Optimal Operation and Control of

Refrigeration Processes
(including LNG Plants)

September 26, 2003

Outline

 The basic refrigeration cycle

 Other refrigeration processes
 Where is refrigeration applied?
 Energy saving by improved operation or control
 Optimal operation and control
 LNG plants
 Summary

Acknowledgments
References

September 26 2003 2
 The Basic Refrigeration Cycle

Q out
Log pressure

C B p2 C Condensation B
Condenser
Liquid
Expansion Compression
Receiver Motor
Compressor p1 Vaporization
D A
A Gas and Gas
D Evaporator Liquid
Expansion valve Specific enthalpy
Q in
Cooled (Dossat, 1991)
stream out

September 26 2003 3
Operation and Control of Refrigeration Processes
 Main output: Q out
cooled stream outlet temperature
 Main input: compressor effect Power

Several internal variables that Condenser

must/may be be controlled:
 Pressure (and thereby temperature) Receiver Motor
before compressor Compressor
 Evaporator level
PT

Possible control inputs

LT Evaporator
 Expansion valve opening
 Heat transfer in condenser Expansion valve
 Cooled stream flow rate TT
 Refrigerant composition Q in
Cooled
stream out

September 26 2003 4
A Typical Control Structure

Q out

SIC
Power

Condenser

Receiver Motor
Compressor

PT
LC

LT Evaporator

Expansion valve
TT TC
Q in
Cooled
stream out

September 26 2003 5
 Other Refrigeration Processes

(Wilson and Jones, 1994)

 Multiple stages refrigeration
Condenser

Evaporators

Receiver

 Open liquefaction cycle:

liquefied gas is withdrawn as product, replaced by dry gas
(e.g. air)
 Absorption refrigeration – no compressor needed
(e.g. gas refrigerators)

September 26 2003 6
Where Is Refrigeration Applied?

 Refrigerators and freezers in homes, warehouses, hospitals

 Processing and transport of food
 Air conditioning
 Heat pumps (efficient heating by cooling the environment)
 Process industry whenever cooling water temperature is not
sufficient
 Liquefaction and separation of air: oxygen, nitrogen, argon
 Liquefaction of gases: LNG, hydrogen, helium, chlorine, …
 Re-liquefaction (ship gas transport)
 Conventional superconductors
– Particle accelerator (e.g. CERN), 1.9K
 Rocket fuel: liquid hydrogen and oxygen

September 26 2003 7
 Energy Saving by Improved Control or Operation
 EU, 1990: the total electricity consumption for refrigeration in the food
industry was estimated at 8TWh/year
(Norway’s total electrical energy production 2002: 122TWh/year)
 Centre for Analysis and Dissemination of Demonstrated Energy Technologies
(CADDET). Improved control examples:
– Gilde, Norway: run the “correct” compressors (5% savings)
– Inghams Enterprises, Somerville (Australia): avoid compressor cycling
(966MWh/year)
– Rainier Cold Storage, Port of Seattle: compressors adjusted after load and
environmental changes (367MWh/year)

Energy savings in Computer controlled

demonstration speed fans 30-44%
projects:

Process control 30%

Computer aided operation: 20%
September 26 2003 8
Optimal Operation and Control
 In the industry: optimal means improved
 A solution that maximizes (or minimizes) a criterion
 Criterion?
– In the end: Maximize profit
– Maximize throughput
– Minimize cost, i.e. total power consumption or power
consumption per produced unit
 Free variables?
 Constraints?
 Process model
min   p 
p
 Typical disturbances:
– Varying cooling demand p P
– Compressor upsets
– Varying heat-transfer in condenser F  p  0

September 26 2003 9
 Operation? Control?

