Heat Exchanger Network - Abhijit Nath

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DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Heat Exchanger Network


SUBMITTED BY ……………….
Abhijit Nath
UNIVERSITY ROLL: T91/CE/186001
5TH SEMESTER
Guided by
Prof. Asim Kumar De
Department of chemical Engineering, University of
Calcutta

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Certificate
This is to certify that report entitled “Heat Exchanger Network”
submitted by Abhijit Nath partial fulfilments for the requirements for
the award of Bachelor of Technology Degree in Chemical Engineering
at University of Calcutta is an authentic work carried out by him
under my supervision and guidance.

To the best of my knowledge, the matter embodied in the thesis has


not been submitted to any other University/Institute for the award of
any Degree or Diploma.

Date Asim Kumar De

Professor
Department of Chemical
Engineering
University of Calcutta

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Acknowledgement
I wish to express my deep sense of gratitude and
indebtedness to Prof. Ashim Kumar De, Department of
chemical Engineering, University of Calcutta for
introducing the present topic and for his inspiring
guidance, constructive criticism and valuable
suggestion throughout this project work.
I would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Amitava
Bandyopadhyay (Head of the Department) for his
constant support and encouragement. I'm also
thankful to all staff members of Department of
Chemical Engineering of University of Calcutta.
Date. Abhijit Nath
Roll no: T91/CE/ 186001
5th Semester

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CONTENTS PAGES
1. Introduction 05

2. Data Extraction 06

3. Construction of Composite Curves 07

4. Determining the Energy Targets 10

5. The principle of Pinch 13

6. PROBLEM TABLE ALGORITHM 14

7. Design of Heat Exchanger Network 19

8. Flow chart for Pinch design procedure 21

9. The “Tick‐Off’ heuristic 21

10. Conclusion 22

11. Reference 22

12.

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1. Introduction:

One of the most frequent problems in industrial plants is the excessive energy
consumption. It represents the most important contribution to the composition
of the global cost of industrialised products. Although heat recovery systems are
frequently studied in synthesis problems, great attention was drawn after the
first energetic world crisis, during the seventies. Therefore, the study of
alternatives to minimize the consumption of energy produced by burnt
combustibles has increased.

In industrial processes there are streams that need heating and streams that need
cooling, usually achieved by using hot and cold utilities, respectively. Heat
exchanger network (HEN) synthesis is a mean to obtain heating and cooling by
process streams energetic integration, by using heat streams to heat cold streams
and cold streams to cool hot streams. In this way, it is possible to reduce the
amount of hot and cold utilities. Besides the utilities consumption reduction, it
is important to use a small number of heat transfer equipment, decreasing the
fixed cost of the final network.

Heat exchanger network (HEN) design is a key aspect of chemical process


design. Typically, 20-30% energy savings, coupled with capital savings, can be
realised in state-of-the-art flow sheets by improved HEN design. The objective
is to minimise total costs, i.e. capital and operating costs expressed as annual
charges. Several kinds of studies were done aiming to develop methodologies to
obtain optimal HEN, to reach these goals. Out of them Pinch Analysis is very
widely used.

Pinch Technology provides a systematic methodology for energy saving in


processes and total sites. The methodology is based on thermodynamic
principles. The key advantages of pinch technology over conventional design
methods are its ability to set an energy target before the commencement of the
design. The energy target offers the minimum theoretical energy required for
the process under consideration. Pinch Technology provides the thermodynamic
rules to ensure that the energy targets are achieved during the heat exchanger
network design. The main strategy of Pinch Technology is to match cold and
hot process streams with the help of a Heat Exchangers Network (HEN) so that
requirements for externally supplied utilities are reduced. The best design for an

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energy‐efficient HEN results in a trade-off between the energy recovered and
the capital costs involved for energy recovery.

2. Data Extraction:

The amount of information available form plant measurement, data acquisition


systems, DCS, and simulation models of a process can be very large, and most
of this data may not be of   relevance to the Pinch analysis. It is thus necessary
to identify and extract only the information that truly captures the relevant
sources (Hot streams) and sinks (Cold streams) and their interactions with the
overall process.

The starting point for a Pinch Technology analysis is to recognize in the process
of interest all the process streams that need to be heated and all those that need
to be cooled. This necessitates identifying the streams, their flow rates and
thermal properties, phase changes, and the temperature ranges through which
these must be heated or cooled. This can be performed after mass balances have
been completed and temperatures and pressures have been established for the
process streams. Energy quantities can be computed by thermodynamic
calculations.

Having obtained a reliable heat and mass balance, the next stage is to extract the
hot and cold streams in the form required for pinch analysis. Data extraction can
be the most time consuming task of a pinch analysis. It is essential that all the
heating, cooling, and phase changes in the process be identified.

The data required for each process stream include:

 Mass flow rate (kg/s)


 Specific heat capacity (kJ/kg C)
 Supply and target temperatures (C), and
 Heat of vaporization for streams with a phase change (kJ/kg).

Additionally, the following information must be collected on utilities and


existing heat exchangers

 Existing heat exchanger area (m2).


 Heat transfer coefficient for cold and hot sides of heat exchangers (kW /
m2 C).
 Utilities available in the process (water temperature, steam pressure
levels, etc.
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 Marginal utility costs, as opposed to average utility costs.

Data extraction must be performed carefully as the results of Pinch Analysis


strongly depend on this step.

3. Construction of Composite Curves:

Composite Curves consist of temperature-enthalpy (T-H) profiles of heat


availability in the process (the “hot composite curve”) and heat demands in the
process (the “cold composite curve”) together in a graphical representation. For
example:

Name Supply Target CP H


of the Temperatur Temperature kW/ kW
stream e Ts, C Tt, C C
Hot‐1 140 50 2 -180
Hot‐2 90 40 6 -300
Cold‐ 30 150 2 240
1
Cold‐ 70 125 3 165
2

The first two streams are sources of heat and another two are sinks. If heat
capacity of the streams is constant the heat content in hot and cold stream can
be determined using heat capacity flow rate which is product of mass/molar
flow rate and heat capacity. mc❑ p =Cp .

Now for Hot stream- we know Q=mc p dt


160

140

120

100

80
T,C

60

40
180
20 300
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
H
Figure1-Hot Streams are plotted
separately

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Fig.1 shows the position of Hot‐1 and Hot‐2 streams in the T ‐H diagram. The
construction of the hot composite curve (as shown in Figure-2) simply involves
the addition of the enthalpy changes of the streams in the respective temperature
intervals. In the temperature interval 140C to 90 C only stream 1 is present.
Therefore the CP of the composite curve equals the CP of stream 1 i.e. 2. In the
temperature interval 90C to 50C, both streams 1 and 2 are present, therefore
the CP of the hot composite equals the sum of the CP’s of the two streams i.e.
2+6=8.In the temperature interval 50ºC to 40ºC only stream 2 is present, thus
the CP of the composite is 6. Further, it can be noted that H for hot‐1 stream
from 140C to 50C is -180 kW whereas the same for Hot‐2 stream is -300 kW.
When the load of both the stream is integrated in the above temperature interval
these will provide 480kW (180+300). Integration of loads of Hot‐1 &2 in the
temperature levels 50C to 90C is shown in Fig.2

Figure2-Composite Hot Stream

The construction of the cold composite curve is similar to that of the hot
composite curve involving the combination of the cold stream T-H curves for
the process.

