Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333

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Applied Thermal Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Research Paper

Energy conservation in methanol plant using CHP system

Marjan Azadi, Nassim Tahouni ⇑, M. Hassan Panjeshahi
School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

h i g h l i g h t s

Feasibility of turbo expander integration with an industrial plant was studied.

Combined pinch-exergy analysis was used to achieve optimum performance of process.

Generation of power led to profitability of gas turbine integrated plant.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Today, the efficient use of energy is a significant critical issue in various industries such as petrochemical
Received 11 June 2015 industries. Hence, it seems essential to apply proper strategies to reduce energy consumption in such
Revised 10 June 2016 processes. A methanol production plant at a live Petrochemical Complex was selected as the case study
Accepted 4 July 2016
in this research. The plant was first evaluated with combined pinch and exergy analysis from exergetic
Available online 14 July 2016
dissipation point of view. Owing to high temperature and pressure of reactor outlet stream, methanol
synthesis reactor products contain considerable content of exergy. For the purpose of the present survey,
Keywords:
the available content of exergy was used for power production by integrating a turbine expander with
Integration of gas turbine
Methanol production process
methanol reactor product. Utilization of reactor product’s high pressure in turbine reduces the temper-
Energy saving ature of turbine outlet stream to levels lower than those required for heating demands of existing streams
Combined pinch and exergy analysis in methanol synthesis cycle. Therefore, to keep the stream thermally balanced, the required hot utility of
CHP the process is increased and to compensate this increase, the heat exchanger network of the process was
retrofitted based on pinch analysis concepts. The results showed that in gas turbine integrated scheme,
approximately a net power of 7.5 MW is produced. Also, the total investment of turbine, compressor and
heat exchangers area equals to 18.2  106 US$, and the annual saving value is about 6.1  106 US$/y.
Based on economic data, payback period is estimated to be 3 years.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction gasoline and olefin. Diversity of methanol derivatives has made it

Energy considerations have always been a significant issue in
almost every industrial process, especially chemical industries pro-
cesses. The idea of optimization of energy consumption has been
formed with the beginning of energy crisis and intense increment
of oil price in 1970. Hence, industrial countries, in particular,
importers of crude oil and other petroleum products have launched
wide research to achieve novel technologies for energy optimiza-
tion since then. Because of its application in production of various
products such as solvents, detergents, paints, antifreezes, acetic
acid, and formaldehyde methanol, also known as methyl alcohol,
is a chemical with great importance in petrochemical industries.
It can also be used as liquid fuel or raw material in production of
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ntahuni@ut.ac.ir (N. Tahouni).
a strategic product, so its price fluctuation remarkably influences
on other industries. Methanol production plants are considered
to be energy-intensive plants of petrochemical industries, because
huge amount of energy is needed in the form of heating, cooling
and shaft work for each step of process from feed preparation to
purification of desired product such as desulfurization of natural
gas, production of synthesis gas, compression of feed gas, and reac-
tions and distillation of product.
In recent years, widespread researches have been conducted on
reduction of energy consumption in methanol production plants. A
noticeable solution has been the expansion of heat and power co-
production systems which not only causes reduction in fossil fuel
utilization, but also leads to decrease in the emission of greenhouse
gases. Currently, many scientists focus on systems with combined
production of heat and power because of their effects on enhance-
ment of thermodynamic efficiency of processes.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applthermaleng.2016.07.023
1359-4311/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333 1325

Nomenclature

TLM logarithmic mean temperature difference (°C) DS entropy change (kW/K)

T0 ambient temperature (°C) W power (kW)
DTmin minimum temperature difference (°C) DEx exergy change (kW)
Tci exchanger cold inlet stream temperature (°C) O energy level
Tco exchanger cold outlet stream temperature (°C) n molar flow (mol/s)
Thi exchanger hot inlet stream temperature (°C) R universal gas constant (J/mol K)
Tho exchanger hot outlet stream temperature (°C) NLP nonlinear programming
P pressure (kPa) A area (m2)
H enthalpy (kW) LPS low pressure steam
DH enthalpy change (kW) CW cooling water
S entropy (kW/K)