 Optimal operation = optimal steady state working point

Operation may also involve
– maintenance of equipment
– manual interventions
– turnarounds
but these are not covered here

 Optimal control = optimal way to reach this working point and

handle disturbances
– Linear Quadratic Gaussian Control (LQG)
– Model Predictive Control (MPC)

September 26 2003 10
Control
Hierarchy

Operation

Optimal

Control

Skogestad and Postletwaite (1996)

September 26 2003 11
What Can Be Gained With Optimal Operation…

 less compressor recycling

 less suction temperature overheating  higher suction pressure
 increased cooled stream temperature  more effective cooling cycle
 with more than one compressor: improved power distribution
 connected to other process units (e.g. pumps and fans): improved
power distribution between the units

Q out

C B Log pressure
Condenser
p2 C Condensation B
Motor
Liquid
Receiver
Compressor Expansion Compression
p1 Vaporization
A D A
D Evaporator Gas and Gas
Liquid
Expansion valve Cooled
Q in stream out Specific enthalpy
September 26 2003 12
 … and with Optimal Control?

 the process is kept at optimum

(despite disturbances) yref
 transients are optimal y
 the margins can be reduced 
the optimum can be improved
yref
y

yref
y

September 26 2003 13
Air Separation Units

 Produce oxygen, nitrogen and argon from air

 Air is liquefied with a nitrogen refrigeration cycle
 Separation of the components with distillation columns
 High purity requirements

 Main control and operational challenges: the distillation columns

 Schenk et al. (2002): Simultaneous optimal design of
– process (number of trays and diameter)
– control structure (pairing of outputs and inputs)
– controller tuning
1.5 days of CPU time

September 26 2003 14
 LNG Plants

 Natural gas cooled to below -163°C

– Liquefied at 1atm
 Volume reduction with a factor of 600
 Possible to transport gas with ships
– Alternative to pipe transport

September 26 2003 15
Optimal Operation of LNG Plants

Main objectives:
 Maximize LNG production
or
 Minimize storage

 Minimize energy consumption

September 26 2003 16
Optimal Control of LNG Refrigeration Plants
(Mandler et al.,1998)

 Main control objectives

– Maintain a set LNG production rate
– Maintain the LNG temperature within a desired range
 Other control objectives depend on the process configuration

 Constraints
– Input ranges (valve ranges, power limits, compressor limits and rate
change limits)
– Process output ranges (suction pressures, relief valve settings,
distance to compressor surge, …)

September 26 2003 17
Snøhvit LNG Plant (Norway)
 Gas produced at the gas fields Snøhvit, Albatross and Askeladd
 Subsea production
 160 km of piping into the LNG plant
 Production: 5.7 billion Sm3 LNG/year 2006-2035
 Operated by Statoil ASA

September 26 2003 18
LNG, Mixed Fluid Cascade Process (simplified)
NG

Precooling Sea water

-50°C

Liquefaction Sea water

-80°C

Subcooling Sea water

-160°C
LNG
September 26 2003 19
 Basic Control strategy
NG

Precooling

PIC
TIC

Liquefaction PIC

TIC

Subcooling
PIC

TIC
FIC

September 26 2003 LNG 20

 Operation
NG

Precooling
P1
T1 PIC
TIC

Liquefaction P2
PIC

T2 TIC

Subcooling P3
PIC

Adjust to obtain TIC Specified

desired production rate FIC

September 26 2003 LNG 21

Optimal Operation, an Exercise

 Objective: Minimize energy consumption in the 3 compressors

 Free variables: Compressor suction pressures, P1, P2, and P3
Other free variables:
– Temperatures T1 and T2
– Refrigerant composition in each cycle (nitrogen, methane,
ethane, propane, …)
 Some constraints:
– LNG production rate and temperature
– Flow into compressor shall be gas
– Compressor constraints

September 26 2003 22
 Optimization

When available: Optimization Adjust free

Measurements problem definition variables

Optimization
server

(SQP)

User interface Model

(Excel)
Results Objective function (Hysys)
and constraint
values
September 26 2003 23
Results: Optimal Operation

Changing the suction temperature margin from 10 to 5°C:

Increase in suction pressure

P1 0.63 bar
P2 0.61 bar
P3 0.84 bar

Compressor consumption: 103 -> 93 MW

Savings: 10MW (=0.09TWh/year)

