"TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE": SIMULTANEOUS WASTE HEAT RECOVERY AND EMISSION REDUCTION IN GAS/OIL SEPARATION PLANTS

Abstract

One of the most effective methods for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the process industries is the reduction of energy waste and the effective utilization of energy. In the process industry, energy transformation devices constitute some of the largest contributors to GHG emissions. Furnaces, steam boilers, gas turbines, and diesel engines involve combustion reactions that lead to atmospheric emissions. Therefore, energy conservation is an important way of not only saving money and natural resources, but also protecting the environment via minimizing energy-based emissions. Until late last century the preferred method of dealing with atmospheric emissions was known to be taking the end-of-pipe approach. This approach is myopic and usually expensive. This method does not tackle the problem at the root cause. Techniques for enhancing energy efficiency have become instrumental in emission minimization from combustion-based processes. Systematic process integration methods and tools have been developed and utilized to conserve energy, protect energy-based natural resources, as well as in reducing energy-based emissions.1−4 A major tool among many energy optimization techniques to enhance waste energy recovery in industrial processes is heat integration, which may be applied using pinch technology and other process integration tools. The integration of heat sources and sinks reduces the need of external hot and cold utilities in the process plants and consequently reduces the atmospheric emissions associated with the production of such utilities.