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Figure3: Composite cold Stream

Once Hot and cold composite curves are created these can be put together to
extract useful information regarding energy change and external utility demand.
In Fig.4 the hot and cold composites are plotted on the same T‐H axes keeping
intact the temperature of both hot and cold composite curves. Hot composite
curve contains temperature level of 140C, 90C, 50C and 40 C (marked by
solid lines) and the temperature levels for cold composite curves are 150C,
125C, and 70C and 30C (shown by dotted lines except 30C as it matches
with axis).  The cold composite curve is then moved from position “c”(original
position) to position “a” where the shortest vertical distance between hot and
cold composite curves is 10C which is the Tmin in this case. Due to the
“kinked” nature of composite curves the point of Tmin can occur anywhere in
the region of internal heat exchange and not just at one end of any composite
curve. The temperature‐enthalpy values associated with any composite  stream
can’t be changed; however, the relative position of composite streams can be
changed by moving them horizontally (parallel to H axis) relative to reach
other. This is possible as the reference enthalpy for the cold composite stream
can be changed independently from the reference enthalpy for the hot composite
streams. For a given value of Tmin the cold and hot utilities computed are the
minimum required values to keep the system in thermal balance.

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Figure-4

Main points regarding combined Hot and cold composite curves are:

1. To consider heat recovery from hot stream to cold streams, it is necessary


that the complete hot composite curve must be above the cold composite
curve for natural heat transfer to take place
2. Relative position of the two curves can be changed by moving them
horizontally.
3. The relative position of Hot and cold composite curves can be fixed by
fixing Hot utility or Cold utility or Tmin
4. The over lapping between hot and cold composite curves determine the
maximum extent of internal heat exchange between hot and cold streams.

4. Determining the Energy Targets:

An important feature of Process Integration is the ability to identify


Performance Targets before the design step is started. The composite curves
provide a counter-current picture of heat transfer and can be used to indicate the
minimum energy target for the process. This is achieved by overlapping the hot
and cold composite curves, as shown in Figure 5

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Figure-5

Once Hot and cold composite curves are known, one can estimate with ease the
minimum amount of external heating ( Hot utility) and external cooling(Cold
utility) required for the process through energy targeting procedure. The overlap
between the hot and cold composite curves represents the maximum amount of
heat that can be recovered within the process. The “overshoot” of the hot
composite represents the minimum amount of external cooling required in the
process and the “overshoot” of the cold composite represents the minimum
amount of external heating required in the process. This concept is based on
vertical heat transfer in the internal heat exchange area as well as at utility areas
as shown in figure 6.

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Figure-6 Vertical
heat transfer

Because of the kinked nature of the hot and cold composite curves, they
approach most closely at one point which is called the “Pinch”. Pinch is not a
point unless both the curves touch each other at a point. In fact, for heat to flow
one has to maintain a value of T at pinch which is called Tmin. Thus at pinch
there exists two points out of which one is called Hot pinch point and the other
cold pinch point as shown in Fig.5. From Fig.5 it can be seen that hot utility
demand is 175 kW, cold utility demand is 250 kW and internal heat exchange is
230 kW. The hot pinch point is at 90C and cold pinch point is at 80C. This is
for TminC equal to 10C. If   one changes the Tmin value from 10C to a new
value then the requirements of cold and hot utility will change and so the
internal heat exchange.

If the value of ΔT min increases, internal heat exchange decreases and the value


of cold and hot utility as well as value of total heat exchange increases. Due to
the increase in the value of external cold and hot utilities the operating cost of
the HEN increases. Further, the decrease in internal heat exchange decreases the
scope of energy conservation in the process. An increase in value of Tmin
increases the value of T available to all the exchangers in the HEN. It is
known fact that    increases    in the value of Tmin decreases the heat transfer
area as it provides higher value of driving force as per the equation given below:
Q=UA T . Where Q ‐load of exchanger, A ‐ Heat transfer area, U‐ overall heat
transfer coefficient, T – temperature difference available for heat transfer

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The most appropriate value of Tmin or in other words the relative positions of
the hot and cold composite curves is determined by an economic trade ‐off
between energy and capital. Once the correct economic value of Tmin is
known then the energy targets in terms of the values of hot and cold utilities are
automatically fixed. The Tmin in general appears at one location between hot
and cold composite curves called “heat recovery pinch”. As pinch point is
related to Tmin, it has special significance in the design.

