Operability and Technical Implementation Issues Related to Heat Integration Measures—Interview Study at an Oil Refinery in Sweden

Sofie Marton, Elin Svensson and Simon Harvey
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Sofie Marton: Division of Energy Technology, Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
Elin Svensson: CIT Industriell Energi AB, 412 58 Gothenburg, Sweden
Simon Harvey: Division of Energy Technology, Department of Space, Earth and Environment, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-23

Abstract: In many energy-intensive industrial process plants, significant improvements in energy efficiency can be achieved through increased heat recovery. However, retrofitting plants for heat integration purposes can affect process operability. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive overview of such issues by systematically relating different types of heat recovery retrofit measures to a range of technical barriers associated with process operability and practical implementation of the measures. The paper presents a new approach for this kind of study, which can be applied in the early-stage screening of heat integration retrofit measures. This approach accounts for the importance of a number of selected operability factors and their relative significance. The work was conducted in the form of a case study at a large oil refinery. Several conceptual heat exchanger network retrofit design proposals were prepared and discussed during semi-structured interviews with technical staff at the refinery. The results show that many operability and practical implementation factors, such as spatial limitations, pressure drops and non-energy benefits, influence the opportunities for implementation of different types of heat exchanger network retrofit measures. The results indicate that it is valuable to consider these factors at an early stage when designing candidate heat exchanger network retrofit measures. The interview-based approach developed in this work can be applied to other case studies for further confirmation of the results.

Keywords: heat integration; operability; retrofit; oil refinery; interviews (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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