Farayandno

Farayandno

Studying the Decrease in CO2 Emission and Energy Consumption of the Process of Light Naphtha Hydrotreating

Document Type : Original research

Authors
1 Ph.D. Student, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kashan, I.R. of Iran
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kashan, I.R. of Iran
Abstract
Simultaneously reducing energy consumption and environmental pollutants in refining industries has become a major challenge and priority. Pinch Technology is a design method for optimizing energy consumption to specify the process optimum condition for achieving this purpose. This study aims to optimize the economic and environmental performance of a Light Naphtha Hydrotreating unit using the pinch analysis method. For this purpose, three modifications were made based o­n different minimum approach temperatures of 8, 12, and 16 °C. These modifications were evaluated from the perspectives of energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, and economic costs. The modification based on a minimum approach temperature of 12 °C was selected as the optimum option. This retrofitting resulted in 40% reductions in energy consumption, 41% in carbon dioxide emissions, and 41% increase in operating costs with a payback time of approximately 3.59 years.
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