5. The principle of Pinch

We can see in Fig.5 the heat exchange system separated at pinch. The section
above the pinch works as a heat sink as it accepts heat from external heating
sources (heat utility). The amount of heat required is exactly equal to Q HOT MIN.
The required heat which is necessary to strike heat balance of this section after
hot composite curve transfers the heat to cold composite curve is Q HOT MIN. As
this section takes heat from outside it is termed as heat sink. With the external
heating equal to Q HOT MIN the section is in heat balance, i.e. heat required by the
cold stream is satisfied by heat transferred from the hot composite stream and
the Q HOT MIN from external hot utility.

Similarly Fig.5 also shows that the section below the pinch works as Heat
source as it rejects heat to the external cold utility. The amount of heat rejected
to cold utility is Q COLD MIN .In this section, hot composite curve has excess heat
(Q COLD MIN) available with it even after transferring heat to cold composite
curve. Once Q COLD MIN is transferred to external cold utility this section is also in
heat balance.

As upper pinch region is a net sink no cold utility should be used here. If a cold
utility of amount say Xcold is used in this region then the hot utility demand has
to be increased to QHmin + Xcold  to satisfy the heat balance of this region. Thus it
will increase the hot utility demand. At the same time total consumption of cold
utility will also increase to QCmin+ Xcold. Thus both cold and hot utilities will
increase from their minimum value by an amount X cold. So the penalty will be
double in terms of the increased cost of utility as well as heat transfer area
required to transfer the heat associated with increased amount of utility.

Similarly as lower pinch area is a net heat source and hot utility should not be
used here. If a hot utility of amount say X hot is used in this region then the cold
utility demand has to be increased to Q Cmin + Xhot   to satisfy the heat balance of

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this region. Thus it will increase the total cold utility demand. At the same time
total consumption of hot utility will also increase to Q Hmin+ Xhot. Thus both cold
and hot utilities will increase from their minimum value by an amount Xhot .So
the penalty will be double in terms of the increased cost of utility as well as heat
transfer area required to transfer the heat associated with extra amount of utility.

From the above analysis following conclusions are made.

1. Do not transfer heat across the pinch as the penalty is twice.


2. Do not use cold utility in the above pinch section
3. Do not use hot utility in below pinch section

6. PROBLEM TABLE ALGORITHM:

For a given ΔTmin, Composite curves can be used to obtain energy targets.


However, this will require the use graph paper. If the number of streams is large
then this method becomes tedious. So we need to develop method of calculating
energy targets without need for graphical construction. To lay the foundation of
such a method, let us examine what will happen if hot composite curve is
T min
moved vertically down by and the cold composite is raised vertically up by
2
T min
an amount as in Fig.7. Dotted lines show the modified hot and cold
2
composite curves. It can be seen that the modified composite curve meet at a
point (pinch point). Further, the quantity of minimum hot and cold utility
remains unchanged. Carrying out heat balance between sifted temperature
interval shows that heat transfer is feasible throughout each sifted temperature
interval. Thus the shifting technique thus developed can be effectively used to
develop a strategy to compute energy targets without constructing hot and cold
composite curves.

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Figure-7

For developing Problem Table Algorithm, following steps are undertaken:

Step-1:  Set up shifted temperature intervals using the stream supply and target
T min T
temperatures by subtracting from hot streams and adding min to the cold
2 2
streams. The genesis of the above process is shown in Fig7

Step-2: In each shifted temperature interval, Ti, compute an energy balance


using equation given below.

