Tutorial 2: Propane Refrigeration Loop – 15 Marks

Refrigeration systems are commonly found in the natural gas processing and petroleum
refining industry. Refrigeration is used to cool gas to meet a hydrocarbon dewpoint
specification and to produce a marketable liquid. In this tutorial you will construct, run,
analyze and manipulate a propane refrigeration loop.

A. Learning Objectives

x Adding and connecting unit operations to build a flowsheet

x Adding tables to the PFD
x Printing procedures

B. Base Case (5 marks)

Answer the questions that appear as bold and boxed.

1. Start a new case and add the components and fluid package: propane and ethane
and Peng Robinson (Equation of State). Enter the simulation environment.
2. Install a stream. Double click on the stream and enter the following information.

Name 1
Vapour Fraction 0.0
Temperature 45oC
Basis Mole Fraction
C3 Mole Fraction 1.0
C2 Mole Fraction 0.0

3. Add a second stream and enter the following properties:

Name 3
Vapour Fraction 1.0
Temperature -15 oC

What is the pressure of stream 1 in kPa?

4. There are a variety of ways to add unit operations in HYSYS. Last tutorial we
used F12 and the Unit Operations window to install a separator. In this case you
will add the following operations: valve, chiller, compressor, condenser. The
following are alternate ways to install a unit operation. Use the one you feel most
comfortable with. These instructions will use F12.

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 Workbook Select Tools, Workbook and select View.
Open the workbook and go to UnitOps
tab page then click on Add UnitOp
button. The UnitOp window will be
displayed
Object Legend You can select the unit from the icon of
the operation. If this legend is close press
F4 and it will appear. You can either
double click on the appropriate operation
or right click on it and drag it over to the
simulation environment (PFD).

5. Press F12 and click on Piping Equipment. Select Valve and press the add button.
The valve property window should be displayed. For the Feed stream select 1
and for the Product stream type 2. A J-T valve is being modeled so type J-T as
the Name of the valve. Close the window.
6. The chiller operation in the loop is modeled in HYSYS using a heater operation.
The outlet of the chiller will be at its dewpoint. Press F12 and select Heat
Transfer Equipment. Select Heater and Add. In the property window name the
operation Chiller. The inlet is stream 2 and the outlet is stream 3. Name the
energy stream Chill-Q.
7. Select Parameters. Enter the values 1.50e+6 kJ/h and 5.0 kPa for the Duty and
Pressure Drop of the chiller. A green OK should appear. Close the window.

W What is the flow rate of propane in kgmol/h?

What is the valve pressure drop in kPa?
What is the temperature of the valve outlet in oC?

8. The compressor is used to increase the pressure of the inlet gas stream. Press F12
and select Rotating Equipment. Select Compressor and add it. On the property
view window enter the Name of the unit as Compressor the Inlet stream is 3,
Outlet stream is 4, and Energy stream as Compressor-Q.
9. Select Parameters. Enter the Adiabatic efficiency as 75%.
10. To complete the loop we will add a condenser. It is placed between the
compressor and valve and is modeled as a cooler operation. Press F12 and Heat
Transfer Equipment. Select Cooler and Add.
11. In the property view window enter the Inlet stream as 4, the Outlet stream as 1,
the Name of the unit as Condenser and the Energy stream as Condenser-Q.
12. Select Parameters and enter the Pressure Drop: 30 kPa.
13. If your PFD diagram appears to be small you can zoom in on the PFD by
selecting the magnify glass icon and drawing a box around your PFD.

. What is the compressor duty in hp?

Note: 1 J/s = 1.341 x 10-3 hp

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 C. Manipulating the PFD

HYSYS allows users to view properties and tables and print information for the PFD,
unit operations and streams. Try these exercises to get accustomed to these options.

1. For the PFD, right click the mouse and select Add a Workbook Table. Streams
should be highlighted and click on Select. Material and energy data for all
streams should be displayed in the table on the PFD. You can remove the table
by selecting the table, right click the mouse and select Hide.
2. Add a table for stream 4. Select stream 4 and right click on the mouse. Select
Show Table from the menu. You can remove the table in the same manner as
above.
3. Add a table for the valve. Select the valve using the mouse. Right click on the
mouse and select Show table from the menu.

Each workbook has a unit operations page by default that displays all the unit operation
and their connections in the simulation. You can add additional pages for specific unit
operations to the workbook.

1. Open the workbook. In the Menu bar, select Workbook and then Setup.

2. Highlight Unit Ops and press the Add button in the workbook pages group. From
the New Object Type view, double click on Unit Operations and then select
Compressor. Click Ok. A new page, Compressors, containing only compressor
information is added to the workbook.

D. Manipulating Process Variables (10 marks)

Save your base case using File, Save, Case. After manipulating variables of the base case
for Question 1, you may want to re-open the base case and use it for Question 2.

1. In reality, a plant would not have a pure propane refrigeration cycle. There will
always be a small fraction of impurities. Suppose the plant has a 96/4 (mole %)
propane/ethane blend. What effect, if any, does this new composition have on the
refrigeration loop? Use the base case for comparison.

Base Case: 100% C3 New Case: 4 % C2, 96% C3

Flow (kgmol/h)
Valve Pressure Drop (kPa)
Valve Outlet Temp (oC)
Condenser Q (kJ/h)
Compressor Q (hp)

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 2. In the plant there is no instrumentation that can measure or calculate the chiller
duty. However, you know that the compressor is rated for 250 hp and that it is
running at 90% of maximum and 70% adiabatic efficiency. Assume a pure
propane refrigeration cycle. What is the chiller duty in kJ/h? What is the propane
flow rate in kgmol/h. Explain how you solved this problem.

E. Printing

You can print results through the menu bar, from the PFD and using the report manager.
You do not have to print any tables or PFD for this tutorial. Read these procedures only
to become familiar with the printing procedures.

1. To print from the menu bar select File, Print. All worksheets will be printed.
2. To print your PFD, right click on the PFD and select Print PFD.
3. You can also print worksheets for specific streams or unit operations. Select the
unit operation or stream you wish to have information printed. Right click the
mouse and select Print Datasheet. You can view a Preview of the printout as
well.
4. To print using the report manager, select Tools, Reports. Press Create to add a
new report and open the Report Builder. Press Insert Datasheet to add specsheets
to your report. You can add single or multiple unit operations specsheets to the
report.

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