In a recent survey, a comparison between stand-alone plants and exergetic improvement through incorporation of an expansion
and polygeneration plant of methanol and power with both recycle gas turbine within the process. To achieve this purpose, first of all,
and once-through configuration has been studied from synthesis applied theory and methodology of the research which is Com-
gas consumption and catalyst activity points of view [1]. Another bined Pinch and Exergy Analysis will be introduced. Then, a con-
study assesses the configuration of the methanol and power poly- ventional methanol production plant will be evaluated as case
generation system and compares the operability of the combined study of the research from shaft work targeting point of view.
system with single production plants by defining such techno- Afterward, to take advantage of existing power generation poten-
economical parameter as primary cost saving ratio. Presence or tial of the plant, an expander will be integrated with methanol pro-
absence of shift unit and recycling or not recycling the un- duction cycle. To minimize the exerted changes on the plant due to
reacted synthesis gas has a tremendous effect on thermodynamic integration of the expander, heat exchanger network of plant will
performance of the polygeneration system [2]. A noteworthy way be retrofitted by Pinch method and finally, authenticity of the pro-
to efficiently use energy in methanol production process is to use posal will be assessed economically.
both natural gas and biomass as materials. A study and evaluation
was done on systems using natural gas or biomass, where the
system with utilization of natural gas and biomass served as 2. Theory and methodology
co-feedstock. Achieving an optimum natural gas/biomass ratio pre-
vents the system energy wastage and results in omission of addi- 2.1. Analogy between gas turbine integrated chemical production cycle
tional CO2 [3]. In another study, development of a non-emission and Brayton cycle
integrated plant for combined production of power and methanol
through utilization of fossil fuel and wind renewable energy has In petrochemical industries, achieving high conversion of desir-
been carried out and the integrated plant has been analyzed able product has undoubtedly been a fundamental issue. Accord-
techno-economically [4]. ingly, most exothermic petrochemical processes are operated in a
In the contemporary world, the application of energy conver- cycle with the following unit operations: feed and recycle com-
sion devices such as gas turbine cycle and expander gas turbines pressors, reaction chamber, heat exchangers, and desired products
is a prevalent method for optimum usage of energy, drawing the separators. A typical exothermic cyclic chemical production pro-
attention of many researchers. Integration of gas turbine with cess is indicated in Fig. 1. When an exothermic reaction occurs in
methanol production plant aiming at co-generation of electricity
is an example of applying an energy conversion device in conven-
tional industrial plants. Some of the studies available in this case
examined the gas turbine integrated process with a mathematical
method called NLP Optimization. In these studies, a mathematical
model was applied to find the optimum value of some key factors
resulting in the increase of methanol production rate, electricity
co-generation, heat integration of streams in exchangers, attain-
ment of optimum flow rate of streams such as purge gas [5–7].
Utilization of reactor heat by integration of a turbine expander is
another research work with the goal of reduction of compressor
duty without any change in conversion of methanol product. In
fact, in this case study, high recycle ratio and operating pressure
have been exploited for power generation in methanol synthesis
cycle [8]. In another research work [9], a new methodology called
energy level composite curves was developed for investigating
energy integration of intensive process and its proficiency was
probed by exerting it on a methanol case study. Apart from the
abovementioned studies in methanol plants, scientists conducted
surveys on energetic and exergetic performance of various
energy-intensive processes such as ammonia [10,11], phthalic
anhydride [12], and synthesis gas generation [13].
This paper is aimed at investigation of an existing methanol
plant to recognize the potential of the plant available for energetic Fig. 1. Exothermic cyclic chemical production process.
1326 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333

Table 1
Operating conditions of existing methanol production cycle streams.

Stream name Mass flow (kg/s) Temperature (°C) Pressure (kPa)

2006 247.7 222 7000
2007 247.7 175.1 6940
2008 247.7 126.2 6900
2009 247.7 65 6860
2010 247.7 39.73 6800
2018 88.94 112 12,450
2019 88.94 190 12,400
2021 171.1 55.36 7650
2021-1 171.1 120 7600
SCWS 794.3 35 450
SCWR 794.3 43 350
AE-air inlet 1102 25 100
AE-air outlet 1102 121.6 100

Table 2
Calculation of O and H for existing cycle.

