Abstract
For an energy-intensive sweetening process, it is common that sour gases from different sources are sent to a single sweetening plant in industries. In our previous work, a multiple gas feed sweetening process was proposed, which can simultaneously improve the purity of H2S and reduce the energy consumption of the plant. This study aims to develop the superstructure of that process and use a simulation-based optimization framework with Aspen HYSYS as the process simulator and particle swarm optimization algorithm as the optimizer. In addition, by taking full advantage of the robustness of the built-in algorithm of the simulator, the convergence of the model is improved; meanwhile, simplification of the process and reduction of the optimization time are accessible with the proposed design specifications and assumptions. For a convergence-difficult column, a stepwise convergence adjustment was used to ensure their convergence. Based on this, the robustness and effectiveness of the method is proven through a case study, and it can also provide guidance for model selection, process simplification, and optimization of the same type of absorption process.
Highlights
In industry, sweetening is an indispensable process to protect the environment, prevent pipeline corrosion and catalyst deactivation, etc
The improvement of the process is mainly concentrated in three aspects, namely, the optimization of the process configuration, the industrialization of other technologies mentioned above or the development of hybrid technologies,[9−11] and the development of new solutions.[12−14] Among them, the improvement of the process configuration can be directly applied to the optimization of the plant
The split-solvent configuration obtains a semilean solvent through partial separation or flash, which significantly reduces the amount of the lean solvent
Summary
In industry, sweetening is an indispensable process to protect the environment, prevent pipeline corrosion and catalyst deactivation, etc. There have been a series of studies using simulation-based optimization methods, such as the works of Oh et al.,[26] Shirmohammadi et al.,[27] and Ledezma-Martiń ez et al.,[28] which optimize the CO2 capture process, the CO2 recovery unit utilizing the absorption refrigeration system, and the crude oil distillation system with a preflash unit, respectively In this work, considering that the sweetening process involves two components, i.e., obtaining a high-fidelity model for chemical absorption and effectively optimizing it, a simulation-based optimization method is used. The purpose of this work is to apply a simulation-based optimization strategy for optimizing operating conditions for the multiple gas feed sweetening process through coupling Aspen HYSYS and MATLAB with PSO algorithms. This work developed an optimization framework for the multiple gas feed sweetening process and provided guidance for model selection, process simplification, and optimization of the same type of absorption process
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
