Strategic energy assessment using Pinch analysis
- Veritech, Inc., Leesburg, VA (United States)
- Linnhoff March, Inc., Leesburg, VA (United States)
The use of Process Integration techniques, such as Pinch Technology, have been widely accepted in the process industries. However in many situations in the US, the capital available for implementation of energy cost reduction projects is very limited. Therefore efforts to reduce energy costs have been limited to those which can be achieved with little or no capital investment. Despite this lack of capital, cost reduction still remains very important in the oil refining industry. Besides the cost of crude, energy is the largest cost which can be influenced by improved operation and/or capital investment, and has therefore become a primary focus. At the same time this renewed interest in energy reduction has occurred in the US, new methods have been developed in the field of Pinch Technology which allows the scope of a project to be expanded from an individual process unit, such as the crude unit, to the entire refinery site. A Site Assessment, which is the first step in a site analysis using Pinch Technology, allows an overview of the complete site to: focus future activities into areas where the most potential exists, evaluate on-going projects for improved design, identify potential improvements in the utility system. At the conclusion of such an activity, this knowledge of the site can be used to merge potential improvements with refinery plans. This paper introduces some of these new uses of Pinch Technology as applied to long range planning, describes the approach used in achieving such a plan, and finally reviews a case study which shows how the technique is used in a strategic way to focus the use of limited resources within the refinery.
- OSTI ID:
- 7271297
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9403125-
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 1994 National Petroleum Refiners Association (NPRA) annual meeting, San Antonio, TX (United States), 20-22 Mar 1994; Other Information: Paper AM-94-35
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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