New features to Barbaro’s heat exchanger network algorithm: heat exchanger technologies and waste heat flow representation
Résumé
To improve heat recovery and reduce energy consumption in industrial processes, heat exchanger network (HEN) design has been widely applied, but it has proven to be a challenging task. Plenty of different design methods have been developed since the early 80's. Most of them consider HEN design as a mathematical optimisation problem to be solved. Using existing design methods does not allow taking into account some technical constraints leading to non directly applicable solutions. In this paper, we introduce new features to a recent HEN algorithm: multiple heat exchanger technologies and flexible streams. By considering different heat exchanger technologies since the HEN design step, we will be able to handle heat flows' physical properties and particularities such as corrosion or fouling aspect. Moreover, from an economical point of view, considering different technologies allows having a more accurate cost evaluation depending on heat exchanger configuration (shell and tube, plate heat exchangers, finned tubes...) and materials used for fabrication. Furthermore, the creation of a new stream type with floating outlet temperature will ease realistic heat recovery on waste heat (such as hot fumes). In this article, the implementation of these proposed features into an existing algorithm is described. Then, a literature case is used to illustrate the relevance of the new proposed features.