energies-logo

Journal Browser

Journal Browser

Advances and Applications in Heat Exchanger Networks for Chemical Engineering

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "J: Thermal Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 8651

Special Issue Editor

Green Materials and Processes R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 55 Jonga-ro, Ulsan 44413, Korea
Interests: process systems engineering; machine-learning-based modeling and optimization; energy optimization

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The chemical industry has a lot of energy-intensive processes that should be optimized. However, this is a challenging task to achieve due to complexity and high interconnectivity up- and downstream. Many researchers have carried out studies aimed at minimizing the energy of chemical processes. Heat exchanger networks (HENs) are a major technique for energy saving in chemical processes. HEN synthesis is heat integration between hot and cold process streams to reduce heating and cooling utility consumption in industrial processes. Recently, new approaches with HEN synthesis problems such as machine learning and AI have been suggested, with both conventional and typical research still actively taking place. In this regard, therefore, HEN approaches for energy the efficiency of chemical engineering are being reorganized, and new approaches with HEN are suggested for the future.

The aims of this Special Issue are to provide a comprehensive coverage of advances and applications in HEN for chemical engineering. Therefore, we invite authors to contribute papers on novel HEN applications for energy efficiency, including reviews and case studies.

Dr. Junghwan Kim
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (4 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

14 pages, 3257 KiB  
Article
Optimal Economic–Environmental Design of Heat Exchanger Network in Naphtha Cracking Center Considering Fuel Type and CO2 Emissions
by Subin Jung, Hyojin Jung and Yuchan Ahn
Energies 2022, 15(24), 9538; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15249538 - 15 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2010
Abstract
In the petroleum industry, naphtha cracking centers (NCC), which produce ethylene, propylene, propane, and mixed-C4, are known to consume a large amount of energy and release a significant amount of carbon dioxide (CO2). This necessitates economic and environmental assessments with the [...] Read more.
In the petroleum industry, naphtha cracking centers (NCC), which produce ethylene, propylene, propane, and mixed-C4, are known to consume a large amount of energy and release a significant amount of carbon dioxide (CO2). This necessitates economic and environmental assessments with the aim of achieving a reduction in energy use in order to ensure efficiency in terms of cost and environmental impact. Herein, a heat exchanger network (HEN) is considered with the aim of determining its optimal operating strategy. In addition, the trade-off between reduction in utility costs (i.e., profit) and the installation cost of the heat exchanger (i.e., loss) is evaluated in terms of economic efficiency. Finally, an environmental impact assessment is performed with respect to the source of fuel consumed for steam generation. The HEN’s energy consumption in the three configurations analyzed herein was found to be reduced by 3%, 6%, and 8%. When considering variations in the fuel used for steam generation, the changes in the payback period caused differences in the results for the most economical configuration. On the basis of this study, it was possible to design the use of waste heat in the pinch network and the network configuration for the installation of additional heat exchangers in an economically feasible manner, while analyses of various fuel source were used to determine favorable conditions with respect to environmental impact. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 2951 KiB  
Article
Advanced Design of Integrated Heat Recovery and Supply System Using Heated Water Storage for Textile Dyeing Process
by Juyeong Seo, Haneul Mun, Jae Yun Shim, Seok Il Hong, Hee Dong Lee and Inkyu Lee
Energies 2022, 15(19), 7298; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15197298 - 04 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 992
Abstract
Heat recovery from a high-temperature wastewater is the major concern in the conventional textile industry. However, limited space in the textile plant is an important constraint for the process enhancement. Therefore, an easily applicable heat recovery system with a small amount of additional [...] Read more.
Heat recovery from a high-temperature wastewater is the major concern in the conventional textile industry. However, limited space in the textile plant is an important constraint for the process enhancement. Therefore, an easily applicable heat recovery system with a small amount of additional equipment to the existing dyeing process is required. To meet the needs from the industry, this study suggests an integrated heat recovery and supply system consisting of single heat exchanger and single storage tank using freshwater as a thermal carrier to utilize the reusable heat in the wastewater. Freshwater is stored in a tank after direct heat exchange with wastewater and is supplied to the next dyeing process. Three different designs of the integrated system were compared based on the lower limit of the wastewater temperature: above 50 °C, 40 °C, and 30 °C for Cases 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The energy and energy flow analyses showed Case 2 to be well balanced between the quality and quantity of the recovered heat, and there was no heat loss via drainage. The heat demand for Case 2 was 795.5 kW, which was the lowest among all cases. Furthermore, an economic analysis showed that the total cost for Case 2 was reduced by 63.2% compared with the base case. Despite the use of an additional heat exchanger and water storage tank, the proposed system was more economical because of the reduced operating costs. Finally, a detailed analysis was conducted by determining the more efficient temperature for heat recovery and supply. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 3017 KiB  
