Improved Targeting Procedure To Determine the Indirect Interplant Heat Integration with Parallel Connection Pattern among Three Plants

The interplant heat integration (IPHI) problem has received growing interest for its potential to reduce energy consumption and emissions beyond heat integration within individual plants. Indirect IPHI using an intermediate energy carrier (intermedium) allows for practical implementation as opposed to direct IPHI, which may consist of multiple piping loops using process streams. Various interplant connection patterns of intermedium loops present differences in interplant heat recovery potential, pipeline costs, and the reliability of IPHI system. This work addresses that the parallel connection pattern for it presents the maximum interplant heat recovery potential and is a flexible pattern. An improved targeting procedure is proposed to determine the parallel connection pattern. This method can determine the real maximum interplant heat recovery potential for indirect IPHI among three plants and simultaneously minimizes the corresponding intermedium flow rates. Two examples from prior literatures, as well...