Computers chem. EngngVol.20, Suppl.,pp.

$7-SI2, 1996
Copyright© 1996ElsevierScienceLid
Pergamon S0098-1354(96)00013-0 Printed in Great Britain.All rightsreserved
0098-1354/96 $15.00+ 0.00

AN AUTOMATED APPROACH FOR HEAT EXCHANGER NETWORK RETROFIT

FEATURING MINIMAL TOPOLOGY MODIFICATIONS

N.D.K. ASANTE, X.X. ZHU

Department of Process Integration, UMIST, P.O. Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD, UK

Abstract
This. paper describes a new automated procedure for retrofit heat exchanger network (HEN)
design which aims to minimise modifications to the existing HEN structure. The new procedure
employs a two-stage approach for retrofit HEN design, consisting of a modification selection stage
and an optimisation stage. During the modification selection stage a minimum number of
promising HEN topology modifications is obtained to enable a desired heat recovery target to be
achieved. The resulting HEN is then optimised during the optimisation stage, using non-linear
optimisation techniques, to minimise the cost of additional surface area employed.

INTRODUCTION

Current methods for HEN retrofit design use either pinch techniques or mathematical programming techniques.
Retrofit methods based on pinch concepts include those proposed by Tjoe and Linnhoff 0985), Policy et al 0990),
Shokoya and Kotjabasakis (1991) and more recently by Carlsson et al 0993). Mathematical programming
methods include those of Ciric and Floudas 0989 & 1990) and Yee and Grossmann (1991). Pinch methods enable
good user interaction, however the manual procedures they employ are potentially time consuming and require
"expert users". Mathematical methods on the other hand have the advantage of being automated, but provide little
scope for user interaction, require expensive computation, and cannot generally handle large industrial type HEN
design problems. In addition, due to limitations of existing non-linear optimisation techniques, the solutions they
produce have a significant probability of being non-optimal.

None of the existing methods is able to solve large industrial retrofit design problems in an automated procedure,
whilst retaining user interaction and control of the solution process. The new approach presented in this paper
however achieves this by means of new insights gained into the behaviour of HENs.

NEW INSIGHTS

The Network Pinch

The example HEN and process composite b) ~ = 200 MW b) OR = 220 MW
curves in fig. 1 can be used to l°,~dk~d..~" l o ~ ! . .~. =R,,..
demonstrate that HEN topologies possess - .~" , e ~ _ ( ~ - .~" , ~
heat recovery limits which are "r.--l~l ..... r.---l~.l
independent Of the area of the individual I , , ~ l ""e o ' "-"X2~:"~_ J ~ - 1 " .4.o. .;.X 2 ~ : ' .
exchanger units in the network. The "'" =* I 1 : ] '::.._1,'~"...
,o I1 " " "
maximum heat recovery possible for the ~,0o'w~,~"~ .14o'__so"~_.[Qo" 100"~,,~ ~-..14o'__ -~0~..[9o
process can be determined as the ,, ~ -.~....~e, ,4o ~ -. ~...4,o
maximum overlap of the process a) t . a)
composite curves. Although fig. 2a T ~
shows this maximum recovery to be 250 A AT
MW, the HEN topology in fig. 2b can
only achieve a maximum recovery (Rm~)
of 220 MW. This is because the only • Q, = 250 MW •
exchanger in the HEN through which m
additional recovery can be achieved
(shown in the bubble in fig. 2b), faces a Figure I : Example HEN Figure 2 : Example HEN at
0 ° temperature approach limit. Original performance maxinmm energy recovery
$7
$8 European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering---6. Part A

Clearly, the heat recovery limit observed is a

PinchingMatch characteristic of the original lIEN topology and is
L...-'- \ j : independent of the area added to any exchanger in the
Process ~ 1 ~ HEN. The network at its ~ can be superimposed
x._/ N / on the composite curves, as shown in fig. 3, and the
exchanger with a 0 ° temperature approach is termed
Above Pinch Region,i as a pinching match.

