Composite curves process

Figure 6.6 illustrates what happens to the cost of the system as the relative position of the composite curves is changed over a range of values of AT ir,. When the curves just touch, there is no driving force for heat transfer at one point in the process, which would require an... 

Not all problems have a pinch to divide the process into two parts. Consider the composite curves in Fig. 6.10a. At this setting, both steam and cooling water are required. As the composite curves are moved closer together, both the steam and cooling water requirements decrease until the setting shown in Fig. 6.106 results. At this setting, the composite curves are in alignment at the hot end,... 

The composite curves are useful in providing conceptual understanding of the process, but the problem table algorithm is a more convenient calculation tool. 

Although the composite curves can be used to set energy targets, they are not a suitable tool for the selection of utilities. The grand composite curve is a more appropriate tool for understanding the interface between the process and the utility system. It is also, as is shown in later chapters, a useful tool for study of the interaction between heat-integrated reactors and separators and the rest of the process. 

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. 

The shaded areas in Fig. 6.24, known as pockets, represent areas of additional process-to-process heat transfer. Remember that the profile of the grand composite curve represents residual heating and cooling demands after recovering heat within the shifted temperature intervals in the problem table algorithm. In these pockets in Fig. 6.24, a local surplus of heat in the process is used at temperature differences in excess of AT ,in to satisfy a local deficit. ... 

Example 6.3 The problem table cascade for the process in Fig. 6.2 is given in Fig. 6.18. Using the grand composite curve ... 

The process requires (Qup + Qlp) to satisfy its enthalpy imbalance above the pinch. If there were no losses from the boiler, then fuel W would be converted to shaftwork W at 100 percent efficiency. However, the boiler losses Qloss reduce this to below 100 percent conversion. In practice, in addition to the boiler losses, there also can be significant losses from the steam distribution system. Figure 6.336 shows how the grand composite curve can be used to size steam turbine cycles. ... 

As with heat pumping, the grand composite curve is used to assess how much heat from the process needs to be extracted into the refrigeration system and where, if appropriate, the process can... 

Consider the composite curves in Fig. 12.1. Any process change which... 

The preceding appropriate placement arguments assume that the process has the capacity to accept or give up the reactor heat duties at the given reactor temperature. A quantitative tool is needed to assess the capacity of the background process. For this purpose, the grand composite curve can be used and the reactor profile treated as if it was a utility, as explained in Chap. 6. 

The stream data in Fig. 13.6 include those associated with the reactor and those for the rest of the process. If the placement of the reactor relative to the rest of the process is to be examined, those streams associated with the reactor need to be separated from the rest of the process. Figure 13.7 shows the grand composite curves for the two parts of the process. Figure 13.7b is based on streams 1, 2, 6, and 7 from Table 13.1, and Fig. 13.7c is based on streams 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, and 11. 

In Fig. 13.7d, the grand composite curve for the reactor and that for the rest of the process are superimposed. To obtain maximum overlap, one of the curves must be taken as a mirror image. It can be seen in Fig. 13.7d that the reactor is appropriately placed relative to the rest of the process. Had the reactor not been appropriately placed, it would have been extremely... 

Figure 13.6 The composite curves and grand composite curve for the phthalic anhydride process.

Figure 13.8 The grand composite curve for the whole process apparently requires only high-pressure steam generation from boiler feedwater.

Let us now consider a few examples for the use of this simple representation. A grand composite curve is shown in Fig. 14.2. The distillation column reboiler and condenser duties are shown separately and are matched against it. Neither of the distillation columns in Fig. 14.2 fits. The column in Fig. 14.2a is clearly across the pinch. The distillation column in Fig. 14.26 does not fit, despite the fact that both reboiler and condenser temperatures are above the pinch. Strictly speaking, it is not appropriately placed, and yet some energy can be saved. By contrast, the distillation shown in Fig. 14.3a fits. The reboiler duty can be supplied by the hot utility. The condenser duty must be integrated with the rest of the process. Another example is shown in Fig. 14.36. This distillation also fits. The reboiler duty must be supplied by integration with the process. Part of the condenser duty must be integrated, but the remainder of the condenser duty can be rejected to the cold utility. 