Fig. 2. Gas turbine integrated chemical production plant. Unit operation Exergy Source Oin Exergy Sink Oin DH (kW)
(inlet stream/ Oout (inlet stream/ Oout
outlet stream) outlet stream)
the reactor, especially in a high pressure one, the reaction heat
should be driven out of the reaction medium to prevent instability E-2002 2006 0.398 2018 0.226 32,499
2007 0.335 2019 0.356
of reaction mixture against temperature rise. To do so, and for the
efficient use of available driving forces, direct conversion of the E-2003 2007 0.335 2021 0.1 33,687
2008 0.253 2021-1 0.242
reaction heat to power by integration of an expansion gas turbine
is proposed for taking advantage of available heat at high temper- AE-2001 2008 0.253 Air inlet 0 107,997
2009 0.118 Air outlet 0.245
ature and pressure. When an expansion gas turbine is integrated
immediately after the exothermic reactor, a structural analogy E-2006 2009 0.118 SCWS 0.032 28,733
2010 0.047 SCWR 0.057
can be observed between chemical production cycle and Brayton
power cycle and the process fluid goes through the same steps as
the working fluid of Brayton power cycle does. In other words,
the exothermic reactor in the chemical production cycle serves dure that enables us to target minimum requirements of energy
as the combustion chamber for Brayton cycle, and the heat exchan- and heat exchanger network area and to achieve the target values
ger as well as the separator act as the heat rejection step in Brayton in design step of a process. The main characteristic of this method-
cycle. The gas turbine integrated chemical production plant is pre- ology is the graphical representation of the process via such simple
sented in Fig. 2. diagrams as composite curves and grand composite curve [14].
Exergy analysis is another method of evaluation that investigates
2.2. Combined pinch and exergy analysis both components of energy involved in a system: amount and
potential. Exergy is a quantity based on the second law of thermo-
In process design and integration, the designer should have a dynamics and is an appropriate criterion for the measurement of
deep understanding of the details and the whole process. There- the irreversibility of a real process that occurs as a result of entropy
fore, applying conceptual methods can help the designer exert log- in any real process. Hence, exergy is considered to be a suitable
ical changes to the system under study. Pinch and exergy analysis tool to evaluate the process efficiency [15].
are two thermodynamically based tools with various usages in Taking into account the strength of both pinch analysis and
improvement of processes. Pinch analysis is a systematic proce- exergy analysis, combined pinch and exergy analysis has been

Fig. 3. Process flow sheet of existing methanol production cycle.

 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333 1327

Fig. 4. O-H diagram of existing methanol production cycle.

Fig. 5. Grid diagram of existing heat exchanger network.

introduced to compensate the weak point of pinch analysis which
is its deficiency in assessment of processes with composition and
pressure changes common in petrochemical industries, especially
in combined production systems [16,17]. Owing to its substantial
efficiency, this approach is widely used in various fields of process
industries such as chemical plants [18,19] and power plants
[20,21].
2.2.1. The concept and definition of O
A graphical representation called O-H diagram has been
exploited in examination of system efficiency via combined pinch
and exergy analysis. In this diagram, O and H parameters denote
the quality of energy or energy level and the quantity of energy.
The diagram has the capability of specifying the exergy sources
and sinks of the whole process, and based on exergetic definitions,
the area enclosed between exergy sources and sinks indicates the
exergy loss or irreversibility of the process. Based on the primary
definition of energy level which is the ratio of exergy to energy,
O parameter is formulated as follows:
Exergy
X¼ ð1Þ
Enthalpy
1328 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333

Fig. 6. Exergy composite curves of existing network at DTmin of 53.94 °C.