• , ~ /'N "
A pinching match is defined as an exchanger match
eg" pill in which the temperature approach between hot and
Network Pinch cold streams unavoidably tends towards a limiting
value as heat recovery in the HEN is increased.
Although the temperature approach limit used in this
example is 0 °, any positive temperature approach
Figure 3: Example HEN superimposed on its composite limit may be used. Pinching matches identify the
curves showing the Network Pinch location of the network pinch, and this network pinch
divides the HEN into a heat deficient sink and a
source in heat surplus, in a manner analogous to the well established process pinch. The difference between the
network and process pinches however, is that the network pinch is a characteristic of both the process streams and
the HEN topology, whilst the process pinch is a characteristic of the process streams alone. It is important to note
that the network pinch is not dependent on the HEN area, and as such it is unaffected by any increase in the
installed area of exchangers in the HEN.

Retrofit Curves
The retrofit target for "zero topology
modifications" defines the minimum 4 "idear'
additional exchanger area required to achieve I retrofitcurve
any feasible heat recovery without altering the . ^ / i I modifcation
HEN topology. Although repeated i~ '
optimisation runs are required to determine 7<
this target over a range of heat recovery retrofitcurve
duties, a qualitative sketch of the I :
corresponding retrofit curve can be produced : existing
once the ~ of the topology is known. By ,%.~ .... ~. . . . . . . HEN
definition, the retrofit curve starts at the point
where area and heat recovery equal that of the
original HEN, and assuming a 0 ° temperature ---"
approach limit is used, it ends with infinite Rmax(1 rood) amax(0 rood) Eexist
HEN Heat demand
area at the point with heat recovery equal to
the Rm~xof the topology.
Figure 4 : Retrofit Curves
If one change to the HEN topology is allowed,
it is possible to exceed the Rm~ of the original Above New
topology. The retrofit target for "one topology ~...~.t~: .~.~ IocatJoe~ Above
modification" is defined as the minimum pinch
additional exchanger area required to achieve I~l°w~nch L, ~ . . . . . ~
any feasible heat recovery, without making
pinch
~ ing pBelow
i ~n ' ~
more than one alteration to the HEN topology. ~ ~ch " ~ != ""PinchIng Match
As can be seen from the sketch of the retrofit ~ ~ ~ A~w~ ~ "=
' ~(/(Incr
'(Incr
' A
curves in fig. 4, allowing a topology change ~ox~.,O.__
~
can give a better trade-off between area added
and energy saved than can be obtained o~a ~-nch-
Ioeat
without topology change. Retrofit targets for ~tow''-~J~'A.''~2~,
~'~ -----'- loans st
any number of topology modifications can be ~na~ i~.~tion
defined in a similar way, and plotted as
retrofit curves; and for each topology change ~ ~ PinchingMatch
implemented, the existing network pinch will
be replaced by a new network pinch, featuring Figure 5 : Overcoming the Network Pinch by Exchanger
a new and larger R.=x and an improved area- Resequencing
energy trade-off.
 European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering---6. Part A $9

Selection of Topology Modifications

Topology changes in a HEN can take the form of relocating exchangers in the HEN, inserting new exchangers into
the HEN, or creating stream splits within the HEN. Fig. 5 illustrates how exchanger relocation can be used to
overcome the network pinch limit to heat recovery. The general rule for identifying topology changes capable of
overcoming a network pinch is that they must move heat from below to above the network pinch. This rule is
rigorous, and provides a valuable means of
screening out topology changes which cannot
To,owe improve the heat recovery potential of a
[ ~..~ (,~. 1r.~,~,,o,) network. In most cases, several topology
v . ~ ropo~a change options capable of overcoming the
~, i ~ / . ~ / (1, ~, ,., , ~ ) . network pinch can be identified, and each one
i" i ', can be assessed on the basis of the increase in
il "ro~, heat recovery potential and improvement of
L._.~ ~~ - ~ . _ ~ (, ,--.~t, area-energy trade-off it produces, as opposed
to its implementation costs. However to
/ "~..~..,~-..~. HEN enable automation of the procedure, specific
~ ~ ~"'~,~'~ ...... ~ I criteria for identifying and selecting the best
a,~at c ~ .... ". . . . ---J option have been defined.
D

