A NEW GRAPHICAL METHODOLOGY FOR THE DESIGN OF HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEMS IN CHEMICAL/ REFINING INDUSTRIES

Abstract

The significance of energy nowadays is increasing due to the increase in the world population and consequently their required resources [1]. One of the frequently faced problems in chemical/industrial plants is the excessive energy consumption for production [9]. It represents one of the highest contributions to the composition of global cost of industrial products. Most industrial processes require the consumption of energy at one temperature level and rejection at another level. The consumption is achieved by the use of utilities such as steam, hot water, flue gas etc. and the rejection by the use of cooling water, air and refrigerant. In most industrial processes also, there are streams that require heating and streams that require cooling; these are usually achieved using hot and cold utilities respectively [10]. So most of energy consumed in chemical process is used for the aim of heating and cooling. This heating and cooling process occur in heat transfer equipment. One of the most frequently used heat transfer equipment is the heat exchanger [11]. 2.2. Challenges to refineries/chemical plants Chemical plants, especially crude oil refineries consume huge amount of energy for the purpose of heating of the raw crude oil, the crude oil is processed in several units to achieve its final products as kerosene, gasoline and other important products. At the first stage of the processing