Applying pinch technology to

energy recovery
E
nergy saving is one of the
most important issues asso-
ciated with cost, regulations
and environmental performance
in the petroleum and petro-
chemical industries. Most of the
available methods for energy
targeting, retroftting and
design of heat exchanger
networks are based on the
pinch method.
The term pinch technology
was introduced by Bodo
Linnhoff in 1991 to represent a
thermodynamically based meth-
odology that guarantees
minimum energy levels in the
design of heat exchanger
networks (HEN); therefore, this
approach has been used to save
energy in processes and across
complete sites. Wherever heat-
ing and cooling of material
streams take place, there is a
potential opportunity to save
energy. The design philosophy
starts at the heart of the onion
model, the reactor, and moves
out to the separation system
(see Figure 1). Heating and
cooling duties for the next layer
of the onion are the heat recov-
ery systems. Consequently,
targets can be set for the HEN
to evaluate the performance of
A pinch technology-based study of heating and cooling of material streams
in a large-scale olens plant identies major opportunities for energy savings
FARBOD RIKHTEGAR Iranian Fuel Conservation Company
SEPEHR SADIGHI Research Institute of Petroleum Industry
www.digitalrening.com/article/1000887 PTQ Q4 2013 1
the process design, and it can
enable both the energy and
capital costs of the HEN to be
assessed. It is obvious that,
without a screening approach,
selection between many design
options cannot be easily
afforded in terms of the time
and effort required.
In this article, the discussion
covers the basic principles and
capabilities of pinch technol-
ogy, and how the technology
can be utilised to determine
scope for reducing energy
consumption and costs. In
particular, the article demon-
strates how the technologys
design methodology can be
used for improving the heat
recovery networks of an olefn
plant, as a case study.
Pinch technology
Composite curve
For analysing a heat exchanger
network, sources of hot and
cold streams (source and sink)
should be frst identifed using
material and energy balances.
For instance, the current typical
fow sheet of a chemical
process is shown in Figure 2.
The supply and target temper-
ature and enthalpy changes of
four process streams are also
given in Table 1.
Consider steam at 200C and
Separator
Reactor
Utilities
Heat
exchanger
network
Figure 1 Onion model
Stream no Stream type Supply temp, C Target temp, C H, kW CP, kWC
1 Hot 180 80 2000 20
2 Hot 130 40 3600 40
3 Cold 60 100 3200 80
4 Cold 30 120 3240 36
Stream data
Table 1
2 PTQ Q4 2013 www.digitalrening.com/article/1000887
cooling water at 20 for heating
and cooling utilities, respec-
tively. It is preferable to
recover as much heat as possi-
ble between process streams.
The scope for heat recovery
can be determined by plotting
all streams on a T-H diagram
(see Figure 3). This fgure
shows DT
min
=10C for the
proposed fow sheet; therefore,
the hot and cold utility recov-
eries are 960 and 120 units,
respectively (see Figure 4). It
can be concluded that DT
min
determines the relative location
of the hot and cold streams, so
it is an important variable for
setting the amount of heat
recovery.