September 26 2003 24
Optimal Control, Snøhvit

 Potential for savings with optimal control are not fully determined:
– the actual disturbances are unknown
– recycle of vaporized NG during ship loading
– steady gas production?
– composition variations?
– regular pre-treatment?
– compressor shut-downs?
 Preliminary dynamic study (with disturbances as expected)
– Low potential for savings identified
– Exceptions
 during large production level changes
 during start-up
 Will try to start without optimal control
 Regulatory control shall be sufficient for stable and safe operation

September 26 2003 25
Optimal Control: Possible Solution
 Optimization criterion
– Maximize LNG flow rate
– Minimize energy consumption in the compressors
 Possible manipulated variables:
– NG temperatures after 1st and 2nd heat exchanger (T , T )
1 2
– Set-point for refrigerant flow in subcooler
– Set-point for LNG temperature
– Refrigerant compositions
 Constraints as before
 Additional measurements:
– NG inlet flow rate
– NG inlet composition
 Statoil MPC, SEPTIC (planned to be used in to control columns in
the pre-treatment processes)

September 26 2003 26
 GL2Z LNG Plant in Arzew, Algeria (Zaïm, 2002)

 6 identical liquefaction trains

 Product delivered to ships
 Optimization in two levels
1. Plantwide optimization: Minimize
storage and thereby
 storage loss
 production cost (produce as
little as possible)
2. Maximize process efficiency of
each train

September 26 2003 27
Arzew, Algeria: Plantwide Optimization (Zaïm, 2002)

 Adapt the LNG production to the downstream demand

(i.e. ships arrivals and capacities)
 Inputs
– Ship loading schedule
– Plan for maintenance of trains
– Product quality requirements
– Feed gas composition
 Method
– Define time intervals with constant demand
– Determine required production in each train for each interval
– Feedback from measured production

September 26 2003 28
Optimal Control of Each Train (Zaïm, 2002)

 Obtain desired
– production rate
– product quality
 Minimize energy consumption
 Other outputs to be controlled
– two refrigerant temperatures in the main heat exchanger
– pressures after the two expansion valves
 Control inputs
– Natural gas composition and flow
– Mixed refrigerant composition and flow
 Model Predictive Control
 No simulation results available

September 26 2003 29
 Summary

 The cooling cycle: Compression, condensation, expansion, vaporization

 Control challenges:
– Avoid liquid in the compressor
– Inverse response in the evaporator
 Refrigeration: Many important applications
– at home and the food industry
– process industry (liquefaction)
 Energy demanding
 Optimal operation and control
– Minimize energy consumption and fulfil constraints
– Identified potentials for savings (e.g. reduce compressor cycling)
– Up to 30-40% of the energy consumption can be reduced
 LNG plants: Liquefaction of natural gas
– Two examples of optimal operation

September 26 2003 30
 Acknowledgments

 Colleagues at Statoil ASA

– Pål Flatby, John-Morten Godhavn, Silja E. Gylseth, Oddvar
Jørstad, Håvard Nordhus, Jørgen Opdal, Geir A. Owren, Jan
Richard Sagli
 Dag Eimer, former colleague at Norsk Hydro ASA
 Terje Herzberg, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, NTNU
 Morten Hovd, Dept. of Engineering Cybernetics, NTNU
 Staff at the NTNU Library

September 26 2003 31
References (1)
Refrigeration Textbooks
Dossat, R. J. (1991), Principles of refrigeration, 3rd ed., Prentice-Hall International Editions, London.
Flynn, Th. (1997), Cryogenic Engineering, Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York.
Haselden, G. G. (ed.), Cryogenic fundamentals, Academic Press, London.

