Is there any assessment of the benefits associated with heat recovery at the top of atmospheric and vacuum distillation columns?
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Is there any method for calculating the benefits of heat recovery at the top of atmospheric and vacuum distillation columns? A simple way to do it, along with methods to optimize the heat exchange process
I can’t understand your question. What is top-of-tower heat recovery? Primary condensation generally involves heat exchange with crude oil, and there is little room for optimization; secondary condensation uses air cooling or combined cooling methods. Do you want to recover this heat? The value is too low, and the cost is too high.
Some of the heat from the initial and subsequent heating stages can be recovered by using a heat exchanger to exchange heat with the low-temperature feedstock.
Heat recovery at the top of the tower primarily involves using crude oil for heat exchange, thereby recovering heat for the crude oil; otherwise, relying solely on air cooling or water cooling would result in heat loss. Therefore, the benefit calculation should be divided into two parts: one part calculates the heat recovered from the heat exchange between crude oil and the top of the tower, or the temperature increase resulting from this heat exchange, so as to determine the amount of fuel gas saved in the heater and thus the resulting benefit; the other part calculates the benefit derived from the reduced amount of circulating water needed for cooling at the top of the tower.