Optimization of the hydrogen separator based on the hydrogen network integration

Abstract

In refinery, hydrogen separators affect the utility consumption of the hydrogen network. A novel method is proposed to optimize the hydrogen separators and integrate the hydrogen network simultaneously. The model of separator is built with the Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) equation of state employed to predict the hydrogen solubility. This model is incorporated into the integration procedure of hydrogen network to calculate the hydrogen utility adjustment (HUA) and the hydrogen utility consumption at different separator's temperature (T) and pressure (p). The HUA versus T, HUA versus p, and HUÃ T ∼ p diagrams are plotted to analyze the variation of the minimum HUA and pinch along separator parameters, and target the optimal separator parameters. The proposed method can be used to optimize the hydrogen network and the separator, increase the refinery's efficiency of using hydrogen, and reduce the energy consumption and waste emission related to the production of hydrogen. Case study shows that the hydrogen consumption of the refinery can be reduced further by 2.39% than that with only the hydrogen network optimized.