Energy Consumption and Efficiency

EU: http://europa.eu.int/comm/energy_transport/atlas/htmlu/refrigeration.html
Grandum, S. and Eriksen, K. (2000), Control system minimizes energy use in a meat-processing factory,
CADDET Energy Efficiency News Bulletin, No.3, pp. 16-17
Inghams Enterprises (2002), Advanced Food Refrigeration Control, CADDET web page,
http://www.caddet-ee.org
Rainier Cold Storage, Inc. (2000), Improved Refrigeration Control System in A Food Cold Storage
Facility, CADDET web page, http://www.caddet-ee.org
The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) The energy folder 2002,
http://www.nve.no/

September 26 2003 32
References (2)

Refrigeration Process Control

Balchen, J. G. and Mummé, K. I. (1988), Process control. Structures and applications., Van Nostrand
Reinhold, New York.
Balchen, J. G., Telnes, K. and Di Ruscio, D. (1989), Frequency response adaptive control of a refrigeration
cycle, Modeling, Identification and Control (MIC), Vol.10, No.1, pp. 3-11.
Esnoz, A. and Lopez, A. (2003), Fuzzy logic PI controller with on-line optimum intermediate pressure for
double stage refrigeration system, 21st IIR International Congress of Refrigeration, August 17-22, 2003,
Washington, DC, USA.
Goldfarb, S. and Oldham, J. (1996), Refrigeration loop dynamic analysis using PROTISS, ESCAPE-6, 26-29
May 1996, Rhodes, Greece; Supplement to Computers & Chemical Engineering, Vol. 20, pp. S811-S816
Langley, B. C. (2002), Fine tuning Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Systems, The Fairmont Press Inc.,
Lilburn, GA.
Lensen, B. A. (1991), Improve control of cryogenic gas plants, Hydrocarbon Processing, May, 1991, pp.
109-111
Marshall, S.A. and James, R. W. (1975), Dynamic analysis of an industrial refrigeration system to
investigate capacity control, Proc. Inst. Mech. Engrs., Vol. 189, No.44/75, pp. 437-444
Wilson, J.A. and Jones, W.E. (1994), The influence of plant design on refrigeration circuit control and
operation, ESCAPE-4, Dublin March 28-30, '94, pp. 215-221.

September 26 2003 33
References (3)

Optimal Operation and Control (see also applications and LNG)

Chen, J. (1997), Optimal Performance analysis of irreversible cycles used as heat pumps and
refrigerators, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys., Vol. 30, pp. 582-587
D’Accadia, M. D., Sasso, M. and Sibilio, S. (1997), Optimum performance of heat engine-driven heat
pumps: A finite-time approach, Energy Convers. Vol. 38, No. 4, pp. 401-413
Diaz, S., Tonelli, S., Bandoni, A. and Biegler, L.T. (2003), Dynamic Optimization for Switching Between
Operating Modes in Cryogenic Plants, FOCAPO 2003. 4th Int. Conf. of Computer-Aided Process
Operations, Proceedings of the Conference held at Coral Springs, Florida, January 12-15, 2003,
pp. 601-604
Leducq, D., Guilpart, J. and Trystram, G. (2003), Application of a reduced dynamic model to the control
of a refrigeration cycle, 21st IIR International Congress of Refrigeration, August 17-22, 2003,
Washington, DC, USA.
Mandler, J.A. (1998), Modeling for Control Analysis and Design in Complex Industrial Separation and
Liquefaction Processes, DYCOPS-5, 5th IFAC Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Process
Systems, Corfu, Greece, June 8-10, 1998, pp. 405-413.
Schenk, M., Sakizlis, V., Perkins, J.D. and Pistikopoulos E.N. (2002), Optimization-Based
Methodologies for Integrating Design and Control in Cryogenic Plants, European Symposium on
Computer Aided Process Engineering - 12, 26-29 May 2002, The Hague, The Netherlands, pp.331-
336.
Svensson, Ch., M. (1994), Studies on on-line optimizing control, with application to a heat pump, Ph.D.
thesis, Dept. of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning, Norwegian University of Science and
Technology, Trondheim, Norway