According to the above definition, for a steady-state non- Table 3

Operating conditions of gas turbine integrated methanol production cycle streams.
isenthalpic process stream, O is calculated as below:
Stream name Mass flow (kg/s) Temperature (°C) Pressure (kPa)
DEx T 0 DS
X¼ ¼1 ð2Þ 2006 247.7 222 7000
DH DH 2006-1 247.7 176.6 4500
It is worth saying that regardless of the core process that is 2007 247.7 142.3 4440
always accompanied by changes in composition, no matter how 2008 247.7 108.4 4400
2009 247.7 65 4360
much the complexity of a combined production system is, it can 2010 247.7 41.79 4300
be divided into two sub-systems for further investigation: thermal 2018 88.94 112 12,450
sub-system (including heat exchangers, boilers, heaters, and cool- 2019 88.94 164.6 12,400
ers) and mechanical sub-system (including turbines, compressors, 2021 171.1 67.64 7650
2021-1 171.1 120 7600
and pumps).
2012 171.1 41.77 4290
For thermal subsystem such as heat exchanger that is only 2012-1 171.1 86.68 6540
accompanied by temperature change during the process, O equals 2012-2 171.1 51 6540
to Carnot Factor: SCWS 794.3 35 450
SCWR 794.3 43 350
DHð1  TTLM0 Þ T0
X¼ ¼1 ð3Þ
DH TLM
analysis. In this case, the Exergy Composite Curves (ECCs), made
In heat exchanger network, the hot streams passing through by substitution of Carnot Factor with temperature in Composite
heat exchangers serve as exergy source and the cold streams pass- Curves (CCs) [23], plays the same role as the O-H diagram in com-
ing through heat exchangers act as exergy sink, and the difference bined pinch and exergy analysis does. In ECCs, the area between
of these two values are considered to be exergy loss of heat utility lines and hot and cold exergy composite curve illustrates
exchangers due to temperature driving force [22]. Another way the thermal exergy loss of heat exchanger network and this area
to demonstrate thermal exergy loss of process is by using pinch is an appropriate criterion for shaft work targeting.

Fig. 7. Process flow sheet of gas turbine integrated with methanol production cycle.
 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333 1329

Table 4 Table 5
Calculation of O and H for gas turbine integrated plant. Targeting results of integrated plant at DTmin of 12 °C.

Unit operation Exergy Source Oin Exergy Sink Oin DH DTmin Target hot Target Investment Energy saving Payback
(inlet stream/ Oout (inlet stream/ Oout (kW) (°C) utility (kW) area (m2) (US$) (US$/y) (y)
outlet stream) outlet stream)
12 10,075 26,610 1,542,047 2,930,120 0.53
Turbine 2006 1.08 Produced 1 28,238
2006-1 power Utility cost (US$/kW y): LP steam: 222.4 [24], cooling water: 41.5 [25], power: 880
[10].
New Consumed 1 2012 0.876 21,045 Heat exchanger capital cost (US$): 8600 + 670 (Area)0.83 [26].
compressor power 2012-1
E-2002 2006-1 0.337 2018 0.226 22,453
2007 0.282 2019 0.321
E-2003 2007 0.282 2021 0.125 26,139 Like other methanol production plants under license of Lurgi Com-
2008 0.218 2021-1 0.242 pany, the plant consists of three major phases:
AE-2001 2008 0.218 Air inlet 0 90,722
2009 0.118 Air outlet 0.21
Synthesis gas production (reforming).
E-2006 2009 0.118 SCWS 0.032 28,733
Methanol production.
2010 0.053 SCWR 0.057
Methanol purification.

To estimate the performance of the process and the correlation

For process streams passing through mechanical sub-system
between different parameters, reforming and methanol production
including expansion turbine and compressor, O can be derived as
phases were simulated with a commercial simulator software. The
follows:
following assumptions were exerted in simulation of the process:
 
T0 T2 P2
DExTurbine=Compressor ¼ ðH2  H1 Þ 1  ln þ nRT 0 ln ð4Þ
Peng Robinson-RB equation of state was used for calculating
T2  T1 T1 P1
physical properties of process streams.
 
All compressors performed adiabatically with isentropic effi-
DEx
For expansion turbine; X ¼ <1 ciency of 85%.
DH Turbine

All turbines performed adiabatically with isentropic efficiency
  of 90%.
DEx
All heat exchangers were simulated based on weighted model.
For compressor; X ¼ >1
DH Compressor