Establish the heat integration potential of simple columns. Introduce heat recovery between reboilers, intermediate reboilers, condensers, intermediate condensers, and other process streams. Shift the distillation column pressures to allow integration, where possible, using the grand composite curve to assess the heat integration potential. 

Figure 14.8 Simplified fiowsheet for the acetic anhydride process. The composite curves show both distillation columns to be across the pinch. (From Smith and Linnhoff, Trans. IChemE, ChERD, 66 195, 1988 reproduxxd by permission of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.)...

Like distillation, evaporation can be represented as a box. This again assumes that any heating or cooling required by the feed and concentrate will be included with the other process streams in the grand composite curve. 

Figure 15.4 shows the grand composite curve for this process and... 

A low temperature of approach for the network reduces utihties but raises heat-transfer area requirements. Research has shown that for most of the pubhshed problems, utility costs are normally more important than annualized capital costs. For this reason, AI is chosen eady in the network design as part of the first tier of the solution. The temperature of approach, AI, for the network is not necessarily the same as the minimum temperature of approach, AT that should be used for individual exchangers. This difference is significant for industrial problems in which multiple shells may be necessary to exchange the heat requited for a given match (5). The economic choice for AT depends on whether the process environment is heater- or refrigeration-dependent and on the shape of the composite curves, ie, whether approximately parallel or severely pinched. In cmde-oil units, the range of AI is usually 10—20°C. By definition, AT A AT. The best relative value of these temperature differences depends on the particular problem under study. 

Measurements of overall reaction rates (of product formation or of reactant consumption) do not necessarily provide sufficient information to describe completely and unambiguously the kinetics of the constituent steps of a composite rate process. A nucleation and growth reaction, for example, is composed of the interlinked but distinct and different changes which lead to the initial generation and to the subsequent advance of the reaction interface. Quantitative kinetic analysis of yield—time data does not always lead to a unique reaction model but, in favourable systems, the rate parameters, considered with reference to quantitative microscopic measurements, can be identified with specific nucleation and growth steps. Microscopic examinations provide positive evidence for interpretation of shapes of fractional decomposition (a)—time curves. In reactions of solids, it is often convenient to consider separately the geometry of interface development and the chemical changes which occur within that zone of locally enhanced reactivity. 

Aromatic polyesters that do not contain any flexible structural units are often nonmeltable or extremely high melting polymers that cannot be processed. Copolymerization is a way to obtain processable wholly aromatic polyesters The Tm versus copolyester composition curve is a U-shaped curve exhibiting a minimum that is generally well below the Tm of corresponding homopolymers. Liquid crystalline aromatic polyesters, for instance, are usually copolymers.72 An example is Ticona s Vectra, a random copolyester containing 4-oxybenzoyl and 6-oxy-2-naphthoyl units in ca. 70 30 mol ratio. This copolymer melts at ca. 

It is interesting to note that threshold problems are quite common in practice and although they do not have a process pinch, pinches are introduced into the design when multiple utilities are added. Figure 16.13a shows composite curves similar to the composite curves from Figure 16.10 but with two levels of cold utility used instead of one. In this case, the second cold utility is steam generation. The introduction of this second utility causes a pinch. This is known as a utility pinch since it is caused by the introduction of an additional utility4. 

Figure 16.30 Flue gas matched against the grand composite curve of the process in Figure 16.2.

The profile of steam generation is shown against the grand composite curve in Figure 16.35a. The process can support both boiler feedwater preheat and steam generation, b. Maximum superheat temperature... 

Figure 16.38 shows a heat pump appropriately integrated against a process. Figure 16.38a shows the overall balance. Figure 16.38b illustrates how the grand composite curve can be used to size the heat pump. How the heat pump performs determines its coefficient of performance. The coefficient of performance for a heat pump can generally be defined as the useful energy delivered to the process divided by the power expended to produce this useful energy. From Figure 16.38a ...

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