Heat recovery pinch
To achieve the lowest DT
min
,
the type of heat exchanger and
fuid regime are important. In
Table 2, the minimum
approach temperature for
several industries is shown. As
a rule of thumb, rating with a
DT
min
less than 10C should be
avoided. The correct setting of
composite curves is defned by
an economic trade-off between
energy and capital cost. In
Figure 5, the trade-off between
energy, capital cost and
economic amount of energy
recovery is illustrated; thus, the
trade-off can be carried out
using energy and capital cost
targets.
Utility selection
After recovering the heat using
process-process heat exchang-
ers, the remaining required
heat for the plant should be
obtained by the utility system.
In pinch analysis, the grand
composite curve (GCC) is an
appropriate tool to show the
interface between the process
30C
60C
40C
120C
100C
180C
130C
72C
80C
H 3240
heater
Reactor
1
Reactor
2
Condenser
Reboiler
H 3200
heater
H 3600
cooler
H 2000
cooler
Figure 2 Flow sheet of a case study
T
min
= 10C
Cold composite curve
Hot composite curve
250
180
150
100
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
50
H
Figure 3 Current case composite curve
150
250
200
100
50
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
0
H
T
min
= 10C
Cold composite curve
Hot composite curve
Q
C
min
= 120
Q
H
min
= 960
Figure 4 Composite curve of targeting case
2 PTQ Q4 2013 www.digitalrening.com/article/1000887
and the utility system (see
Figure 6).
In this method, our aim is to
use the specifed utility at an
appropriate level. Thus, for the
hot utility, we should use the
lowest temperature and gener-
ate the highest temperature. In
contrast, for the cold utility, we
should use the highest temper-
ature and generate the lowest
temperature.
Heat exchanger area target
It is possible to predict the
required surface area for the
whole problem by using verti-
cal enthalpy intervals. The area
calculated with this model is
minimised when the heat
transfer coeffcients of all
streams are equal. For each
enthalpy interval, we can
predict the required area from
the composite curves. The duty
and heat transfer coeffcients of
the streams are obtained from
the stream data, and the
log-mean temperature differ-
ence (DTLM) is derived from
the composite curves (see
Figure 7).
Capital cost target
The capital cost of a heat
exchanger network is mainly
dependent on the surface area
of each heat exchanger, the
number of shells, the material
of construction, the heat
exchanger type and the pres-
sure rating. However, the key
in capital cost targeting is the
surface area required for
exchangers that are included in
the network. For the total cost
targeting procedure, lots of
appropriate software has been
introduced, but SuperTarget
from KBC is particularly
regarded for handling energy
targeting projects. SuperTarget
www.digitalrening.com/article/1000887 PTQ Q4 2013 3
is a suite of programs to opti-
mise the energy consumption
and utilities of a plant by
applying pinch analysis.
Furthermore, it enables the
user to determine the absolute
maximum potential for heat
recovery, estimate utility and
capital costs for a given heat
recovery, determine the mini-
mum approach temperature
(DT
min
), examine capital/
energy trade-off, and set the
basis for the heat exchanger
networks design. Additionally,
the software can be integrated
with other process simulators,
such as PRO II and Hysys.

Case study
As a case study, an olefn plant
located in the south of Iran at
Bandar Imam was considered.
The capacity of the plant is 411
000 t/y of ethylene product.
Process data was taken from
design process fow diagrams
and from discussions with
operating engineers. Due to the
signifcant differences in
temperatures and economics of
operation, the olefn unit was
separated into cold and the hot
Table 2
Industrial sector Experience
DT
min
value
Oil reneries 20-40C
Petrochemicals 10-20C
Chemical plants 10-20C
Low-temperature processes 3-5C
Industrial recommended DT
min

Capital
Energy
Total
C
o
s
t
T
min
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
H
T
min

Cold composite curve
Hot composite curve
Q
C
min
Q
H
min
A
B
Figure 5 Balanced composite curve
sections. A DT
min
of 10C was
chosen to identify future poten-
tial savings. The stream data
and composite curves of the
process obtained using
SuperTarget software are
shown in Table 3 and Figure 8,
respectively.
Additionally, the energy
targets and the pinch tempera-
tures obtained by pinch analysis
are shown in Table 4. This table
confrms that the total potential
savings for the plant studied
amount to 194.8 GJ/h. The
majority of the savings were
achieved through reducing
steam consumption and also by
increasing high-pressure steam
generation.
The GCC related to the util-
ity system is shown in Figure
9. According to this fgure, it is
recommended that medium-
pressure steam should be used
to increase high-pressure steam
generation at a higher level to
be more benefcial for the
plant.
Moreover, to obtain a cycle
effciency of 60.7% for the util-
ity system, there are several
potential routes that are
4 PTQ Q4 2013 www.digitalrening.com/article/1000887
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
Composite curves
H
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e

i
n
t
e
r
v
a
l
Shifted composite curves
H
Grand composite
curve
H

Q
C
min
Q
H
min
Figure 6 GCC of a case study
1
3
2
4
5
6
7
T
LM
A
min
=

Network area:

7
interval
1
h
q
stream
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
H
600
900
800
700
500
400
300
200
100
T
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700
Enthalpy, GJ/h
Hot composite
Cold composite
Quench water heat recovery
Liquid feed
Quench oil
Column reboilers
Dilution steam
Ethane furnace
product
Naphtha furnace
product
Figure 7 Area integrity of a heat exchanger network
Figure 8 Composite curves for ethylene hot section
dependent on site economics
and impacts on the steam and
power system. The aim is to
minimise consumption in the
condensing turbine and gener-
ate power using a combination
of a gas turbine (associated
with the waste heat boiler to
generate high-pressure steam)
and a back-pressure turbine.
Table 5 shows all projects that
can be implemented according
to the study of the olefn site.
Savings and costs are calcu-
lated according to fnancial
criteria. It should be noted that
only relevant, feasible and
achievable projects are
included in this report. This
means that other projects with
payback times longer than fve
years are ignored. These
projects typically demand huge
investments, and they also
need gas turbines with heat
recovery steam generators or a
high-pressure (100+barg) steam
level.
Conclusion
The best design for an effcient
heat exchanger network is the
result of a trade-off between
fxed and operating costs. Pinch
technology can help to perform
www.digitalrening.com/article/1000887 PTQ Q4 2013 5
principles, capital cost target
and retroft of heat exchanger
networks, were introduced.
Then, an olefn plant located in
the south of Iran (BIPC) with a
nominal capacity of 411 000
metric t/y of ethylene product
the best process modifcations
as long as the trade-off in costs
is followed accurately. In this
article, frst the principles of
pinch technology, including
composite curve, heat recovery
pinch, utility selection, pinch
4 PTQ Q4 2013 www.digitalrening.com/article/1000887
Figure 6 GCC of a case study
Target, Now, To save,
Heating GJ/h GJ/h GJ/h
H: MP steam 68.2 133.9 65.7
H: PS steam 19.1 50.8 31.7
Total hot 87.3 184.7 97.4
Target, Now, To save,
Cooling GJ/h GJ/h GJ/h
C: PS steam (gen) 0 62.1 62.1
C: Cooling water 114.2 321 .1 206.9
C: HP Steam (gen) 148.7 135.1 -13.6
C: Seawater 151.5 0 -151.5
C: C
3
{20C} 6.46 0 -6.46
Total cold 420.9 518.3 97.4
Total energy 508.2 703.0 194.8
Energy targets and gaps
Table 4
600
900
800
700
500
400
300
200
100
I
n
t
e
r
v
a
l

