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Application of Plate Heat Exchanger in oil and gas engineering
For aromatics producers, becoming more energy efficient is important in order to reduce emissions and to become more profitable. Hence, the design of aromatics plants includes a level of heat recovery, however, these are primarily based on using traditional shell and tube technology. Innovators in the aromatics industry, such as modern-Cosmo Petrochemical, are finding ways to update these heat integration philosophies by applying plate technology to recover energy in condenser applications.A focus on adding capacity of aromatics production in recent years has dramatically impacted the profitability of producers globally. Manufacturing these petrochemicals, which include benzene, toluene, and xylene (BTX), provides key building blocks for everyday consumer goods such as polyester, polystyrene and nylon. It requires a tremendous amount of energy to drive the distillation columns used to separate these products. New approaches in heat integration now make it possible to upgrade outdated facilities that used heat integration philosophies optimised around traditional heat exchanger technology. The adoption of more energy efficient technologies can help aromatics industry plant managers cut energy costs while maintaining product quality.
classified as low to medium-grade. With condensing temperatures ranging from 100°C to 170°C, this energy is both an opportunity to make the plant more efficient, but also a challenge in finding ways to utilise it.There are four main challenges to heat recovery in condensing applications:
Identifying a heat sink where condenser energy can be utilised often presents a challenge for existing plants. If a plant has energy needs associated with utilities, such as preheating boiler feedwater or creating low pressure steam, then it is relatively easy to use the heat recovered to match the duty for those streams. It is much more complex to evaluate opportunities within a process when some degree of heat integration already exists in the process design. Adding energy to one area of the plant naturally has an effect on the other heat exchangers in the process. Determining the best heat sinks in any process will require the support of an experienced solution provider or external process consultant. They will need to review the current process design and determine how it can be reconfigured to meet energy savings goals.
Most of the distillation columns in aromatics processes operate at low pressures, leaving a small amount of pressure droavailable to use for the condensers. The challenge in heat exchanger design is that, typically, as the level of heat recovery increases in a condenser, the amount of pressure drop also increases. As the pressure drop increases in the overheard circuit, a higher operating pressure is required in the column to overcome it. This higher operating pressure requires the reboiler to add more energy to the system, making the net energy change a net-sum zero.
When evaluating any project, it is important to consider the total investment costs – not only the capital expenditure for the equipment itself, but installation, operating and maintenance costs, which often exceed the initial investment. Due to the nature of distillation columns, condensers tend to be located at the top of the structure. Modification of the structure to install heat exchangers can be costly, especially in regions where seismic conditions require structures to be more robust.
For traditional technology, there are traditional guidelines that state that there must by 20˚C temperature difference between the process streams to start and sustain boiling. R&D and experience with numerous references has shown that lower temperature differences are needed in plate technology, down to 3˚C in certain applications. This lower temperature difference can be used in one of two ways:n Lower vapour inlet temperature for the same duty: in many cases when one is looking at this application, the column will be re-designed with a higher vapour temperature. This will require a higher column pressure and increased reboiler load. Utilising plate technology many times, the vapour temperature can be maintained while achieving the same duty. n Higher boiling pressure/temperature: in applications where thecustomer is converting waste energy into steam, having a closer temperature approach will allow the customer to generate it at a higher pressure that could be more useful to the plant.South Korean aromatics producer achieves significant energy savingsHyundai Cosmo Petrochemical (HCP) considered cutting edge technology to help achieve its energy reduction goals. 
There were also issues with the condensers; to achieve full condensation during the summer months, water had to be sprayed into the fans to increase the duty utilising evaporative cooling. The main challenge in both cases was the limited space available to install heat recovery condensers.
In today’s highly competitive environment, global aromatics producers must find innovative ways to reduce OPEX. Heat recovery has proven to be a viable way to reduce fuel costs and optimise the condensing processes in the aromatics industry. To achieve a more sustainable business, producers must find ways to reduce furnace emissions. Today, aromatics processes must be evaluated to understand how to break away from conventional thinking for heat recovery and how high efficiency heat exchangers can deliver measurable energy savings