(:
Rmax RBmax RAITIaX I::(~Xm
t
HEN Heatdemand Each topology change option produces a
different trade-off between heat recovery and
Filzure 6 : The One Toloolozv Modification Retrofit Curve exchanger area requirement, and these could
be represented by topology specific retrofit
curves as shown in fig. 6. The "one topology modification" retrofit curve can be plotted together with these
topology specific curves, and since it defines the minimum area requirement for feasible heat recovery, it forms a
lower bound to all the topology specific curves. It can be seen from fig. 6 that the topology specific curve which
deviates least from the "one topology modification" retrofit curve, is the one with the largest heat recovery
potential. This means that the topology change which produces the largest potential for additional heat recovery,
also provides the best trade-off between increased recovery obtained and exchanger area added, over the whole heat
recovery range. Consequently, the trade-off between area requirement and energy recovery for any given topology
change, can be evaluated in terms of the increase in heat recovery potential produced by the topology change.

On the basis of this observation, the topology change which produces the largest potential for heat recovery is
selected for the retrofit design. Since this selection criterion does not require estimation of the HEN area
implications of topology change, the non-linearities inherent in HEN area estimation can be avoided.
Consequently the search and selection of topology changes can be implemented as a mixed-integer linear
programming (MILP) problem, instead of a mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem which is
more difficult to solve. It is important to note however that although HEN area is not explicitly considered in the
search for topology changes, the trade-off between area requirement and energy recovery is implicitly addressed by
selecting the topology change which provides the greatest potential for heat recovery.

A NEW RETROFIT PROCEDURE Proak,mData

Nature of the Method IDENTIFY L.._

The new retrofit procedure consists of two stages; ~
P NCHNG; MATCHESl -
namely a diagnosis stage and an optimisation userintetactionu I I
iDENTIFY
stage as shown in fig. 7. The diagnosis stage is [ MODIFICATIONS I ,,_.DIAGNOSIS
used to identify and select promising topology userintetactionl:::~ ~ ~ STAGE
I EVALUATE& SELECT~
modifications to be made to the original HEN. MODIFICATIONS
The HEN topology resulting from these us~'intec~tion::> 1
modifications is then passed to the optimisation I OPTIMISATION I
stage, where it is optimised to produce the final I STAGE [
retrofit design. The procedure is automated, but
user control over the design process is RetrofitD(mlgn(s)
maintained, and in this way it combines the best
features of pinch and mathematical programming Figure 7 : The New Retrofit Procedure
techniques. Although the procedure does not
require targeting, targets obtained from
established techniques can be used either as a design objective, or in the evaluation of the designs produced. The
design procedure however remains independent of the targeting method used.
S I0 European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering--6. Part A

The Diagnosis Stage

The diagnosis stage is designed to identify a single topology change at a time in a sequential manner. This
provides opportunities for meaningful user interaction, which is an essential component of an industrially
acceptable retrofit HEN design procedure. In contrast with the simultaneous selection of all the topology changes,
this sequential selection procedure may in theory produce "non-optimal" solutions, but the simultaneous selection
procedure would offer little or no opportunity for user interaction. Selecting only one topology change at a time
also helps to minimise the number of topology changes used in the retrofit design.

The topology changes considered are the relocation of exchangers, the addition of new exchangers, and the
parallel streaming of exchangers (i.e. stream splitting). Two completely new MILP models are used (Asante and
Zhu, 1996); one for selection of exchanger addition options and the other for selection of relocation options. The
search for exchanger relocation options is carried out first, and when the acceptable relocation options are
exhausted, exchanger addition options are searched for. Stream split options are however selected on the basis of a
heuristic which is tested for before each exchanger addition or relocation option is considered. This heuristic
combines the insights provided by the network pinch and heuristics from pinch technology (Linnhoff et al, 1982)
and may be stated as follows;

"Whenever pinching matches occur at coincident process and network

pinches, stream splitting should be the topology change implemented."

