Off-Gases Optimization in a Hydrogen Network Refinery

Chemical Engineering & Technology, Volume 34, Issue 12, pages 1974–1982, December, 2011

Off-Gases Optimization in a Hydrogen Network Refinery

M. R. Sardashti Birjandi,

F. Shahraki

fshahraki@eng.usb.ac.ir

University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Department of Chemical Engineering, Zahedan, Iran

Abstract

A steam reformer is associated to the feedstock and linear programming (LP) is applied to optimize a hydrogen network. The network consists of one steam reformer and two feedstocks. By exerting LP and the mentioned association, a decrease in total annual cost is achieved in a case study in which natural gas and off-gas were considered as feedstocks.

The optimization problems include the hydrogen network retrofit design and the feedstock selection with respect to their cost. Nonlinear programming (NLP) and mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) models are developed for optimization based on a two-case study.

In the first, an existent optimization method on hydrogen networks is investigated.  In the second, revision of a recent optimization method on hydrogen networks associated by an LP model in the steam reformer unit is applied. The two cases resulted in total annual cost reductions of 34 % and 45.9 %, respectively.

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