Article
Efficient Heat Exchange Configuration for Sub-Cooling Cycle of Hydrogen Liquefaction Process
by Sihwan Park, Wonjun Noh, Jaedeuk Park, Jinwoo Park and Inkyu Lee
Energies 2022, 15(13), 4560; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15134560 - 22 Jun 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2123
Abstract
The hydrogen liquefaction process is highly energy-intensive owing to its cryogenic characteristics, and a large proportion of the total energy is consumed in the subcooling cycle. This study aimed to develop an efficient configuration for the subcooling cycle in the hydrogen liquefaction process. [...] Read more.
The hydrogen liquefaction process is highly energy-intensive owing to its cryogenic characteristics, and a large proportion of the total energy is consumed in the subcooling cycle. This study aimed to develop an efficient configuration for the subcooling cycle in the hydrogen liquefaction process. The He-Ne Brayton cycle is one of the most energy-efficient cycles of the various proposed hydrogen liquefaction processes, and it was selected as the base case configuration. To improve its efficiency and economic potential, two different process configurations were proposed: (configuration 1) a dual-pressure cycle that simplified the process configuration, and (configuration 2) a split triple-pressure cycle that decreased the flow rate of the medium- and high-pressure compressors. The ortho–para conversion heat of hydrogen is considered by using heat capacity data of equilibrium hydrogen. Genetic algorithm-based optimization was also conducted to minimize the energy consumption of each configuration, and the optimization results showed that the performance of configuration 1 was worse than that of the base case configuration. In this respect, although less equipment was used, the compression load on each compressor was very intensive, which increased the energy requirements and costs. Configuration 2 provided the best results with a specific energy consumption of 5.69 kWh/kg (3.2% lower than the base case configuration). The total expense of configuration 2 shows the lowest value which is USD 720 million. The process performance improvements were analyzed based on the association between the refrigerant composition and the heat exchange efficiency. The analysis demonstrated that energy efficiency and costs were both improved by dividing the pressure levels and splitting the refrigerant flow rate in configuration 2. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 3268 KiB  
Article
Optimization of Heat Exchanger Network via Pinch Analysis in Heat Pump-Assisted Textile Industry Wastewater Heat Recovery System
by Yurim Kim, Jonghun Lim, Jae Yun Shim, Seokil Hong, Heedong Lee and Hyungtae Cho
Energies 2022, 15(9), 3090; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en15093090 - 23 Apr 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2837
Abstract
Reactive dyeing is primarily used in the textile industry to achieve a high level of productivity for high-quality products. This method requires heating a large amount of freshwater for dyeing and cooling for the biological treatment of discharged wastewater. If the heat of [...] Read more.
Reactive dyeing is primarily used in the textile industry to achieve a high level of productivity for high-quality products. This method requires heating a large amount of freshwater for dyeing and cooling for the biological treatment of discharged wastewater. If the heat of the wastewater discharged from the textile industry is recovered, energy used for heating freshwater and cooling wastewater can be significantly reduced. However, the energy efficiency of this industry remains low, owing to the limited use of waste heat. Hence, this study suggested a cost-optimal heat exchanger network (HEN) in a heat pump-assisted textile industry wastewater heat recovery system with maximizing energy efficiency simultaneously. A novel two-step approach was suggested to develop the optimal HEN in heat pump-assisted textile industry wastewater heat recovery system. In the first step, the system was designed to integrate the heat exchanger and heat pump to recover waste heat effectively. In the second step, the HEN in the newly developed system was retrofitted using super-targeted pinch analysis to minimize cost and maximize energy efficiency simultaneously. As a result, the proposed wastewater heat recovery system reduced the total annualized cost by up to 43.07% as compared to the conventional textile industry lacking a wastewater heat recovery system. These findings may facilitate economic and environmental improvements in the textile industry. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop