More advanced energy targeting

More advanced energy targeting

• Zonal targeting

• Pressure drop targeting

• Targeting for number of units

• Area targeting

• Cost targeting

2
1. Zonal targeting
• So far, we have assumed that all streams are equally free to
exchange heat and that there is no preference on pairings
except on temperature grounds.
• Two specific situations are considered to make use of zonal
targeting.

a. Where two parts of a plant are physically separated and

exchanging heat between the two involves long pipe runs with high
capital cost, heat losses and pressure drop.
b. Where part of the plant forms a natural “subset” which can be operated on its
own
• The different streams are allocated to subsets or zones, and targets for each of
these are obtained separately.

2. Pressure drop targeting

• Additional heat exchangers and pipe work on a stream will tend to increase its
pressure drop.
• This will increase pump power consumption.
• The higher pressure drop may be beyond the capabilities of the current pumps, so
that additional pumps are needed, or the project may become completely
infeasible.
4
3. Targeting for number of units
• The capital cost of chemical processes tends to be dominated
by the number of items on the flow sheet.
• This is certainly true of heat exchanger networks and there is a
strong incentive to reduce the number of matches between hot
and cold streams.
• It is also possible to set a target for the minimum number of
heat exchanger units in a process

5
could the designer have managed number of heat exchanger with fewer
units?
• The minimum number of heat exchange units depends fundamentally on
the total number of process and utility streams (N) involved in heat
exchange.
• This can also be determined prior to design by using a simplified form of
Euler’s graph theorem.
• Umin= N – 1, where: Umin: Minimum number of heat exchanger units

N: Total number of process and utility streams in the heat exchanger

network

6
4. Area targeting
• The area of a single countercurrent heat exchanger is defined
by Equation.

• The composite curves make it possible to determine the energy

targets for a given value of Tmin
• The composite curves can also be used to determine the
minimum heat transfer area required to achieve the energy
targets:

7
 where i: denotes ith enthalpy interval
j: jth stream
∆TLM: log mean temperature difference in
interval qj: enthalpy change of jth
stream
hj: heat transfer coefficient of jth stream

8
• This area target is based on the assumption that “vertical” heat
exchange will be adopted between the hot and the cold
composite curves across the whole enthalpy range.
• This vertical arrangement, which is equivalent to pure
counter-current area within the overall network, has been
found to give a minimum total surface area.

9
5. Capital Cost Target
• The targets for the minimum surface area and the number of
units (Umin) can be combined together with the heat
exchanger cost law equations to generate the targets for heat
exchanger network capital cost
• The capital cost target can be super-imposed on the energy
cost targets to obtain the minimum total cost target for the
network.
• This provides an optimum Tmin for the network ahead of
design.
10
The trade-off between energy and capital costs gives the optimum
Tmin for minimum cost in new designs
11
 Super targeting
Retrofit
• Pinch Technology is applicable to both new design and retrofit
situations.
• The number of retrofit applications is much higher than the
number of new design applications.
• The Super Target Process module developed by Linnhoff March
contains tools of targeting which can be employed for retrofitting

12
 Cost targeting for optimal ∆Tmin

Trade-offs in choosing ∆Tmin

• We can calculate energy targets for a given ∆Tmin,

• but what if our chosen value of ∆Tmin is wrong? For a

different ∆Tmin, the streams present at the pinch may change,
and we could get different pinch matches and a completely
different heat exchanger network.
• How can we find the optimal ∆Tmin?

• lower value of ∆Tmin usually gives a reduction in energy use

but needs more heat exchanger area.

13
• Energy requirements will affect the operating cost, while the size of
heat exchangers, heaters and coolers will affect capital cost
In fact, ∆Tmin affects cost in several ways.

If we try to reduce our energy costs by choosing a lower ∆Tmin:

1. The hot and cold utility usage falls, so operating energy costs fall.
2. The amount of heat exchange is greater, so larger heat exchangers
will be needed and their capital cost is increased.
3. Temperature driving forces in heat exchangers are lower, again
requiring larger heat exchangers and higher capital cost.

14
4. Heaters and coolers have a lower heat load, so they can be smaller and
their capital cost will fall
Factors affecting the optimal ∆Tmin
1. viscous or heavily fouling streams (reducing heat transfer coefficient),
2. corrosive or high-purity streams (requiring exotic metal or alloy
exchangers, at high cost),
3. low utility prices (reducing the monetary gain from energy saving),
4. capital shortages (leading to shorter payback times being required on
projects)

15
5. low plant utilization (one-shift or intermittent operation, rather
than continuous three-shift),

6. small flows (energy cost savings are then too small to repay
fixed costs of exchangers and project planning, particularly for
small-scale batch plants).
Exchanger capital cost and heat transfer information is required to
set the retrofit targets based on capital energy trade-off.

16
17
• The vertical axis can represent energy target or energy cost.
• The plot shows that the variation of energy target (or energy
cost) is quite sensitive to Tmin in the temperature range of
30ºC to 20ºC.
• However, between 20ºC and 8ºC the energy target is not
sensitive to Tmin. On the other hand the capital cost may rise
substantially in this region.
• It therefore implies that 20ºC is an appropriate target for the
retrofit.

18
• The following tables detail Linnhoff March's experience Tmin
values.
• It is important to note that although experience based Tmin
values can provide practical targets for retrofit modifications.
• In certain situations it may result in non optimal solutions and
therefore loss of potential opportunities.
• Typical Tmin values for various types of processes.
• These are values based on Linnhoff March’s application
experience.

19
20
• Typical Tmin values used for matching utility levels against
process streams.
• These experience based Tmin values are useful in identifying
targets for appropriate utility loads at various utility levels.

21
22