Colds problems

Heat transfer. Once the basic reactor type and conditions have been chosen, heat transfer can be a major problem. Figure 2.11 summarizes the basic decisions which must be made regarding heat transfer. If the reactor product is to be cooled by direct contact with a cold fluid, then use of extraneous materials should be avoided. 

The analysis of the heat exchanger network first identifies sources of heat (termed hot streams) and sinks (termed cold streams) from the material and energy balance. Consider first a very simple problem with just one hot stream (heat source) and one cold stream (heat sink). The initial temperature (termed supply temperature), final temperature (termed target temperature), and enthalpy change of both streams are given in Table 6.1. 

Figure 6.1 A simple heat recovery problem with one hot stream and one cold stream.

Where the cold composite curve extends beyond the start of the hot composite curve in Fig. 6.5a, heat recovery is not possible, and the cold composite curve must be supplied with an external hot utility such as steam. This represents the target for hot utility (Q niin)- For this problem, with ATn,in = 10°C, Qnmin 7.5 MW. Where the hot composite curve extends beyond the start of the cold composite curve in Fig. 6.5a, heat recovery is again not possible, and the hot composite curve must be supplied with an external cold utility such as cooling water. This represents the target for cold utility (Qcmin)- For this problem, with AT in = 10°C, Qcmm = 10-0 MW. 

Specifying the hot utility or cold utility or AT m fixes the relative position of the two curves. As with the simple problem in Fig. 6.2, the relative position of the two curves is a degree of freedom at our disposal. Again, the relative position of the two curves can be changed by moving them horizontally relative to each other. Clearly, to consider heat recovery from hot streams into cold, the hot composite must be in a position such that everywhere it is above the cold composite for feasible heat transfer. Thereafter, the relative position of the curves can be chosen. Figure 6.56 shows the curves set to ATn,in = 20°C. The hot and cold utility targets are now increased to 11.5 and 14 MW, respectively. 

Consider now the possibility of transferring heat between these two systems (see Fig. 6.76). Figure 6.76 shows that it is possible to transfer heat from hot streams above the pinch to cold streams below. The pinch temperature for hot streams for the problem is 150°C, and that for cold streams is 140°C. Transfer of heat from above the pinch to below as shown in Fig. 6.76 transfers 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. By contrast. Fig. 6.7c shows that 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 ATmin constraint). 

In some threshold problems, the hot utility requirement disappears, as in Fig. 6.10. In others, the cold utility disappears, as shown in Fig. 6.11. 

Figure 6.10 As is varied, some problems require only a cold utility below a threshold value.

It is important to note that shifting the curves vertically does not alter the horizontal overlap between the curves. It therefore does not alter the amount by which the cold composite curve extends beyond the start of the hot composite curve at the hot end of the problem and the amount by which the hot composite curve extends beyond the start of the cold composite curve at the cold end. The shift simply removes the problem of ensuring temperature feasibility within temperature intervals. 

Now cascade any surplus heat down the temperature scale from interval to interval. This is possible because any excess heat available from the hot streams in an interval is hot enough to supply a deficit in the cold streams in the next interval down. Figure 6.18 shows the cascade for the problem. First, assume that no heat is supplied to the first interval from a hot utility (Fig. 6.18a). The first interval has a surplus of 1.5 MW, which is cascaded to the next interval. This second interval has a deficit of 6 MW, which reduces the heat cascaded from this interval to -4.5 MW. In the third interval the process has a surplus of 1 MW, which leaves -3.5 MW to be cascaded to the next interval, and so on. 

The grand composite curve is obtained by plotting the problem table cascade. A typical grand composite curve is shown in Fig. 6.24. It shows the heat flow through the process against temperature. It should be noted that the temperature plotted here is shifted temperature T and not actual temperature. Hot streams are represented ATn,in/2 colder and cold streams AT iJ2 hotter than they are in practice. Thus an allowance for ATj in is built into the construction. 

Figure 7.6 now shows the stream population for each enthalpy interval together with the hot and cold stream temperatures. Now set up a table to compute Eq. (7.6). This is shown in Table 7.2. Thus the network area target for this problem for = 10°C is 7410 m. ... 

Utility systems as sources of waste. The principal sources of utility waste are associated with hot utilities (including cogeneration systems) and cold utilities. Furnaces, steam boilers, gas turbines, and diesel engines all produce waste from products of combustion. The principal problem here is the emission of carbon dioxide, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, and particulates (metal oxides, unbumt... 

If the reactor can be matched with other process streams (which is unlikely), then the reactor profile should be included in the heat integration problem. This would be a hot stream in the case of an exothermic reaction or a cold stream in the case of an endothermic reaction. 

Start at the pinch. The pinch is the most constrained region of the problem. At the pinch, exists between all hot and cold... 

The final design shown in Fig. 16.7 amalgamates the hot-end design from Fig. 16.5c and the cold-end design from Fig. 16.6c. The duty on hot utility of 7.5 MW agrees with Qnmm and the duty on the cold utility of 10 MW agrees with Qcmm predicted by the composite curves and the problem table algorithm. 

Example 16.1 The process stream data for a heat recovery network problem are given in Table 16.1. A problem table analysis on these data reveals that the minimum hot utility requirement for the process is 15 MW and the minimum cold utility requirement is 26 MW for a minimum allowable temperature diflFerence of 20°C. The analysis also reveals that the pinch is located at a temperature of 120°C for hot streams and 100°C for cold streams. Design a heat exchanger network for maximum energy recovery in the minimum number of units. 

In Sec. 6.3 it was mentioned that some problems, known as threshold problems, do not have a pinch. They need either hot utility or cold utility but not both. How should the approach be modified to deal with the design of threshold problems ... 

The philosophy in the pinch design method was to start the design where it was most constrained. If the design is pinched, the problem is most constrained at the pinch. If there is no pinch, where is the design most constrained Figure 16.9a shows a threshold problem that requires no hot utility, just cold utility. The most constrained part of this problem is the no-utility end. Tips is where temperature differences are smallest, and there may be constraints, as shown in Fig. 16.96, where the target temperatures on some of the cold... 

Figure 16.10 shows another threshold problem that requires only hot utility. This problem is different in characteristic from the one in Fig. 16.9. Now the minimum temperature difference is in the middle of the problem, causing a pseudopinch. The best strategy to deal with this type of threshold problem is to treat it as a pinched problem. For the problem in Fig. 16.10, the problem is divided into two parts at the pseudopinch, and the pinch design method is followed. The only complication in applying the pinch design method for such problems is that one-half of the problem (the cold end in Fig. 16.10) will not feature the flexibility offered by matching against utility.

If there had been more cold streams than hot streams in the design above the pinch, this would not have created a problem, since hot utility can be used above the pinch. 

By contrast, now consider part of a design below the pinch (Fig. 16.12a). Here, hot utility must not be used, which means that all cold streams must be heated to pinch temperature by heat recovery. There are now three cold streams and two hot streams in Fig. 16.12a. Again, regardless of the CP values, one of the cold streams cannot be heated to pinch temperature without some violation of the constraint. The problem can only be resolved by splitting a hot (a)... 

It is not only the stream number that creates the need to split streams at the pinch. Sometimes the CP inequality criteria [Eqs. (16.1) and (16.2)] CEmnot be met at the pinch without a stream split. Consider the above-pinch part of a problem in Fig. 16.13a. The number of hot streams is less than the number of cold, and hence Eq. (16.3) is satisfied. However, the CP inequality also must be satisfied, i.e., Eq. (16.1). Neither of the two cold streams has a large enough CP. The hot stream can be made smaller by splitting it into two parallel branches (Fig. 16.136). 

Example 16.2 A problem table analysis of a petrochemicals process reveals that for a minimum temperature difference of 50°C the process requires 9.2 MW of hot utUity, 6.4 MW of cold utility, and the pinch is located at 550°C... 

The cold-utility target for the problem shown in Fig. 16.22 is 4 MW. If the design is started at the pinch with stream 3, then stream 3 must be split to satisfy the CP inequality (Fig. 16.22a). Matching one of the branches against stream 1 and ticking off stream 1 results in a duty of 8 MW. 

The properties required by jet engines are linked to the combustion process particular to aviation engines. They must have an excellent cold behavior down to -50°C, a chemical composition which results in a low radiation flame that avoids carbon deposition on the walls, a low level of contaminants such as sediment, water and gums, in order to avoid problems during the airport storage and handling phase. 

It is mainly in cold behavior that the specifications differ between bome-heating oil and diesel fuel. In winter diesel fuel must have cloud points of -5 to -8°C, CFPPs from -15 to -18°C and pour points from -18 to 21°C according to whether the type of product is conventional or for severe cold. For home-heating oil the specifications are the same for all seasons. The required values are -l-2°C, -4°C and -9°C, which do not present particular problems in refining. 

It should be noted finally that adding gasoline to diesel fuel which was sometimes recommended in the past to improve cold behavior conflicts with the flash point specifications and presents a serious safety problem owing to the presence of a flammable mixture in the fuel tank airspace. Adding a kerosene that begins to boil at 150°C does not have the Scune disadvantage from this point of view. 

The problem with removing large amounts of formic acid by distillation is that it takes a long time to do so. Really big batches can take an entire day to distill. So a second option [10] after removal of the acetone would be to cool the formic acid solution then extract the whole thing with ether. The black ether layer is then washed with an ice cold 5% sodium carbonate (Na2C03) solution to neutralize any formic acid that was carried over, then washed... 

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