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1.2 History and Industrial Experience: Pinch Analysis and Process Integration 2

Pinch analysis is a technique for analyzing and designing chemical processes to minimize energy consumption. It involves setting absolute thermodynamic targets for the minimum energy needs of a process. These targets provide incentives to design heat exchange networks that achieve the optimal heat recovery between process streams. Pinch analysis was originally developed in the 1970s and proved highly effective when applied by ICI to redesign an oil refinery's crude distillation unit facing a 20% capacity expansion. The pinch analysis identified a design needing less energy than the current usage and avoiding the need for an extra furnace, solving operability and safety issues.

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85 views1 page

1.2 History and Industrial Experience: Pinch Analysis and Process Integration 2

Pinch analysis is a technique for analyzing and designing chemical processes to minimize energy consumption. It involves setting absolute thermodynamic targets for the minimum energy needs of a process. These targets provide incentives to design heat exchange networks that achieve the optimal heat recovery between process streams. Pinch analysis was originally developed in the 1970s and proved highly effective when applied by ICI to redesign an oil refinery's crude distillation unit facing a 20% capacity expansion. The pinch analysis identified a design needing less energy than the current usage and avoiding the need for an extra furnace, solving operability and safety issues.

Uploaded by

Linh Giang
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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2 Pinch Analysis and Process Integration

with cooling no longer required. The design is as safe and as operable as the traditional one. It is simply better.
Results like this made pinch analysis a hot topic soon after it was introduced. Benefits
were found from improving the integration of processes, often developing simpler, more
elegant heat recovery networks, without requiring advanced unit operation technology.
There are two engineering design problems in chemical processes. The first is the
problem of unit operation design and the second is the problem of designing total
systems. This book addresses the system problem, in particular design of the process
flowsheet to minimise energy consumption.
The first key concept of pinch analysis is setting energy targets. Targets for
energy reduction have been a key part of energy monitoring schemes for many years.
Typically, a reduction in plant energy consumption of 10% per year is demanded.
However, like productivity targets in industry and management, this is an arbitrary
figure. A 10% reduction may be very easy on a badly designed and operated plant
where there are many opportunities for energy saving, and a much higher target
would be appropriate. However, on a good plant, where continuous improvement
has taken place over the years, a further 10% may be impossible to achieve. Ironically,
however, it is the manager of the efficient plant rather than the inefficient one who
could face censure for not meeting improvement targets!
Targets obtained by pinch analysis are different. They are absolute thermodynamic
targets, showing what the process is inherently capable of achieving if the heat
recovery, heating and cooling systems are correctly designed. In the case of the flowsheet in Figure 1.1, the targeting process shows that only 1,068 kW of external heating should be needed, and no external cooling at all. This gives the incentive to
find a heat exchanger network which achieves these targets.

1.2 History and industrial experience


The next question is, are these targets achievable in real industrial practice, or are
they confined to paper theoretical studies?
Pinch analysis techniques for integrated network design presented in this guide were
originally developed from the 1970s onwards at the ETH Zurich and Leeds University
(Linnhoff and Flower 1978; Linnhoff 1979). ICI plc took note of these promising techniques and set up research and applications teams to explore and develop them.
At the time, ICI faced a challenge on the crude distillation unit of an oil refinery. An
expansion of 20% was required, but this gave a corresponding increase in energy
demand. An extra heating furnace seemed the only answer, but not only was this very
costly, there was no room for it on the plant. It would have to be sited on the other
side of a busy main road and linked by pipe runs an obvious operability problem
and safety hazard. Literally at the 11th hour, the process integration teams were called
in to see if they could provide an improved solution.
Within a short time, the team had calculated targets showing that the process
could use much less energy even with the expansion, the targets were lower than
the current energy use! Moreover, they quickly produced practical designs for a heat

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