Harry A.J. Watson, Donghoi Kim, Truls Gundersen, Paul I.

Barton,
Modeling and simulation of phase change and non-ideality in multistream heat
exchangers,
Editor(s): Zdravko Kravanja, Miloš Bogataj,
Computer Aided Chemical Engineering,
Elsevier,
Volume 38,
2016,
Pages 505-510,
ISSN 1570-7946,
ISBN 9780444634283,
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-63428-3.50089-8.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780444634283500898)
Abstract: Accurate simulation and design of cryogenic processes is challenging
largely due to the presence of multistream heat exchanger (MHEX) unit operations.
In important processes such as liquefied natural gas production, the streams in
these operations are multicomponent mixtures and undergo phase changes which
significantly alter their physical properties. However, the locations of the
transitions between phases are complex functions of the process variables and not
necessarily known a priori. These challenges are addressed in this article by
extending a newly developed modeling strategy for MHEXs to include the detection of
phase changes and rigorous flash calculations when the thermodynamic state of the
fluids is described by a cubic equation of state (CEOS). The resulting model is
nonsmooth and is solved by an extension of the vector forward mode of automatic
differentiation in conjunction with a linear programming based Newton method. A
simulation of the Poly Refrigerant Integrated Cycle Operations (PRICO) process is
presented to demonstrate the model and solution algorithm.
Keywords: Process simulation; heat transfer; multistream heat exchanger; natural
gas liquefaction