Entropy generation reduction through chemical pinch analysis

Abstract

The pinch analysis (PA) concept emerged, late ‘80s, as one of the methods to address the energy management in the new era of sustainable development. It was derived from combined first and second law analysis, as a technique ensuring a better thermal integration, aiming the minimization of entropy production or, equivalently, exergy destruction by heat exchanger networks (HEN). Although its ascendance from the second law analysis is questionable, the PA reveals as a widespread tool, nowadays, helping in energy savings mostly through a more rational use of utilities. Unfortunately, as principal downside, one should be aware that the global minimum entropy production is seldom attained, since the PA does not tackle the whole plant letting aside the chemical reactors or separation trains. The chemical reactor network (CRN) is responsible for large amounts of entropy generation (exergy losses), mainly due to the combined composition and temperature change. The chemical pinch analysis (CPA) concept focuses on, simultaneously, the entropy generation reduction of both CRN and HEN, while keeping the state and working parameters of the plant in the range of industrial interest. The fundamental idea of CPA is to include the CRN (through the chemical reaction heat developed in reactors) into the HEN and to submit this extended system to the PA. This is accomplished by replacing the chemical reactor with a virtual heat exchanger system producing the same amount of entropy. For an endothermic non-adiabatic chemical reactor, the (stepwise infinitesimal) supply heat δ q flows from a source (an external/internal heater) to the stream undergoing the chemical transformation through the reactor, which in turn releases the heat of reaction Δ H R to a virtual cold stream flowing through a virtual cooler. For an exothermic non-adiabatic chemical reactor, the replacement is likewise, but the heat flows oppositely. Thus, in the practice of designing or retrofitting a flowsheet, in order to minimize the entropy production, the chemical reactor should be viewed as a group of two or three virtual heaters/coolers destroying the same amount of exergy. As a result of PA, new operating conditions could be revealed for some or all of the chemical reactors, ensuring a further reduction of the global entropy production of the plant. In this paper, the simple case of the methanol synthesis heat integrated reactor will be analyzed, proving the benefits of the CPA.