September 26 2003 34
References (4)
Refrigeration Operation and Control Applications
Alvarez, G. and Trystram, G. (1995), Design of a new strategy for the control of the refrigeration process:
fruit and vegetables conditioned in a pallet, Food Control, Vol. 6, No. 6, pp. 347-355.
Andersen, J. (2002), Temperature control in the large Hadron Collider at CERN, M.Sc. Thesis, Dept. of
Engineering Cybernetics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Cho, C. H. and Norden, N. (1982), Computer Optimization of Refrigeration Systems in a Textile Plant: A
Case History, Automatica, Vol.18, No. 6, pp. 675-683.
Flemsæter, B. (2000), Investigation, modelling and control of the 1.9K cooling loop for superconducting
magnets for the large hadron collider, Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning,
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway
Hokanson, D. A., Houk, B.G. and Johnston, Ch., R. (1989), DMC Control of a complex refrigerated
fractionator, Adv. Instum. Control, pp. 541-552.
Kaya, A. (1991), Improving efficiency in existing chillers with optimization technology, ASHRAE Journal,
October 1991, pp. 30-38
Luong, T.T.H. and Pham, Q.T. (2003), Multi-objective optimization of food refrigeration processes, 21st IIR
International Congress of Refrigeration, August 17-22, 2003, Washington, DC, USA.
Martin, M., Gannon, J. Rode, C. and McCarthy, J. (1981), Quasi-optimal algorithms for the control loops of
the FERMILAB energy saver satellite refrigerator, IEEE Transactions of Nuclear Science, Vol. NS-28,
No. 3, June, pp. 3251-3253
Olson, R.T. and Liebman, J.S.(1990), Optimization of a chilled water plant using sequential quadratic
programming, Eng.Opt., Vol. 15, pp.171-191.
Skimmeli, T. (1994), Control of Refrigeration Process at Dalgård (Indoor) Ice Rink, Master thesis,
Department of Engineering Cybernetics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Trelea, I.-C., Alvarez, G. and Trystram, G. (1997), Nonlinear predictive optimal control of a batch
refrigeration process, J. Food Process Engn., Vol. 21, pp.1-32.

September 26 2003 35
References (5)

LNG and Control of LNG plants

Mandler, J.A. and Brochu, P.A. (1997), Controllability Analysis of the LNG Process, Presented at 1997
AIChE Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA (Paper 197a)
Mandler, J.A., Brochu, P.A., Fotopoulos, J. and Brochu, P.A. (1998), New Control Strategies for the LNG
Process, Presented at LNG 12 Conference, Perth, Australia, May 1998
The Snøhvit project: www.statoil.com/snohvit
Zaïm, A. (2002), Dynamic optimization of an LNG plant. Case study: GL2Z LNG plant in Arzew, Algeria,
Ph.D. Thesis, Rheinisch-Westfälishen Technischen Hochschule (RWTH), Aachen, Shaker Verlag,
Aachen.

Other Sources for the Presentation

CERN: http://public.web.cern.ch/public/
Gram Refrigerators: http://www.gram.dk/produkter.htm
Skogestad, S. and Postletwaite, I. (1996), Multivariable feedback control, John Wiley & Sons,
Chichester, UK

September 26 2003 36
 Refrigeration Operation and Control Applications
 Process industry
– NLG plant (Diaz, S. et al., 2003)
– Multivariable control (DMC) of a fractionator with a
refrigeration process (Hokanson et al.,1989)
– Nylon plant: Steady state optimization of 8 cycles (Cho et al.,
1982)
 Food
– Control for fruits and vegetables (Alvarez and Trystram, 1995)
– Steady state optimization (Luong and Pham, 2003)
 Air condition
– Optimal operation (Olson and Liebman, 1990, Kaya, 1991)
 Particle accelerators
– FERMILAB (USA) (Martin, 1981)
– CERN (Europe) (Flemsæter, 2000, Andersen, 2002)
 Other Applications
– New control structures for indoor ice rinks (Skimmeli, 1994)

September 26 2003 37