Hombourger Caroline

Zafra Carla Valentina

Assignment week 8 : Pinch analysis

Exercise 1 -To obtain an overview of all hot and cold streams, best start by
preparing a population stream table.

Figure 1. Population stream table

3) Compare the results (Pinch point and minimum energy required) from part 1
and part 2. What is the advantage of each method?

In the cascade method, it is easier to find the heat recovery potential because the
graph gives a clear picture compared to just looking at the data in a table. Indeed,
"pockets" appear on the Great Composite Curve and show the opportunities for heat
integration. This is easier to see graphically than in a table or on the composite curves
(first method). Similarly for the heat pump, since the two curves are separated only by
the pinch point, it is possible to know if there is a potential to recover heat from the cold
stream and supply it by heat pump to the hot stream. Moreover, its location is very
important because it allows for maximum efficiency, and it is easier to spot graphically
than in a data table.

1
In the first method, we tried different values of H in order to find the right t of 10°C in
the graph, making the method less accurate and the possible heat integration
opportunities more difficult to see.

Exercise 3 – Factors influencing the application of optimal heat exchanger

network designs.

 If the size of the heat exchanger network is very big, it would lead to
transmission losses because the distances between the points are longer.

 The idea of having a heat exchanger is to save energy as well as reduce costs,
so having a larger Heat Exchanger Network (HEN) would cost more money.
Engineers should therefore make sure that for streams that need to be heated
or cooled by only a few degrees, the cost of the energy that would need to be
purchased is much higher than the cost of the heat exchanger. This is because
the smaller the temperature differential between two streams, the larger the
heat exchanger is needed to be because the heat must be "given more time"
to exchange.

 In the heat exchanger network design like this, it is important to make sure
that the fluid does not clutter the pipes with dirt, since this will reduce the HEN
efficiency.

Exercise 4 – Non-continuous or Batch processes

The possibilities of direct heat integration in this system are zero, it is not possible to
directly use the heat to heat one of the flows because few flows take place at the same
time. The only two streams that need to be heated (C1 feed 79-95 and C2 sump 110-
111) are heated at the same time as one stream needs to be cooled (H3 sump product
80-40). It is clear that the hot stream that needs to be cooled is not hot enough to heat
the other two or even one of the other two. Therefore it is not possible to use direct
heat integration in this system.

But since one of the processes for cooling water is to extract heat by storing it, there
are some possibilities of indirect heat integration in this system. It is possible to:

 Store the heat from the H3 sump product 110-40 stream to heat up the C3
educt 50-90 stream
 Store the heat from the H4 reactor 130-120 stream to heat up the C1 feed 79-
95 stream
 Store the heat from the H5 product 76-40 stream to heat up the C1 feed 40-54
stream
 Store the heat from the H5 product 140-40 stream to heat up the C1 feed 70-
95 stream
One of the other streams has an excess of heat that we do not need and the other one
has a temperature change that is too small (the C2 sump 110-111, which only needs
to be increased by one celsius degree), therefore it is better to use the energy
elsewhere.