-Space Approach
 Genetic Algorithm Approach
 Process Graph Theory Approach
 Supertargeting Approach
 Methods in Process Integration
The three major features of Process
Integration methods are:
• The use of heuristics (insight)
• The use of thermodynamics
• The use of optimization techniques.

Pinch Analysis is a method with a particular

focus on Thermodynamics. Hierarchical
Analysis and Knowledge Based Systems are
rule-based approaches with the ability to
handle qualitative (or fuzzy) knowledge.
Finally, Optimization techniques can be divided
into deterministic (Mathematical Programming)
and non-deterministic methods (stochastic
search methods such as Simulated Annealing
 QUALITATIVE
One possible Knowledge Heuristic
classification of Based Systems Rules
Process Integration Hierarchic INTERACTIVE
AUTOMATIC
methods is to use the al
two-dimensional Analysis
(automatic vs. Optimization Thermodynamic
interactive and Methods Methods
quantitative vs.
qualitative) QUANTITATIVE
representation in Fig. 1 One possible Classification of Process
figure 1. Integration Methods
 PINCH TECHNOLOGY
Pinch Technology was introduced by Linnhoff in
1978 to solve heat exchange problems as an
energy saving tool. Pinch Technology forms the
essence of optimization of processes by energy
and resource analysis (OPERA).

Pinch technology reveals all the possible savings and

their corresponding financial benefits.

• It defines the maximum possible savings.

• It looks at the overall site.
• It does not bench-mark but takes into account all specific mill
factors, age, location, process equipment, operating
preferences, product, etc.
• It reveals the maximum cogeneration potential
 Features and Benefits of Pinch…
• Targets for minimum heating & cooling.

• Quantifies scope for heat recovery.

• Analysis Includes the process unit or the whole site, as

appropriate:
• Design tools define appropriate project.

• Shows what to do with low-grade waste heat.

• Combined Heat and Power (CHP).

• Practical application brings real benefits.

WHERE PINCH TECHNOLOGY IS USED?
 Heat integration
 Distillation column targeting
 Cogeneration & total site targeting
 Batch process targeting
 Emission targeting
 Mass exchange network ( Water & waste water
management & recovery of valuable materials)
 Hydrogen management in refineries
 CONCEPT OF PINCH
TECHNOLOGY
ONION DIAGRAM
Fig. 2. The process design hierarchy can be represented
by “onion diagram” as shown below.

1
The heat and
material
2
3
4
Main points from onion
balance is at
this boundary
Reactor
Separator
diagram
Heat exchange
network
Design of a process starts with the reactors.
Utilities Separator can be designed for known feeds,
products, recycle concentrations and flow rates.
Site-Wide Utilities
Fig. 2 Onion Diagram For heat and material balance, heat exchange
network (HEN) can be designed.
For remaining heating and cooling duties, the
utility system is designed.
 PROBLEM ADDRESSED
Generally two types of problem are
addressed:
• Creating New Designs
This is related to the design of HEN for a new
plant, which is in design stage.

• Retrofit – Revamping Existing Designs

This is related to the retrofitting of an already
existing HEN in a plant to improve its
exchange efficiency.
 PHASES OF PINCH
TECHNOLOGY
There are four phases of pinch analysis in the design of heat
recovery systems for both new and existing processes:
DATA EXTRACTION
It relates to the extraction of information required for pinch technology
from a given process heat and material balance.
PERFORMANCE TARGETS
Targeting provides a fundamental insight into heat recovery options in a
process. It does this by giving a system-wide view of the heating and
cooling requirements at different temperature levels.
NETWORK DESIGNING
In design the user will typically work with an incomplete network and try
to follow the pinch design rules.
NETWORK OPTIMIZATION
Heat exchange network for maximum energy recovery established by
pinch design method, should only be regarded as initial designs and
some final optimization is required.
 Graphical
Representation
Composite curve
200 Region of heat recovery by QHmin
process to process exchange
150
∆Tmin
T (C)

100
Below Above
50 pinch pinch HCC
QCmin CCC
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Heat Content Q (kW)
Fig. 6. The HCC and CCC show the heat availability and heat
requirement for the overall process
 Analytical Procedure
Problem Table Algorithm (PTA)
For the calculation of energy targets, only the inlet temperatures,
outlet temperature and heat capacity flow rates are required.
The steps involved in PTA are:
• Determination of temperature intervals
• Calculation of net MCP in each interval
MCp,int = Σ MCp,c – Σ MCp.h for each interval
• Calculation of net enthalpy in each interval
• Calculation of cascaded heat
• Revision of cascaded heat
• Determination of energy targets
 Implementation of Problem Table Algorithm

Interva Col. A Col. B Col. C Col. D Col. E

l i. Tint MCp,int Qint Qcas Rcas

0 165 0 0 0 605
1 122 10 430 -430 175
2 115 25 175 -605 0
3 55 -15 -900 295 900
4 50 25 125 170 775
5 35 10 150 20 625
6 30 20 100 -80 525
stream
H1 H2 C3 C4
MCp
10 40 20 15
 Concept of Pinch

The composite curve gives the information as:

Minimum hot utility (QHmin) = 605 kW

Minimum cold utility (QCmin) = 525 kW
Hot pinch temperature = 125 ˚C
Cold pinch temperature = 105 ˚C