This default strategy has proved to be both effective and efficient in the retrofit designs carried out to date, but the
user can modify or override this strategy to investigate other design options. This helps to overcome any
uncertainty introduced by the sequential nature of the search procedure used. A threshold value for increase in
heat recovery potential is specified as an acceptance criterion, such that only topology changes which produce an
increase in heat recovery potential greater than or equal to this threshold value are accepted. Each search for
topology modifications is confined to the set of modifications which are identified by the network pinch rules as
being capable of overcoming the network pinch. This greatly reduces the size of the mathematical problem and
increases the speed with which solutions are generated.

The Optimisation Stage

The primary function of the optimisation stage is to optimise the exchanger area used in the HEN topology defined
in the modification selection stage. However it also determines the optimum configuration and branch flowrates of
any stream splits introduced to the HEN. A small superstructure (Asante et al, 1996) derived from the Floudas and
Grossmann (1985) HEN superstructure, is used to optimise the stream splits and define their configurations. As
no exchanger units are added, deleted or moved during this stage, the basic network topology remains fixed.

CASE STUDY : DEBOTTLENECK OF A CRUDE UNIT

The retrofit procedure has been implemented in GAMS (Brooke et al, 1992), and tested on several retrofit HEN
design problems. The case study selected to illustrate the strength and versatility of the new retrofit procedure has
been examined by Ahmad et al (1989) and by Shokoya and Kotjabasakis (1991), and their retrofit designs will be
compared with the results obtained using the new method. This problem required a total of 35 CPU seconds on a
90MHz Pentium Opus PC to solve the MILP models which make up the diagnosis stage.

4O° 140 •
H1
H2

[ ] 1+" © +'_- "3 ~" .o°

[] 100° 47.0 120°1o "S ,
'210" 16.1 ~ -- 280"

H0
.,5" . - I ~ / .o"
m l,,O ° 45111
[]2+0" ® ,~. co'__ + 0o" ,2+- T MIIMI -io ' . ~/
~'~ 280j
/ 10.0 ~)lOJ+

tm"° I
+ I+ ® '°" ~r.7 11.0 ~1.0 (LO 27.0 21.0 11~.6

p5°IIS.0 111.0 25.0 11,0 10.0 1.0 $0.0 10.0 7.0

,o' [ ] ~I ~.-Nelwor~ Pinch

o m ,m Enthslpy m m

Figure 8 : Original HEN before Debottlenecking

Figure 9 : Limits of the Original HEN
 European Symposium on Computer Aided Process Engineering---6. Pan A S II

The retrofit objective in this example is to debottleneck the HEN to cope with a 10% increase in crude throughput,
and the main retrofit design constraint is the specification of a maximum furnace duty of 100 MW. The original
HEN before debottlenecking is shown in fig. 8. It must also be mentioned that certain streams in the process have
been segmented linearly to account for the significant changes in their heat transfer properties with temperature.
The minimum temperature approach permitted in the HEN was set at 10°C, and the minimum improvement in
for acceptance of a topology change option was set at 0.5 MW.

4o"

H3 L t ~ l ~ m ~i [] 140I 40"
H4 80" 2eO"
He 2,o- 3, _ [] ,,o. ,,c ' " .
He 45"

]280" (~ I 9.65 210".

10" 2:
Cl C 350" A I 45"1t
7.7 7.7 33.0 :>" 27.$ 111,9N.1 T I ®

~Ne~ork ~.6 ~7.r~ see 27.s 3.97 ~z~ 33.o eas 7.7
Pinch
o ~ ~ Additional Area =1265 m 2
o so ~o Enthalpy ~o 2oo

Figure 10 : Limits in HEN after Resequence Figure 11 : Final Retrofit Design (New Method)

The first step in the procedure is to identify the heat recovery limit of the original HEN, and this is shown in fig. 9.
At this heat recovery limit, the duty of the furnace is 102.5 MW, and this indicates that changes to the HEN
topology will be required in the retrofit design to reduce the furnace duty below 100 MW. The first modification
option considered is exchanger relocation, because although exchangers 4 and 5 are pinched at the heat recovery
limit, the stream split heuristic is not satisfied. The first modification selected is the resequence of exchanger 4,
and this increases the heat recovery potential of the HEN by 4.4 MW.