In expansion turbine, expanding process stream or working
fluid is the exergy source and the generated power is the exergy
sink. In compressor, the power consumption is the exergy source
and compressing process stream is the exergy sink. The O value
of the work related to expansion turbine and compressor is
expressed as below:
Exergy W
X¼ ¼ ¼1
Energy W
3. Case study
3.1. Existing plant
A live Petrochemical Complex which is one of the largest pro-
ducers of methanol (with production rate of 5000 ton per day) all
over the world is chosen as the case study for the present work.
3.1.1. O-H diagram of existing plant
As it was mentioned before, based on the analogy between gas
turbine integrated chemical production cycle and Brayton power
cycle, the power production potential of methanol synthesis cycle
should be evaluated carefully. To do so, the data required for plot-
ting O-H diagram of methanol synthesis cycle should be extracted
from simulation results. Process flow sheet of existing methanol
production cycle and operating conditions of the cycle streams
ð5Þ
are presented in Fig. 3 and Table 1.
For constructing O-H diagram of methanol synthesis cycle,
exergy sources and exergy sinks of the cycle should be identified.
In the cycle, due to its high temperature and pressure, reactor out-
let stream which has substantial content of thermal and mechani-
cal exergy is considered as the only source of exergy. Boiler feed
water, recycle stream to synthesis reactor, coolant of air cooler,
and sea cooling water are also considered as sinks of exergy. Based
on the data presented in Table 2, the O-H diagram of the existing
cycle is shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 8. O-H diagram of gas turbine integrated methanol production cycle.

1330 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333

Fig. 9. Pinched grid diagram of gas turbine integrated heat exchanger network at DTmin of 12 °C.

3.1.2. Exergy composite curves of the existing plant

For calculation of thermal exergy loss occurring in heat exchan-
Table 6 ger network of the existing plant by using exergy composite
Characteristics of modified existing and additional heat exchangers. curves, the plant should be targeted for achieving minimum tem-
HEX Thi Tho Tci (°C) Tco Heat Load Area perature difference and pinch point of the network. All targeting
Name (°C) (°C) (°C) (kW) (m2) calculations in this research are carried out via heat integration
E-1002 366.75 112 100 351.95 27,353 5228.2
software PILOT 2.12. The results of targeting indicate that DTmin
E-1013 489.2 445.52 351.95 380 2905 87.1 of existing network is 53.94 °C and the process has pinch point at
E-1014 357.72 176 100 330 11,592 7884 hot temperature of 153.94 °C and cold temperature of 100 °C. Grid
E-2003 143.2 112 100 120 21,830 1255.8 diagram of existing heat exchanger network is presented in Fig. 5.
N1 375 366.75 164.6 166.7 895 9.2
As it was mentioned in methodology section, by substituting
N2 112 94.65 20 100 1244 123
N3 445.52 357.72 100 243.8 5727 123.7 Carnot Factor with temperature, composite curves of plant change
N4 112 103.15 67.64 100 4310 225.6 into exergy composite curves, making it possible to calculate ther-
N5 112 51.67 39.67 100 5036 602.9 mal exergy loss of heat exchanger network by measuring the area
N6 112 107.99 25 100 5385 2760.9 enclosed by exergy composite curves and utility curves. Exergy
composite curves of existing network at DTmin of 53.94 °C are
shown in Fig. 6.
As can be seen in Fig 4, the area under the source curve demon-
strates the total exergy change of reactor outlet stream before 3.2. Modified plant
entry to D-2002. But, based on thermodynamic concepts, part of
this available potential which is equal to area under E-2002 and Given the main purpose of this research, for recovering exergy
E-2003 curves, is used by sinks of exergy, and the rest of it, shown loss of the process, integration of a gas turbine with outlet stream
with shaded area in the figure, is considered as exergy loss of this of methanol synthesis reactor is recommended. Process flow sheet
part of process. By calculating the shaded area of Fig. 4, it can be of gas turbine integrated methanol synthesis cycle is presented in
said that from 44.94 MW exergy which is available by reactor out- Fig. 7 and the operating conditions of gas turbine integrated cycle
let stream (exergy source), only 15.49 MW is gained by boiler feed are presented in Table 3. As can be seen in Fig. 7, gas turbine is
water and recycle stream and the rest which equals to 29.45 MW is located exactly after methanol synthesis reactor and exploits high
considered as exergy loss of this part of process. Therefore, the pressure and temperature of reactor product for power generation.
exergetic efficiency of the cycle is 34.47%. It should be stated that for compensating the pressure drop due to
 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333 1331

Fig. 10. Final grid diagram of gas turbine integrated heat exchanger network.

