Energy intensification of steam methane reformer furnace in ammonia production by application of digital twin concept

Abstract

The Digital Twin concept undoubtedly emerges in different industries as a must-have option for improving energy efficiency, increase maintenance reliability, prevent environmental pollution, and mitigating safety issues. However, there is still no suitable solution specifically developed for continuous monitoring and optimisation of the complex process units such as steam methane reforming (SMR) furnace used in ammonia production. The current work addresses this problem with the main goal to save energy and reduce carbon footprint. The paper investigates the application of the Digital Twin concept in combination with already proven methods for the identification and optimisation of energy-saving opportunities and reduction of CO2 emissions. The results are total energy saving between 3 and 4% with CO2 reduction of approximately 0.890 tons/h.

Keywords

• digital twin model
• optimisation
• pinch analysis
• simulation
• steam methane reformer