Δ H i =[ ∑ C pc −∑ Cp❑H ] ❑i ΔT

 Where Hi is the heat balance for the temperature interval i and Ti is the
temperature difference in interval i. Cpc and CpH are cumulative Cp of all the
cold streams present in the interval i and cumulative Cp of all the hot streams
present in this interval respectively. If the heat required by the cold streams in
this interval is more than the heat available with hot streams then H is positive
which means that this temperature interval has heat deficiency. If the reverse is
true then H is negative meaning that heat is surplus in this temperature interval
and can be transferred to a temperature interval which is lower in temperature
than the present interval. The present sign convention is similar to the
convention of thermodynamics. The heat balance between each shifted
temperature interval allows maximum heat recovery within the interval.
However, heat recovery should also be allowed amongst temperature intervals
keeping in mind that heat can flow from higher to lower temperature levels.

Step-3: Cascade any surplus heat available down the temperature scale from
one interval to other. This is possible as any surplus heat available from hot
streams in an interval is hot enough to be supplied to the next interval down

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where there is a heat deficit due to the heat requirement of cold streams. It
should be remembered that heat cannot be transferred up the temperature scale.
During this process one can find that heat flows from some intervals are
negative which shows an infeasible heat transfer. Thus to make the cascade
feasible, sufficient heat must be transferred from hot utility down the cascade so
that the values of heat flows at least become zero.

This basic approach can be developed into a algorithm know as Problem Table
Algorithm (PTA). This algorithm and remaining steps of it is explained using an
example.

For example, let us consider the four stream problem given below: ‐ 

Table-2: Four stream problem for PTA for Tmin equal to 10C.

Stream Stream CP   (KW Actual Shifted


Serial Type / K) Temperatures Temperatures
No.
Ts Tt Ts* Tt*
(C) (C) (C) (C)
1 Cold 2.25 20 135 25 140
2 Hot 3 170 60 165 55
3 Cold 4.25 80 140 85 145
4 Hot 2 150 30 145 25

Plot the streams in a schematic representation on a vertical temperature scale


with interval boundaries superimposed (as shifted temperatures) and arrange
shifted temperatures from maximum to minimum as shown in Fig.8

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 Fig-8: Schematic representation of stream population on a vertical temperature
scale with interval boundaries superimposed

In the above diagram, in interval number 2, which is between shifted


temperatures 145°C and 140°C, two hot streams, streams No. 2 & 4 are
operating having actual temperature from 150°C to 145°C, and one cold stream,
stream No. 3  having actual temperature from 135°C to 140°C is operating. The
actual temperature difference between hot and cold stream is Tmin equal to
10C. Thus, setting up of intervals in this way guarantees that full heat
interchange (horizontally) within this interval is possible. This fact is also true
for other temperature intervals. A heat balance in each interval shows that each
interval will have either a net surplus or net deficit of heat as dictated by
enthalpy balance, but never both. Knowing the stream population in each
interval (from Fig.8), enthalpy balances can easily be calculated for each
temperature interval using Equation Δ H i =[ ∑ C pc −∑ Cp❑h ] ❑i ΔT

Interval Ti – Ti+1 [ ∑ C p c −∑ Cp❑h ] (kW)


ΔH Surplus or
Number i (kW/0C) Deficit

T1 = 165
1 165‐145 = 0‐3 = ‐3 ‐60 Surplus
20
T2 = 145
2 145‐140 = 4.25‐2‐3 ‐3.75 Surplus
5 = 0.75
T3 = 140
3 140‐85= 4.25+2.25‐ 82.5 Deficit
55 2‐3= 1.5
T4 = 85
4 85‐55 = 30 2.25‐2‐3 ‐82.5 Surplus
= 2.75
T5 =55
5 55‐25 = 30 2.25‐2 = 7.5 Deficit
0.25
T6 = 25

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After constructing the Problem table and defining intervals with surplus and
deficit of heat, the next step is to develop a heat cascade based on key feature of
problem table that any heat available in interval i is hot enough to supply any
duty in interval i+1. Now, the interval 1 has a surplus of 60 kW which can be
transferred to the 2nd interval as the hot streams in interval 1 are at least Tmin
higher in temperature scale( Fig.9) than cold stream at interval 2. However,
reverse of it which means natural transfer of heat from Ti interval to Ti‐1 interval
is not feasible as per second law of thermodynamics. First assume no heat is
supplied to the first interval from hot utility. In this, way a heat cascade can be
set up as shown in the figure below.

