Exergy and exergoeconomic analyses for integration of aromatics separation with aromatics upgrading

doi:10.1007/s11705-022-2192-9

Front. Chem. Sci. Eng.

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (2) : 183-193 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-022-2192-9

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Exergy and exergoeconomic analyses for integration of aromatics separation with aromatics upgrading

Dan Zhang, Minbo Yang(

), Xiao Feng

Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Energy Chemical Process Intensification, School of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China

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Abstract

Methanol to aromatics produces multiple products, resulting in a limited selectivity of xylene. Aromatics upgrading is an effective way to produce more valuable xylene product, and different feed ratios generate discrepant product distributions. This work integrates the aromatics separation with toluene disproportionation, transalkylation of toluene and trimethylbenzene, and isomerization of xylene and trimethylbenzene. Exergy and exergoeconomic analyses are conducted to give insights in the splitting ratios of benzene, toluene and heavy aromatics for aromatics upgrading. First, a detailed simulation model is developed in Aspen HYSYS. Then, 300 splitting ratio sets of benzene and toluene for conversion are studied to investigate the process performances. The results indicate that there are different preferences for the splitting ratios of benzene and toluene in terms of exergy and exergoeconomic performances. The process generates lower total exergy destruction when the splitting ratio of toluene varies between 0.07 and 0.18, and that of benzene fluctuates between 0.55 and 0.6. Nevertheless, the process presents lower total product unit cost with the splitting ratio of toluene less than 0.18 and that of benzene fluctuating between 0.44 and 0.89. Besides, it is found that distillation is the biggest contributor to the total exergy destruction, accounting for 94.97%.

Keywords aromatics separation and upgrading variant splitting ratios total exergy destruction total product unit cost

Corresponding Author(s): Minbo Yang

About author:

Changjian Wang and Zhiying Yang contributed equally to this work.

Online First Date: 09 October 2022 Issue Date: 27 February 2023

Cite this article:

Dan Zhang,Minbo Yang,Xiao Feng. Exergy and exergoeconomic analyses for integration of aromatics separation with aromatics upgrading[J]. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., 2023, 17(2): 183-193.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/10.1007/s11705-022-2192-9
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/Y2023/V17/I2/183

Fig.1 The process flowsheet of the aromatics separation and upgrading process.

Tab.1 Feed distribution of the aromatics mixture

Tab.2 Parameters of distillation columns in the process simulation [23]

Tab.3 Parameters of other equipment in the process simulation

Tab.4 The product specifications [26]

Tab.5 Comparison of reaction effluents between the experimental and simulation data

Equipment	Exergetic fuel $E ˙ x F, k$	Exergetic product $E ˙ x P, k$	Exergy destruction $E ˙ x D, k$
Tower 1	?x₃ + ?x₆	?x₄ + ?x₅ + ?x₇	?x₃ + ?x₆ – (?x₄ + ?x₅ + ?x₇)
Tower 2	?x₉ + ?x₁₂	?x₁₀ + ?x₁₁ + ?x₁₃	?x₉ + ?x₁₂ – (?x₁₀ + ?x₁₁ + ?x₁₃)
Tower 3	?x₁₅ + ?x₁₈	?x₁₆ + ?x₁₇ + ?x₁₉	?x₁₅ + ?x₁₈ – (?x₁₆ + ?x₁₇ + ?x₁₉)
Separator	?x₃₇	?x₃₈ + ?x₃₉	?x₃₇ – (?x₃₈ + ?x₃₉)
Reactor	?x₃₅	?x₃₆	?x₃₅ – ?x₃₆
Furnace	?x₃₄	?x₃₅ – ?x₃₃	?x₃₄ – (?x₃₅ – ?x₃₃)
Heat exchanger	?x₃₆ – ?x₃₇	?x₃₃ – ?x₃₂	(?x₃₆ – ?x₃₇) – (?x₃₃ – ?x₃₂)
Pump 1	?x₈	?x₉ – ?x₇	?x₈ – (?x₉– ?x₇)
Pump 2	?x₁₄	?x₁₅ – ?x₁₃	?x₁₄ – (?x₁₅ –?x₁₃)
Pump 3	?x₂₂	?x₂₃ – ?x₂₁	?x₂₂ – (?x₂₃ – ?x₂₁)
Pump 4	?x₂₆	?x₂₇ – ?x₂₅	?x₂₆ – (?x₂₇ – ?x₂₅)
Pump 5	?x₃₀	?x₃₁ – ?x₂₉	?x₃₀ – (?x₃₁ – ?x₂₉)
Valve	?x₃₉	?x₂	?x₃₉ – ?x₂
Mixer 1	?x₁ + ?x₂	?x₃	?x₁ + ?x₂ –?x₃
Mixer 2	?x₂₃ + ?x₂₇ + ?x₃₁	?x₃₂	?x₂₃ + ?x₂₇ + ?x₃₁ –?x₃₂

Tab.6 The exergetic fuel, exergetic product, exergy destruction and exergy efficiency of each equipment

Tab.7 Cost balance and auxiliary equations for each component

Tab.8 Input parameters for exergoeconomic analysis

Fig.2 The analysis procedure for the aromatics separation and upgrading process.

Fig.3 The effects of splitting ratios on the total exergy destruction of the process: (a) the total exergy destruction distribution of the 300 splitting ratio sets, (b) the contour plot of the 300 splitting ratio sets, (c) the total exergy destruction distribution of the region with lower values, (d) the contour plot of the region with lower values.

Fig.4 The value and share of exergy destruction rates of different equipment.

Tab.9 Parameters of each stream

Fig.5 The effects of splitting ratios on the total product unit cost of the process: (a) the total product unit cost distribution of the 300 splitting ratio sets, (b) the contour plot of the 300 splitting ratio sets, (c) the total product unit cost distribution of the region with lower values, and (d) the contour plot of the region with lower values.

Fig.6 The share of capital investment rate of different equipment.

Fig.7 The share of fuel cost rate of different equipment.

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