t
e
m
p
e
r
a
t
u
r
e
,

C
0
0 100 200 300 400
Enthalpy, GJ/h
Process GCC
Utility GCC
Ethane furnace
product
Naphtha furnace
product
Dilution steam
U: HP steam (gen)
U: MP steam
U: PS steam
Pygas rec. cooler
Quench water heat recovery Liquid feed
U: cooling water
Figure 9 GCC for ethylene hot section
Splits and mixers Matches (showing specied temperatures)
Stream HX dH, TS, TT, Utility
UpStrm DownStrm Value Name GJ/h C C
Liquid feed EA119 4.9 37 60
EA120 10.4 60 105
Ethane feed EA121 3.2 30 60
Ethane furnace product EA107-11 60.3 832 338 HP steam (qen)
EA111 24.5 338 210
Naphtha furnace product EA101-10 74.8 841 447 HP stearn (gen)
Quench oil S1 1 166 166
S1 M1 0.0937 EA128 7.4 166 155
S1 M1 0.9063 EA124 62.1 166 155 PS steam (qenl
M1 1 155 155
Upper quench oil EA120 10.4 155 108
Process water EA126 3.2 119 127.1
EA128 7.4 127.1 145
Dilution steam 1 EA125 122.2 145 170.5 MP steam
EA129 2 170.5 182.6 MP steam
Dilution stream 2 EA111 24.5 145 168.5
Oil steam blowdown EA126 3.2 170.5 130.1
EA127 6.2 130.1 43 Coolinq water
Fuel oil rundown EA122 0.4 142.6 65
Quench water cooling 3 EA131 45.3 55 43 Cooling water
Quench water reheating EA122 0.4 55.28 65
Quench water heat recovery TEE-100 1 80.39 80.39
TEE-100 MIX-100 0.3842 80.39 80.39
TEE-100 MIX-100 0.0438 EA119 4.9 80.39 65.41
TEE-100 MIX-101-2 0.012 EA211 1.8 80.39 60.51
TEE-100 MIX-101-2 0.0172 EA206 2.5 80.39 60.42
TEE-100 MIX-100 0.0647 EA428 7.2 80.39 65.41
TEE-100 MIX-101-2 0.0215 EA121 3.2 80.39 60.41
TEE-100 MIX-100 0.4454 EA424 49.4 80.39 65.42
TEE-100 MIX-100 0.0111 EA426 1.2 80.39 65.39
Ethylene plant hot section stream data
Table 3
was selected as a case study.
The plant was separated into
cold and hot sections to
perform a pinch analysis.
Moreover, a cracking furnace
and super-heater were
excluded from the analysis. A
DT
min
value of 10C was chosen
to express the future potential
savings. It was confrmed
that the total potential savings
are 194.8 GJ/h, and that
the majority of these savings
could be achieved by reducing
steam consumption and
increasing high-pressure steam
generation.
Further reading
1 Polly G T, Heat exchanger design and
process integration, Chem. Eng, 1993.
2 Catier M, Pinch analysis revisited: new
rules for utility targeting, Applied Thermal
Engineering, 27, 2007, 16531656.
3 Linnhoff B, Flower J R, Synthesis of heat
exchanger network, AICHE, 1978.
4 Yoon S G, Lee J, Park S, Heat integration
analysis for an industrial ethylbenzene
plant using pinch analysis, Applied
Thermal Engineering, 27, 2007, 886893.
5 Ahmad S, Smith R, Targets and design
for minimum number of shells in heat
exchanger network, Trans ICHeme, 1989.
6 Linnhoff B, Ahmad S, Cost optimum
heat exchanger networks, Chem. Eng,
1990.
7 Smith R, Chemical Process Design and
Integration, 2005, McGraw Hill.
8 Matijaseviae L, Otmaeiae H, Energy
recovery by pinch technology, Applied
Thermal Engineering, 22(4), 2002, 477-
484.
Farbod Rikhtegar is a Senior Process/
Energy Engineer with the Iranian Fuel
Conservation Companys (IFCO) Industry
Sector. He holds a MSc in chemical
engineering.
Email: f.rikhtegar@ifco.ir
Sapehr Sadighi is Project Manager,
Catalysis and Nanotechnology Division
in the Catalytic Reaction Engineering
Department of the Research Institute of
Petroleum Industry (RIPI). He holds a PhD
in chemical engineering.
Email: sadighis @ripi.ir
6 PTQ Q4 2013 www.digitalrening.com/article/1000887
Energy savings
Fuel Steam saving Elect power
ProjectID Description Type saving, GJ/h HP, t/h MP, t/h LP, t/h saving, MW
01-01 Cracking furnace improvement Furnace 86.4
01-02 Increase steam pressure generation in gas cracker TLEs Furnace 0.6
01-03 Reduce steam pressure generation in liquid cracker TLEs Furnace -0.9 1.2
01-08 Quench water interchange - deethaniser feed preheat Heat integration 3.7
01-09 Quench water tower top cooling Yield opportunity 0.2
01-10 Recover blowdown to dilution steam vessel Heat integration 0 .1
01-11 Condensate stripper temperature control Other 0.1
01-12 Optimise dryer regen Furnace 0.261
01-13 Hydrogen product purity Yield opportunity
01-14 Preheat demethaniser lower feed Heat integration 3.5
01-18 Acetylene heat integration Heat integration 4
01-19 C
2
= fractionator analysis Other 1.4
01-20 Recover cold from LLP ethylene Utilities & power 0.04
01-22 Reduce operation of depentaniser Yield opportunity 1 .8
01-24 Reboilers using propylene refrigeration Other 1
01-25 Install O
2
analysers Furnace 12.5
01-26 Install stack temperature measurement Furnace 16.4
01-27 Steam loss reduction program Vent reduction 7
01-29 Reinstatement of insulation Other 1.65
01-30 Increase cooling effectiveness Utilities & power 0.7
01-31 Compressor sophisticated anti-surge controller Utilities & power 5.8
01-32 Program of seawater surface condensers backushing Utilities & power 0.7
01-33 Implementation of furnace operation improvement Furnace 13.2
01-35 Furnace severity and decoking Yield Opportunity
01-37 Switch small condensing turbine to motor Utilities & power 19 -1.7
01-41 Replace propylene turbine with electric motor Utilities & power 103 -18.1
01-42 Commission secondary TLEs Furnace 9
01-43 Commission turbo expander Utilities & power 0.3
01-44 Increase HP steam temperature exit superheater Furnace -2.0 0.8
01-47 Use oil steam BD to reboil cond stripper Heat integration 1
01-48 Use C3= 20C recup to reboil DeMeth Heat integration 4.9
01-49 Recover L P-HP transfer cold Heat integration 5.5
ME-10 Energy management organisation Other 17.9
ME-11 Energy management tools Other 17.9
Bandar Imam olens plant energy savings
Table 4

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