ADAMA SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF MECHANICAL, CHEMICAL AND MATERIALS ENGINEERING

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM

PROCESS INTEGRATION AND OPTIMIZATION

(Lecture #10)
(ChEg 5303)

By: Jibril G. Buta

22th Dec, 2023

Lesson outline:
o Heat Integration

o Pinch Point Anlaysis

 Composite Curve

 Target for MER and Max Heat Recovery

o Representative example of heat integration

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1. Heat Integration

 Energy integration is a systematic methodology that

provides a fundamental understanding of energy utilization

within the process and employs this understanding in

identifying energy targets and optimizing heat-recovery

and energy-utility systems.

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o Energy saving is a major issue in sustainable development

Pinch Point Analysis (PPA)

o Designates the systematic research of innovative solutions

in the area of energy saving

o Is an extension of the second principle of thermodynamics

to the energy management of the whole plant

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o PPA deals with the optimal structure of the heat exchange
between the process streams, as well as the optimal use
of utilities
In general PPA,

1) Assess the reference basis of an energy saving project,

namely;

 Minimum Energy Requirements (MER), as heating and

cooling loads for utility system, for a minimum temperature
approach ΔTmin assumed at Pinch
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 Maximum energy saving by process/process heat exchange

 Capital and operation costs needed by MER

2) Set optimal targets before the detailed design of the heat

exchanger network

 Design targets for the Heat Exchangers Network (HEN), as

the total heat exchange area and the number of units for
achieving MER

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 Nature and amount of utilities needed for satisfying the
optimal loads
 Integration on heat saving with power generation

3) Suggest modifications in technology and process design

with significant impact on saving energy, as
 Optimization of the operating parameters of reactors and
separators
 Heat integration of distillation columns

 Optimal placement of heat engines and heat pumps

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Basic Concepts and Terminology of Heat Integration
a) Composite curves

 Visualizes the flow of heat between the hot and cold

process streams selected for heat integration

 Obtained by plotting the cumulative enthalpy of streams,

cold or hot, against temperature

 The relative position of the composite curves depends on

the minimum temperature difference ΔTmin between cold
and hot streams.
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Figure 1. Composite Curves, Pinch Point, and Minimum
Energy Requirements
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 This sets also the Pinch position as the place where the
heat transfer between the hot and cold streams is the most
constrained

 Composite Curves enable to determine directly the

Minimum Energy Requirements (MER) from stream data
without ever calculate heat exchangers.

o These are the minimum hot Qh and minimum cold Qc utility

required for driving the heat exchanger network, with a

minimum driving force of ΔTmin Pinch.
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2) Supertargeting

 Supertargeting consists of setting design targets for the

whole process by an overall optimization procedure well

ahead the detailed sizing of heat exchangers.

 Energy costs increases roughly proportional with ΔTmin,

while capital costs (heat exchangers) decrease more

sharply than proportional (Fig.2)

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Figure 2. Targeting of energy and capital costs before HEN design
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3) The Heat Recovery Pinch

 The composite curve can be moved horizontally relative to

another to give a point of closest approach at the required

value of ΔTmin

 The ΔTmin is normally observed at only one point between

the hot and the cold composite curves, called the heat

recovery pinch (Thermal pinch point)

 Thermal Pinch Principles

For a minimum utility usage, the following pinch rules must

be obeyed:

 No heat should be passed through the pinch

 Above the pinch, no cooling utilities should be used

 Below the pinch, no heating utilities should be used

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 Energy target and location of the pinch can set on the
composite curve:

(a) Heat Source and Heat

sink

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Above the pinch (in temperature terms):

 The process is in heat balance with the minimum hot

utility, QHmin

 Heat is received from hot utility and no heat is rejected

 The process acts as a heat sink

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Below the pinch (in temperature terms):

 The process is in heat balance with the minimum cold

utility, QCmin

 No heat is received but heat is rejected to cold utility

 The process acts as heat source

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(b) Transfer of heat from
above the pinch to below
the pinch
 It is possible to transfer heat from hot streams above the
pinch to cold streams below it

 The pinch temperature for hot streams for the problem is

150°C and for cold stream is 140 oC

 Transfer of heat from above the pinch to below, means

transfer of heat from hot streams with a temperature of
150°C or greater into cold streams with a temperature of
140°C or less. This is clearly possible.
 (c) Heat transfer from
below to above the pinch

Fig.3 The composite curves set the energy target and the
location of the pinch.
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 By contrast, Figure 3c. Shows that heat transfer from hot
streams below the pinch to cold streams above is not
possible.

 Such transfer requires heat being transferred from hot

streams with a temperature of 150°C or less into cold
streams with a temperature of 140°C or greater.

 This is clearly not possible (without violating the ΔTmin

constraint)
Cross Pinch Heat Transfer

 If an amount of heat XP is
transferred from the system
above the pinch to the system
below the pinch, as in Figure 4a,
this will create a deficit of heat
XP above the pinch and an
additional surplus of heat XP
below the pinch.

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 The only way this can be corrected is by importing an
extra XP amount of heat from hot utility and exporting an
extra XP amount of heat to cold utility

The inappropriate use of utilities:

 Above the pinch, hot utility (in this

case, steam) is needed to satisfy the
enthalpy imbalance. Figure 4b
illustrates what happens if
inappropriate use of utilities is made.
 If cooling to cold utility XP is used to cool hot streams
above the pinch, this creates an enthalpy imbalance in the
system above the pinch

 To satisfy the enthalpy imbalance above the pinch, an

import of (QHmin+ XP) heat from hot utility is required.

 Overall,(QCmin+ XP) of cold utility is used

  Another inappropriate use of utilities
involves heating of some of the cold
streams below the pinch by hot
utility (steam in this case)

 Below the pinch, cold utility is

needed to satisfy the enthalpy
imbalance
Fig.4. Three forms of cross pinch heat transfer
 Figure 4c illustrates what happens if an amount of heat XP
from the hot utility is used below the pinch

 Qhmin must still be supplied above the pinch to satisfy the

enthalpy imbalance above the pinch.

 Overall, (QHmin+XP) of steam is used and (QCmin+XP) of

cooling water

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 In other words, to achieve the energy target set by the
composite curves, the designer must not transfer heat
across the pinch by:

a) Process-to-process heat transfer,

b) Inappropriate use of utilities

Composite Curve: Techniques for Target Energy Recovery

For the construction of composite curve:

 Sources of heat termed as hot streams

 Sinks termed as cold streams

 Stream or segment temperatures;

o The initial temperature called supply temperature, Ts

o Final temperature termed target temperature, Tt

o Enthalpy change of both streams, ΔH
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 Heat capacity of each stream or segment, defined as
CP=ΔH/ΔT, ----------------------------------(1)

where ΔH is the enthalpy variation over the temperature

interval ΔT.

Conversely, the enthalpy change of a stream segment is:

ΔH = CP x (Tt -Ts) ----------------------------------------------------------------- (2)

o Example 1:

 Consider first a very simple problem with just one hot

stream and one cold stream.

 The supply temperature, target temperature and and

enthalpy change of both streams are given in Table below,

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 Steam is available at 180°C and cooling water at 20°C.

 Clearly, it is possible to heat the cold stream using steam

and cool the hot stream using cooling water.

 However, this would incur excessive energy cost

 It is also incompatible with the goals of sustainable

industrial activity ,which call for use of the minimum energy
consumption
 Instead, it is preferable to try to recover the heat between
process streams, if this is possible.

 The scope for heat recovery can be determined by plotting

both streams on temperature–enthalpy axes.

 Suppose the temperature–enthalpy plot for this problem is

with a minimum temperature difference (ΔTmin) of 10°C.
The question is: What is the energy target for this problem?

 Maximum Heat recovery?

 Minimum energy requirements (MER)?

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Fig.5. A simple heat recovery problem with one hot stream and one cold
stream.
The region of overlap between the two streams determines
the amount of heat recovery possible (for ΔTmin=10°C)

 For this problem, the heat recovery (QREC) is 11MW.

 The part of the cold stream that extends beyond the start
of the hot stream cannot be heated by recovery and
requires steam.
• This is the hot utility target or energy target (QHmin),which
for this problem is 3MW.

 The part of the hot stream that extends beyond the start of
the cold stream cannot be cooled by heat recovery and
requires cooling water.

• This is the minimum cold utility (QCmin),which for this

problem is 1MW

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 What if ΔTmin = 20 ?

 The amount of overlap between the

streams is reduced (and hence heat
recovery is reduced) to 10MW

Fig. A simple heat recovery problem with one hot stream and one
cold stream.

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 A greater amount of the cold stream now extends beyond
the start of the hot stream, and hence the amount of
steam is increased to 4MW.

 Also, more of the hot stream extends beyond the start of

the cold stream, increasing the cooling water demand to
2MW

Note: both utility requirements have increased and amount

heat recovered is decreased for this case as compared to
ΔTmin = 10 oC
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 Hence, increasing ΔTmin makes necessary more utilities
and diminishes the energy saving.

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Example 2. Multiple stream heat recovery problem

Fig. 6. Simple flow sheet with two hot streams and two cold streams.
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Heat exchange stream data for the flow sheet:

With ΔTmin = 10 oC,

o Target for minimum utility requirement and maximum

energy recovery

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Solution:

Fig. The hot streams can be combined to obtain a composite hot stream
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Fig. The cold streams can be combined to obtain a composite cold stream.
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Fig. Plotting the hot and cold composite curves together allows the targets for
hot and cold utility to be obtained.
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Fig. Plotting the hot and cold composite curves together allows the targets for hot and cold
utility to be obtained.

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 Thank you for attention

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