Reduction of CO2 Emission from Lsfehan Crude Oil Distillation with Heat Integration
A simple model for the estimation of CO2 emissions associated with operation of heat-integrated distillation systems as encountered in refineries is introduced. The case study is Isfehan refinery crude oil distillation unit. In conjunction with a shortcut distillation model, this model has been used to optimize the process conditions of an existing crude oil atmospheric and vacuum tower to achieve at minimization of CO2 emissions. COLOM and STAR programs are used to carry out energy and CO2 optimization. Simulation results indicate that the total CO2 emissions of the existing crude oil unit can be cut down by 39%, only by changing the process conditions accordingly, and that the gain in this respect can be doubled by integration of a gas turbine. In addition, emissions reduction is accompanied by substantial profit increase due to utility saving when the gas turbine is integrated, the initial total heat load of 78.2MW in the furnace, which includes stripping steam load, is distributed into two parts. The gas turbine provides 18.6MW; the furnace supplies the remaining 59.6MW. As shown in result, the total CO2 of the refinery site reduces by 8%, for the optimized unit included a gas turbine. in total operating cost, including the value of generated power is about seven millions $/year.