engleski

Analysis of a recirculating cooling water network in a petroleum refinery

Cooling water requirements of an oil refinery depend on processes in which the water is used for cooling and on complexity of cooling water network configuration. The majority of designs in refineries still employ networks of cooling water coolers that operate in parallel, which implies that heated cooling water is collected to form one or several streams which are sent to cooling tower regardless of their temperature. In this work a recirculating cooling water system was analyzed, taking into consideration only refinery processes for which data was available. By using KSD (Kim & Smith Design) method, an integrated water using network was synthesized, with aim to demonstrate that load of cooling tower and cost related to cooling water system can be reduced by modifying configuration of heat exchanger network. KSD graphical method utilizes limiting profiles of cooling water flows through heat exchangers to construct the composite curve. By determining pinch temperature and heat load, flow heat capacity (CP) is calculated and with it minimal water flow-rate through cooling tower. Then, cooling water network is synthesized, leading to 40% reduction in cooling tower load and, consequently, lower operating costs and water use.

cooling tower ; heat exchanger network ; cooling water ; composite curve

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