Proceedings of the
Second International Energy 2030 Conference,
November 4-5, 2008, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Systematic in-Process Modification Approach for Enhanced Waste Energy Recovery in Gas Plants
Saleh A. Al-Hashimi
The Petroleum Institute, UAE
Ahmad Nafees
The Petroleum Institute, UAE
M. B. Nouredlin
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia
A. S. Aseeri
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia
A. H. Qahtani
Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
The growth of the oil and gas industry has been steady with strong growth over the past few years.
Demand for hydrocarbons is has been increasing to meet the growth requirements around the globe which
mainly come from growing Asia. Consequently, the oil and gas sector is expected to maintain its growth
and expansion in infrastructure and facilities is mandated. Recent escalated energy prices have prompted
researchers and scientists in both academia and industry to improve productivity and energy efficiencies
within threir process plants. In addition to cost-effectiveness and product quality, sustainability, reduction
in greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental aspects need to also be addressed. During the last
few decades, a number of methods and tools have been developed for conservation and optimum
utilization of energy. Primarily these methods were based on mathematical programming techniques and
pinch technology to synthesize and operate processes optimally from an efficient use of energy point of
view. The application of these methods has been limited due to several unresolved issues. Hence, these
approaches could not achieve global optimal energy-consuming conditions. This study was undertaken to
determine systematically (i) global minimum energy consumption for both heating and cooling utilities
under all possible combination of allowed process operating and design modifications and (ii) the set of
process conditions that render global minimum heating utility consumption without exhaustive
enumeration in an industrial gas plant that consists of several processing units. This poster describes the
energy savings and benefits obtained by using systematic in-process modification in a gas plant. It
presents a new methodology for systematic targeting of energy consumption under all possible
combination of in-process modifications and the automatic selection of the optimal process operating
conditions that achieve desired targets. The application of this approach is not only beneficial in