Fig. 11. Exergy composite curves of gas turbine integrated network at DTmin of 12 °C.

the presence of gas turbine, recycle stream should be compressed
in a new compressor after separation of crude methanol and purge
of gas from it.
After the gas turbine is placed, the most influential parameter
which directly affects the outlet temperature of gas turbine, com-
pressor power consumption, and gas turbine power generation is
outlet pressure of gas turbine and should be fixed carefully. Apply-
ing sensitivity analysis on methanol synthesis cycle revealed that a
maximum amount of net power generation is gained at turbine
outlet pressure of 4500 kPa.
3.2.1. O-H diagram of gas turbine integrated plant
After gas turbine and new compressor are added to the existing
plant, plotting O-H diagram of new plant would help gain a consid-
erable understanding of plant from exergy loss aspect. On the basis
of calculated values presented in Table 4, O-H diagram of gas tur-
bine integrated methanol production cycle is demonstrated in
Fig. 8.
As it is obvious in Fig. 8, a considerable amount of exergy content
of source stream is recovered by incorporating a gas turbine in the
existing plant. In this figure, rectangular areas are indicative of
1332 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333

Fig. 12. O-H diagram of modified methanol production cycle.

Table 9
Table 7 Investment cost of unit operations.
Results of comparison of O-H diagrams for base case and modified plant.
Capacity (kW) Cost ($)
Case Shaft work (kW) Exergy loss (kW) Exergy efficiency (%)
Gas turbine 28,430 10.6 e6
Base case 0 29,450 34.47 Compressor 20,970 6.3 e6
Retrofitted 7460 21,432 65.22 Heat exchanger – 1.3 e6
case Total investment – 18.2 e6

Table 8
Result of comparison of exergy composite curves for base case and modified plant. Table 10
Energy saving data.
Case Exergy loss (kW) Exergy efficiency (%)
Amount (kW) Cost ($/y)
Base case 90,171 66
Retrofitted case 79,140 69 Additional hot utility (LPS) 438 98,287
Additional cold utility (CW) 13,320 552,780
Net shaft work 7460 6,564,800
Air cooler saving 246.12 216,586
exergy loss in gas turbine and new compressor and other shaded Total saving – 6,130,319
areas are indicative of exergy loss in thermal subsystem of the cycle.