Figure-9: Problem table cascade

The first interval has a surplus heat of 60 kW, which is cascaded to the next
interval. The second interval has a surplus of 3.75 kW, which leaves the heat
cascaded from this interval to be 63.75 kW. In the third interval the process has
a heat deficit of 82.5 kW, which leaves ‐18.75 kW to be cascaded to next
interval. The Fourth interval has a heat surplus of 82.5 kW, which leaves 63.75
kW to be cascaded to next interval. The fifth and the last interval have a heat
deficit of 7.5 kW which leaves 56.25 kW to be transferred to cold utility. From
this cascade, we can see that from interval 3 to 4, ‐18.75 kW of heat is being
transferred which is not thermodynamically feasible as, heat cannot be
transferred up the temperature scale, to satisfy the heat demand.

Thus, to make the heat cascade feasible one has to transfer heat from hot utility
to the first interval. The smallest amount of heat that is required to be added
from hot utility is the largest negative heat flow (in the present case ‐18.75 kW)

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from the cascade (figure-9). By doing so all the heat flows of the cascade will
positive or at least zero which is the sign of feasible cascade. Thus 18.75 kW of
heat is being supplied from the hot utility to the first temperature interval which
changes the heat balance within each temperature interval and increases heat
flow from all temperature interval by an amount 18.75 kW, making heat flow
zero at a shifted interval temperature of 85C. This gives the pinch point for the
system. Further, amount of heat flowing from lowest shifted interval
temperature (25C) is 75 kW. This heat goes to the cold utility. Thus minimum
cold utility demand is 75 kW. The pinch temperature reported above  is shifted
temperature and this needs to be converted to actual temperature. While
converting actual temperature to shifted temperature, Tmin/2 was added to cold
stream temperatures and Tmin/2 was deducted from hot stream temperatures.
Hence, this process has to be reversed to get actual temperature from shifted
temperature.

Thus, the summary results from the Figure-9 are:


Shifted pinch temperature = 85 C
Hot Pinch Temperature = 85+ (10/2) = 90 C
Cold Pinch Temperature = 85‐ (10/2) = 80 C
Hot Utility Required = 18.75 kW
Cold Utility Required = ‐75 kW
7. Design of Heat Exchanger Network:
After classification the process into streams with its thermal and physical
properties, estimation of minimum utilities and defining pinch point. Now we
can begin the more interesting part which is HEN designing. The pinch
separates the process into two sub network designs; above and below pinch.
To achieve maximum energy recovery we must apply these next steps:
1. Do not transfer heat across the pinch point.
2. Do not use hot utility below the pinch point.
3. Do not use cold utility above the pinch point.
4. Begin with pinch match and move away.
 Rules for Pinch end matching:
1. The number of process streams and branches:
For hot end NH≤ NC
For cold end NC ≤ NH
Where NH: No of hot stream and NC: No of cold stream
At the hot end, we cannot use any cold utility. So, if we cannot use any cold
utility, all the hot streams are to be cooled with the help of cold stream only. So,
number of hot stream should not be less than cold stream, and same is same
holds good for the cold end.
2. The Cp inequality for individual matches:
19 | P a g e
For Hot end CpH ≤ CpC
For Cold end Cpc ≤ CpH
 Stream splitting:
In some cases it is not possible to create appropriate matching because one or
the other design criteria cannot be satisfied. This problem can be solved by
stream splitting as shown in the example below.
Consider a hot end design as in figure 10. In this problem each process hot
stream has to be cooled by process cold streams. As per the pinch rules utility
cooling cannot be used in hot end to cool hot streams as it will violate the
targeted minimum utility. When attempted to cool the process hot streams by
placing pinch matches between hot stream No.1 and cold stream No.4 (match
exchanger 1) and hot stream No.2 and cold stream No.5(match exchanger 2)  as
shown in Fig.10(a), it is  possible to cool hot stream 1 and 2.  However, after
these matches have been made, there is no possibility of cooling hot stream
No.3 using either cold stream 4 or 5 without violating the Tmin constraint. This
is so because the temperature of cold stream after placing the match 1 will rise
to a value 100+ ,   where   will depend on the load of match 1.  Thus, if hot
stream 3 is matched with cold stream 4 then the T will be less than Tmin
(=20C) as can be seen in Fig.10. The same problem will arise when hot stream
3 is matched with cold stream 5. Thus, it appears that utility cooling would be
required to bring the hot stream No.3 to pinch temperature which in fact will
increase the cold utility and the design will deviate from minimum utility
design.

