Old K says every week – talking about things in the petrochemical design industry. Post 16: Common energy-inefficient designs in the petrochemical industry

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This post was last edited by henglinkou on 2020-9-26 at 18:37. Old K’s weekly series – Talks about things in the petrochemical design industry, Post 16: Common energy-inefficient designs in the petrochemical industry. With the rapid development of society, energy consumption is increasing at an astonishing pace. Before the 2000s, a refining capacity of 5 million tons per year was considered large; today, capacities of tens of millions of tons, or even 20 million tons, are common, which shows just how fast energy consumption is rising. In an era of economic backwardness, people always hoped for economic development; now that development has occurred, corresponding problems have emerged. Excessive energy consumption and environmental degradation have become major challenges facing humanity. Today, the whole society is advocating energy conservation and emission reduction, and the petrochemical design industry is paying increasing attention to energy-efficient design, which is also gradually gaining acceptance among people. For businesses, energy conservation means reducing costs and enhancing competitiveness; on a broader scale, it represents a commitment to taking care of the Earth, on which humanity depends for survival. As for the energy waste caused by unreasonable design, although it cannot be quantified precisely, it is estimated to be enormous. Based on my past experience, I have listed the following common energy-inefficient design practices. I hope everyone will participate in the discussion by sharing any other energy-inefficient designs they are aware of, in the hope of contributing to the development of this industry. 1. The problem of overpowered equipment: This is a very common issue. Firstly, an upper limit on operational flexibility is set at the design stage, usually at 110%, and in some projects even 120%. Additional margins are added during the calculation of equipment requirements, and downstream departments further add their own margins based on the conditions set by upstream teams. As a result, when the system is in operation, the equipment is overpowered, leading to energy waste. 2. Use of energy-inefficient equipment: This is often due to property owners trying to save money. 3. When users with different head requirements share one pump, the pump’s head is set according to the requirements of the user with the higher demands, resulting in energy waste on valves for those users with lower head requirements. For example, a single pump is often used for both tower top reflux and product output; the head required for reflux is usually much lower than that required for product output. 4. Potential energy waste: This is a very common issue that results in significant energy loss, yet it does not receive much attention. Due to unreasonable process design and equipment layout, a great deal of potential energy is wasted needlessly. 5. High-pressure exhaust emissions, resulting in a waste of pressure energy. 6. The pressure drop setting for the control valve is unreasonable, resulting in excessive energy loss at the control valve. 7. The design of using frequency converters in place of control valves has not yet been widely adopted. 8. The energy balance was not reasonably optimized from the perspective of the entire plant. For this purpose, the design manager needs to coordinate all relevant departments to carry out this work. Lao K writes every week about various aspects of the petrochemical design industry. For previous posts, please see the links below: Post 1: The development history of China’s survey and design industry – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3031149-1-1.html Post 2: Management in the survey and design industry – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3036417-1-1.html Post 3: The development of drawing techniques in design institutes – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3039960-1-1.html Post 4: The evolution of professional divisions in petrochemical design institutes – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3045261-1-1.html Post 5: The organizational structure of petrochemical engineering companies – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3050591-1-1.html Post 6: Contract management in design management – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3054762-1-1.html Post 7: Management of basic design data in design management – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3058184-1-1.html Post 8: Quality management in design management – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3061718-1-1.html Post 9: Schedule management in design management – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3062161-1-1.html Post 10: Document management in design management – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3069580-1-1.html Post 11: Meeting management in design management – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3073327-1-1.html Post 12: Bonus distribution management in design management – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3077492-1-1.html Post 13: The construction process for petrochemical projects – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3082708-1-1.html Post 14: An illustrated overview of process design content and procedures – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3086849-1-1.html Post 15: Explanations regarding PID versions and PID modification management – https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3091076-1-1.html