New superstructure-based model for the globally optimal synthesis of refinery hydrogen networks

Abstract

Abstract This work presents a new superstructure for refinery hydrogen networks synthesis. The superstructure eliminates the need to have the pressures of compressors as variables, while both dedicated and shared compressors can be included. As a result of considering the pressures as the parameters known a-priori, the constraint of compression power is expressed by using linear equation. Hydrogen networks synthesis is then formulated as a new mixed integer nonlinear model whose nonlinearities are only attributed to the bilinear and concave terms. The proposed model is a simple optimization problem that could be solved to global optimality. Four literature examples and an industrial case are tested for illustration purpose. The obtained solution results exhibit 3.1–4.5 % reduction in the total annualized cost compared with those of literature ones.