Figure 10:  (a) Infeasible design for above pinch region (b) Stream
splitting at above pinch region to get a feasible design

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When this incompatibility occurs the streams at the pinch need “correcting” by
stream splitting. By splitting the cold stream No.4 an extra “branch” of the same
cold stream is created which allows the hot stream No.3 to match with the
“branch” of cold stream 4 without the violation of Tmin constraint. So here we
satisfy inequality NH≤ NC by stream splitting.
Similarly if it is not possible to create matches fulfilling Cp inequalities then it
is necessary to change one or more Cps of streams by stream splitting.

8. Flow chart for Pinch design procedure:

21 | P a g e
Figure-11: Sequences for designing HEN above pinch
(a) and below pinch (b)

9. The “Tick‐Off’ heuristic


Once a pinch topology has been chosen, the design of both hot and cold ends
must be continued in such a manner as to keep capital costs at a minimum. This
can be achieved by employing a “tick-off’ heuristic to identify the heat loads on
the pinch exchangers. The heuristic results directly from the targeting equation
for the minimum number of units. U min =N −1.Where Umin = the minimum
number of units; N = the number of process streams and utilities.
The equation is satisfied if every match brings one stream to its target
temperature or exhausts a utility. In this case, the match is said to “tick-off’ the
stream or utility, i.e. the stream or utility need no longer be considered part of
the remaining design task. The tick-off heuristic is a “heuristic” as it can
occasionally penalise the design by introducing the need for increased utility
usage.

10. Conclusion:

This study is a summary of pinch analysis to design Heat Exchanger Network


HEN step by step. Designing of HEN is an effective technique for maximizing
energy recovery and so on minimizing external utilities. Pinch temperature is
one thing which the designer has to select. So, if we go for smaller pinch
temperature, then more energy recovery is possible. But, initially the cost of the
heat exchanger will be more, because we have to use better heat exchanger or
larger heat exchanger. So, one can have some sort of an optimisation between

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the operating cost and the initial cost. And one can also decide regarding the
pinch temperature. So, the pinch solution gives minimum hot utility, minimum
cold utility, and then minimum number of heat exchangers with minimum hot
and cold utilities, stream matching for every heat exchanger, terminal
temperatures and capacity of each of the heat exchangers. This brings us to the
complete solution of the heat exchanger network.

11. Reference:

 Linnhoff, B. and Hindmarsh, E., 1983, “The pinch design method of heat
exchanger networks”, Chem Eng Sci, 38(5): 745-763.
 Step by Step for Designing an Optimum Heat Exchanger Network, July 2018
International Journal of Scientific and Engineering Research Authors: Eman
M. Gabr, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute.
 B. Linnhoff, Introduction to Pinch Technology , Linnhoff March, ,Copyright
1998
 Heat exchanger network synthesis and optimisation using genetic algorithm
M.A.S.S. Ravagnani , A.P. Silva, P.A. Arroyo, A.A. Constantino

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