Design of Oil Refineries Hydrogen Network Using Process Integration Principles

This paper describes the application of process integration principles to the design of oil refineries hydrogen network. In this regard, a design hierarchy as well as heuristics and required guidelines are proposed. The recommended rules compensate lack of procedure to the design and make the design process easier. The guiding principles of the design are based upon pinch technology and extending the heat integration concepts to mass integration. This research makes a designer able to maximise the amount of hydrogen recovered across the site during the design. Besides, it provides an opportunity for refineries to make most efficient use of hydrogen. The study is illustrated with an industrial case study. The work stages such as targeting, simulation etc. are performed in the REFOPT software environment. It is finally shown that this approach can design a network, which saves the total cost by $ 6.3459 million per year.