∆Tmin is known as the “pinch” and once the pinch is recognized it is

possible to consider the process as two separate systems: one above the
pinch and one below the pinch. The system above the pinch requires a
heat input and is therefore a net heat sink. Below the pinch, the system
rejects heat and so is a net heat source.
 Concept Of Multiple Utility

The energy requirement for a process is supplied

via several utility levels e.g. steam levels, refrigeration
levels, hot oil, furnace flue gas etc.
The general objective is to maximize the use of the
cheaper utility levels and minimize the use of the
expensive utility levels.
The composite curve provide overall energy
targets but do not clearly indicate how much energy
needs to be supplied by different utility levels. For this
purpose, the grand composite curve is used.
 Grand Composite Curve
180
HU1
160

140
HU2 High temperature
120 process sink profile
Pinch
100
Low temperature
T (*C )

CU2 process source profile

80 Process to process
heat exchange
60

40

20
CU1
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Heat flow Q (kW)

Fig. 7. GCC shows the multiple utilities

The balanced composite curve is generated to estimate
the targeted area.

BALANCED COMPOSITE CURVES

200
180
160
140 Th,i.
120 BHCC
T (C)

100
80 Interval i. Tc,i.
Th,i.-1
60 BCCC
40
Tc,i.-1
20
0
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Heat Content Q (kW)
Fig.8. The balenced composite curves
Fig. 4: Potential energy savings
in some major industrial sectors

Fig. 5: Potential water

consumption savings in
some major industrial
sectors
 A RETROFIT PROJECT

Even in a simple process made up of two unit

operations (Fig. 6 & 7), a reactor and separator,
with a recycle stream, pinch technology has
something to offer. In this case, a pinched design
(right) reduces steam consumption by 38%,
eliminating the need for external water cooling,
cutting the number of heat exchangers needed
from six to four, and reducing heat transfer
surface area requirements from 629 to 533 m2.
 Unpinched
Pinched process
Reactors
Reactors

Steam
Steam
Recycle
Recycle
Steam
Separator
Separator

Product
Feed Product
Feed
Cooling mater

Figure.6 Figure.7
 RETROFIT PROJECT
The pinch technology principle is applied on various
projects. One such project, Fig. 8, consists of a complex
refining system. The process is already highly integrated,
with various streams being heat-exchanged to reduce overall
energy requirements.
Application of pinch technology in this project results a
minimum energy target of about 31 MW for the hot utility,
which is steam. The original process consumed nearly
39 MW of steam. Thus, the “scope” for improvement is 8 MW
or 20% of original demand.
A brief analysis of the existing flow sheet uncovered the
specific reasons for current utility requirements being
greater than the target:
1. One instance of utility heating below the pinch.
2. One instance of utility cooling above the pinch.
These violations totaled 8MW. If eliminated, they would bring
the utility requirements to target. The problem was, it would
take six new exchangers and a substantial new investment
to accomplish this.
 17,000 lb/hr Steam
Feed and
recycle Recycle
Recycle

20
psi
Steam 70
psi

1 2 3 4 5

Reactor
Flash
Stripper
Preheater

Fig. 8 Process prior to retrofit.

 At this stage, one should always look for “process
modifications” that included the following:
1. Decrease the pressure of column No. 2 by 5 psi (34 kPa).
2. Decrease the pressure of column No. 5 by 10 psi (69 kPa).
The effect of these modifications resulted the energy target
for the process so modified was 27 MW representing another
15 % potential savings. The problem was, it would still take
six new exchangers and a substantial new investment to
accomplish this.
At this stage, one should look for “second order” process
modification aimed at simplifying the necessary hardware
changes. Modify the process slightly so that its enthalpy
changes fit as many of the existing exchangers as possible?
These major adjustments led to the sacrifice of 1.3 MW but
helped to save four exchangers reducing the number of new
exchangers from six to two.
The flow sheet for the process finally recommended is shown
in Fig. 9. Process modifications and two new exchangers
combined give 28 % energy savings at six months payback.
 Feed and
recycles 11,000 lb/hr Steam

New exchangers

15
psi
Steam 60
psi

1 2 3 4 5

Reactor
Flash
Preheater Stripper

Recycle

Fig. 9 The process after retrofit.

 CONCLUSIONS
With all of the tools that pinch analysis provides, one of the most
important challenges before is to properly integrate pinch tools into
the conceptual process design phase. Decisions made in the phase of
planning affect the entire life cycle of a process facility. Using pinch
technology tools & understanding the process doesn’t ensure the
desired results. These tools must be applied at the right point in the
process design phase. Just as it be incorrect to conduct a pinch
analysis after completion of the process design phase, wherein critical
process parameters have been fixed, it is just as incorrect to conduct a
pinch analysis without a direct interaction with the process specialists
& downstream engineering disciplines. It is Pinch Technology’s role
to identify “what might be”. However, input from other engineering
disciplines ultimately determines “what can be”.
 REFERENCES
1. Plant Design And Economics For Chemical Engineers
Max S Peter,Ronal E West 5th Edition,McGraw Hill

4. Richardson & Colson Vol.6

6. Genaral Process Improvement Through Pinch Technology

B.linnoff , G.T pollen