3.2.2. Effect of gas turbine presence on heat exchanger network
When gas turbine is integrated with methanol production cycle,
temperature of process gas emitting from the turbine (T = 176.6 °C)
is not as high as outlet reactor temperature stream before being
integrated with gas turbine (T = 222 °C). This process stream
should preheat the boiler feed water (BFW) of process from
112 °C to 190 °C, but as it lost part of its thermal energy during
its expansion in gas turbine, it is not able to heat up the BFW to
its desired value. Since any small changes in operating condition
of BFW lead to huge changes in steam network of process, BFW
should reach its approximate target temperature. To do so, the
hot utility value of plant should be increased. The results indicate
that integration of gas turbine with process leads to increase in
hot utility value from 9637 kW to 20,607 kW. In addition, after
integrating the gas turbine, because of temperature drop of turbine
outlet stream, power consumption of air cooler which cools down
the process stream (AE-2001) is reduced by 246.12 kW. Beside, in
new configuration of the plant, a hot stream between new and
old compressor is added to system. All these modifications result
in changes in plant stream data and properties compared to the
existing plant. To minimize additional hot utility, heat exchanger
network of plant is retrofitted using concepts of pinch analysis.
On the basis of results obtained from range targeting of gas turbine
integrated process, choosing DTmin of 12 °C as the operating point
of plant leads to achievement of appropriate values of investment,
saving, and payback period. Targeting results of integrated plant at
DTmin of 12 °C are presented in Table. 5.
3.2.3. Heat exchanger network retrofit of gas turbine integrated plant
For modifying heat exchanger network of gas turbine integrated
plant, the network is shown on a pinched grid diagram at DTmin of
12 °C in Fig. 9.
As presented in the figure, E-1002, E-2003, and E-1014 are
cross-pinch heat exchanger and should be shifted to one side of
pinch border and also E-1022 and E-1020 are wrongly installed
heaters based on pinch rules, and should be omitted from left side
of pinch border. Correcting the mentioned exchangers causes some
changes in area, heat load, and middle temperatures of streams
and also appears heat pockets on some part of the network. By
adding new heat exchange areas, these gaps would be eliminated
 M. Azadi et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 107 (2016) 1324–1333
from network and then the network should be evaluated for break-
ing thermal loop to the extent possible. Characteristics of modified
and new heat exchangers are presented in Table 6 and final mod-
ified network is shown in Fig. 10.
Total sum of additional area equals to 8633.3 m2, indicating a
10% difference with targeted area which is equal to 7810.3 m2.
After exerting final modifications on process, exergy composite
curves and O-H diagram of modified plant are indicated in Figs. 11
and 12 for analyzing final configuration of plant from exergetic
view point.
4. Results and discussion
Analyzing the O-H diagram of both base case and modified pro-
cess reveals that in the modified process, the amount of exergy loss
is considerably reduced and consequently, the modified process
has an exergetic efficiency higher than that of the base case. Based
on comparison between X-H diagram of methanol synthesis loop
in base case and retrofitted case and calculation of area enclosed
by exergy source and sink diagrams, it can be perceived about
29 MW exergy losses in base case cycle due to the lack of proper
utilization of mechanical potential of the reactor outlet stream.
While, by integration of a turbine expander with this stream about
7.5 MW shaft work is recovered. This will lead to the increase of
exergetic efficiency of the cycle about 30%. This owes to the fact
that in the modified process, by generation of shaft work, the
remarkable potential of reactor outlet stream related to its high
pressure is gained by incorporation of gas turbine in process. The
results of comparison of these two cases are presented in Table 7.
In addition to exergy analysis of methanol synthesis cycle via O-
H diagram, the exergy loss of the heat exchanger network of the
whole process can be evaluated by drawing exergy composite
curves. On the basis of Fig. 6, the total exergy loss of base case
process is 90,171 kW, while after exerting final modification on
the process, the amount of exergy loss decreases to 79,140 kW.
The main reason for reduction of exergy loss in the retrofitted case
is that after modifying the heat exchanger network by Pinch
method, heat transfer between hot and cold streams takes place
more monotonically and this is owed to the fact that by employing
Pinch analysis, heat transfer in the exchanger network of the plant
will be closer to the ideal state. The results of exergetic evaluation
of base case and the modified exergy composite curves are illus-
trated in Table 8.
In order to assess the authenticity of the proposed plan, the final
step of this research is allocated to the economic evaluation of pro-
cess. Items which should be taken into consideration in the invest-
ment and saving evaluation are gas turbine cost (based on its
power production rate), compressor cost (based on gas flow rate),
additional heat exchanger area cost, additional hot and cold utili-
ties, and reduction of air cooler power consumption. All these
items are presented in Tables 9 and 10.
As can be seen in Tables 9 and 10, on the basis of total invest-
ment and total annual saving values which are 18.2  106 US$
and 6.1  106 US$/y, respectively, payback period of proposed plan
is estimated to be about 3 years.
5. Conclusion
This paper provides a research aiming at enhancement of exer-
getic efficiency and saving the energy of a methanol production
plant by power generation through integration of a gas turbine
with an existing methanol plant. To have adequate understanding
about the process, the plant is investigated with combined pinch
and exergy approach by plotting O-H diagram of methanol synthe-
sis cycle and exergy composite curves of the whole heat exchanger
1333
network. Calculation of areas enclosed by these diagrams makes it
easy to diagnose power generation potential of the plant. After
integration of gas turbine with the existing plant and determining
the optimum outlet pressure of gas turbine to achieve the highest
shaft work value, hot utility of the process is increased, because the
plant is not able to fulfill its heating demand owing to temperature
drop of gas turbine outlet stream. To compensate this addition, the
existing heat exchanger network is retrofitted by adding heat
exchanger area to the network. After modifying the gas turbine
integrated plant, economical calculations state that the total
investment value of 18.2  106 US$ and total annual saving of
6.1  106 US$/y accompany the payback period of around 3 years
for this plan.
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