Simulation and energy integration of distillation tower of a naphtha treatment unit

Abstract

Energy optimization is of vital importance especially in oil, gas and petrochemical industries. Distillation column with high energy consumption is one of the most common equipment in the aforementioned industries. Thus, it is important to revise the projection of initial process, reduce energy consumption and recover some of used energy. In this work, we studied energy optimization of a naphtha treating unit in a petrochemical company using Aspen HYSYS software. For energy optimization, feed temperature was changed to a satisfactory temperature (47 °C) for condensation of overhead steam distillation. Feed was used as a cooling fluid in the heat exchanger before the main condenser. According to outcome, 644.11 MW of energy was recovered and approximately 53% less energy was used in the air conditioner. Feed was injected in tower with higher temperature (212 °C) because of preheating. This reduces consumed energy up to approximately 63% by reducing the entering flow rate of reboiler.