PINCH ANALYSIS Using

Aspen Energy Analyzer (AEA)

 Introducing AEA

Aspen Energy Analyzer (Aspen Technology Inc) is the software which

is included in the Aspen Engineering suite which focuses on energy
integration. This software can perform all types of calculations in the
energy integration study, namely:
 Constructions of composite curves
 Construction of grand composite curve
 Estimation of energy consumption and energy cost
 Estimation of heat transfer area and capital investment cost
 Determining optimal Tmin
 Design of grassroot (new) heat exchanger network (HEN)
 Optimize and retrofit HEN
 Introducing AEA

Important notes:

 Except for the network designs, AEA perform calculations

using pinch analysis

 AEA designs, optimizes, and retrofits the HEN using

optimization methods. It does not obey pinch rules, so the

designs provided by AEA are not pinch (MER) designs

 The users can manually modify the designs suggested by AEA

to obtain the network designs they prefer

 Launching AEA

There are two ways to perform

energy analysis:
1. Launch the stand-alone
Aspen Energy Analyzer
2. Perform energy analysis
directly in Aspen Hysys
environment by turning on
the integrated tool “Energy
Analysis” in Aspen Hysys
AEA Interface
 AEA Interface

The user can do one of the followings:

i) Click on button “Create new HI Case” to create new case

ii) Click on button “Create new HI Project” to create new project

 AEA Interface

The user can do one of the followings:

iii) Click on button “Heat Integration Manager”, then choose
either “HI case” or “HI project” and click “Add” => Same effect
as choosing “Create new HI Case” or “Create new HI Project”
 AEA Interface

Note: in the “Heat Integration Manager” window, the user can

manage (Add, View, Delete) all the cases and projects in the
current AEA file
 HI Case and Project

The difference between HI case and HI project:

 HI case: the user can perform basic pinch calculations,
such as construction of composite curves, estimation
of energy and capital cost
 HI project: the user can perform all types of
calculations in an energy integration study, especially
the tools for designing, optimizing, and retrofitting HEN
 The user can convert from “HI Case” to “HI Project” if
needed
 Using AEA to solve illustrated example
Example 1 – Stream Data

Supply Target Heat capacity

Stream Type temperature temperature ΔH (MW) flowrate CP
TS (°C) TT (°C) (MW/K)

1. Reactor 1
Cold 20 180 32 0.2
feed

2. Reactor 1
Hot 250 40 -31.5 0.15
product

3. Reactor 2
Cold 140 230 27 0.3
feed

4. Reactor 2
Hot 200 80 -30 0.25
product
MER Network Design - Example 1
 Using HI Case

“Create new HI Case”, interface for HI case appears:

 Configure units of measurements

If the units of measurements in the software do not match with

the data we have, we can change the units of measurements
as follows:

Choose “SI” and click

“Clone”
 Configure units of measurements

Name new set of units as “NewSI”

Then change unit of “Energy” to MW, unit of heat

transfer coefficient “Ht.Tran.Coeff.” to “W/m2-C”,
unit of “Mass Flow” to “kg/s”, unit of “UA” to “kJ/C-s”
 Configure units of measurements

The units of measurements as appeared in HI Case

interface are as follows:
 Using HI Case

Then input data for the four process streams in example 1

Click on tab “Utilities Streams” to specify the hot / cold utilities:

 Using HI Case

Use HP steam as hot utility

 Using HI Case

Use cooling water as cold utility

Prices of utilities (Cost Index) are taken from the software.

Users may update these values using their own values if
needed
 Using HI Case

Parameters to calculate equipment cost are taken from the

software, available for viewing by clicking on the tab
“Economics”. Users may update these values using their own
values if needed
 Using HI Case

View PA results (QH,min, QC,min, Hot pinch, Cold pinch, etc…) by

clicking on the button “Open Targets View”. The default Tmin

value is Tmin = 10 oC.

 Using HI Case

Click on the button “Open Composite Curves View” to view

composite curves. Click on the button “Open Grand
Composite Curve View” to view the Grand Composite Curve
 Using HI Case

Click on the button “Open HEN Grid Diagram” to view HEN

grid diagram
 Using HI Case

The HEN grid diagram windows has many buttons for building
and / or analyzing the HEN

Functions of these
buttons are explained
in the help file
 Using HI Project

Available tools in the HI Case are limited. To access more

functions and capabilities of AEA, user must use HI Project
instead of HI Case. To use HI Project, user can use it right at
the beginning (click “Create new HI Project”), or user can
convert from HI Case to HI Project (by doing so, input data in
the HI Case will be imported to the HI Project)

Click “OK” to confirm the conversion

 Using HI Project

Data from the Case 1 (just converted into the

HI Project 1 “HIP1”) appear under the Folder
“Case 1”
 Using HI Project

To obtain the “Total Cost vs. Tmin” results, click on tab “Range

Targets” and enter range for Tmin (click on button “DTmin

Range”), then click on button “Calculate”
 Using HI Project

The Plot “Total Cost vs. Tmin” is available by clicking on the

button “View Stand-Alone Plot”
 Using HI Project

Notes:
 Results for “Total Cost vs. Tmin” are not available when

Tmin > 20 oC because when Tmin > 20 oC, the temperature

difference between hot utility (HP steam) and cold streams
< the required Tmin, also the temperature difference
between cold utility (cooling water) and hot streams < the
required Tmin

 The “Total Cost vs. Tmin” plot indicates that optimal Tmin is
20 oC
 Using HI Project

To obtain network designs using AEA, click on the tab

“Designs”, then click on the button “Recommend Designs”
 Using HI Project

The windows for choosing

options for generating
designs then appear

- User should use a reasonable value for Max Split Branches (1 or 2)

- AEA obtains the networks by solving the optimization-based model
for the HEN design problem (the objective is minimizing total cost),
so using accurate economic parameters is very important
 Using HI Project

Choosing options for generating designs as follows (the MER

design has no split, so we set “Max Split Branches” = 1), then click
“Solve”

The number of
designs generated
by AEA
 Using HI Project

None of the designs generated by AEA is the same as the MER

design. Summary of performance of the designs generated by AEA
is available by clicking on the tab “Designs”
 Using HI Project

Reasons for the difference between AEA-generated

designs and the MER design:

- AEA-generated designs are solutions of optimization-

based model. They do not obey pinch rules, and they do

not correspond to the chosen Tmin

- It is highly possible that AEA-generated designs are

near-optimal solutions of the optimization-based model

 Using HI Project

Check the Design 3, which has the lowest Total cost among
the five AEA-generated designs:
 Using HI Project

Perform Cross Pinch analysis

of Design 3 by clicking on
button “Open Cross Pinch
Load View”
Results indicate that there is heat transfer across the pinch:
 Using AEA to design new HEN - Summary

 AEA can perform all types of pinch calculations in the

targeting step (construction of composite curves,

generating “Total Cost vs Tmin” plot, etc…)

 AEA has limitation when designing network. The AEA-

generated designs are found to be different from MER

design
 Using AEA to design new HEN - Exercise

Consider a HEN design problem consisting of two hot

stream and two cold stream:
 Using AEA to design new HEN - Exercise

Design A: MER design, using HP steam and CW as utilities

 Using AEA to design new HEN - Exercise

Design B: Simplified MER design, using HP steam and CW as utilities

 Using AEA to design new HEN - Exercise

Design C: MER design, using HP steam, Intermediate

pressure steam (IPS) as hot utilities, boiler feed water (BFW)
and CW as cold utilities
Using AEA to design new HEN - Exercise
 Using AEA to design new HEN - Exercise

For each design (A, B, C):

 Using AEA to verify the energy consumptions
 Using AEA to verify the appropriate locations of
utilities (design C)
 Using AEA to verify the network designs
 Calculate the Capex, Opex, and the annualized total
cost, using either Excel or AEA