[ ] ~,o" © ,o" [ ] ~4o" © 4o"

[] 160" 51.7 120"i, [] 160" ~ SI.7 120"11

~ 260" T

B A 8.4 9.4
h_

~, ~,o" ~ p. ,o'gq
99.6 16,0 5.0 2.3 33.0 1.6 6,05 5.4 99.6 16.0 4,3 10.6 33,0 9.1 77

Additional Area =1990 m 2 Additional Area =1257 m 2

Figure 12 : Ahmad et al, (1989) Design Figure 13 : Shokoya and Kotjabasakis (1991) Design

The topology produced after the resequence of exchanger 4 features three adjacent pinching matches (exchangers
4, 5 and 6) as shown in fig. 10. The first of these pinching matches lies at the process pinch, and this implies that
the process and network pinches have become coincident. This satisfies the conditions of the stream split heuristic,
and the search for exchanger relocation options is therefore interrupted. Stream splitting is then implemented to
place the three pinched exchangers in parallel with each other, and this produces a 1.8 MW increase in R,~. No
more acceptable exchanger relocation options are found, and the search for new exchanger options begins. The
first new exchanger option selected further increase the heat recovery potential by 3.9 MW. After this topology
change however, no further acceptable topology change is identified, and the search therefore stops.
SI2 European Symposiumon Computer Aided Process Engineering--6. Part A

The final topology is submitted to the optimisation stage, where it is optimised to produce the retrofit HEN shown
in fig. 11. Exchangers shown with a shadow require additional area and the new exchanger unit added is shown
shaded. To enable comparison with other designs, the HEN is optimised for a fixed furnace duty of 99.6 MW for
which 1265m 2 of additional area is required. It can be seen that the stream split introduced has been optimised
into a series-parallel split configuration by the small superstructure used in the optimisation stage. The designs of
Ahmad et al (1989) and Shokoya and Kotjabasakis (1991) are shown in figs. 12 and 13 respectively. Comparing
these designs reveals that the new method requires the least number of topology modifications, and requires only
marginally more exchanger area than the design obtained by Shokoya and Kotjabasakis.

By altering the search strategy used, other design options can be investigated using the new method. For example
it is possible to omit the consideration of stream splitting from the search strategy to produce a series design. In
this way alternate retrofit design options (each involving a different set of topology changes) can be investigated,
and the trade-offs inherent in the design problem examined systematically.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

In this paper a completely new method is proposed tbr the retrofit design of heat exchanger networks, which
combines the thermodynamic analysis of HEN topologies with mathematical programming techniques. The
concept of the network pinch as a limit to heat recovery in a HEN topology is introduced, and demonstrated to offer
vital insight for identification and selection of beneficial topology modifications in retrofit design. A unique
feature of the new method is that the selection of topology changes is not based on an explicit cost minimisation
objective. This avoids the need to solve a complex mixed-integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem, and
enables the design problem to be solved efficiently on ordinary desktop computers. As with MINLP formulations
however, this method cannot guarantee the generation of minimum cost retrofit HEN designs. In spite of this, the
method ensures that the final retrofit cost remains close to minimum, and guarantees that the retrofit designs
generated will feature consistently simple and practical configurations.

The main advantage of the new approach is that it offers an efficient, systematic and automatic method for the
retrofit design of heat exchanger networks, combined with a facility of meaningful and practical user interaction.
The method therefore combines the benefits of both pinch and mathematical programming techniques and provides
a powerful and effective method for generating practical and cost-effective retrofit designs. The approach has been
demonstrated, through both industrial and literature problems.

REFERENCES

1. Ahmad,S., Polley,G.T., Petela, E.A. (1989): Retrofit of heat exchanger networks subject to pressure drop
constraints. Paper No 34a, AIChE Spring Meeting, Houston.
2. Asante, N.D.K., Zhu, X.X. (1996): A mixed integer linear programming modeling approach for selection of
topology changes in retrofit heat exchanger network design, to be published.
3. Asante, N.D.K., Zhu, X.X., Wood, R.M. (1996): Simultaneous evolution and optimisation of heat exchanger
network stream split configurations, accepted for presentation at the 1996 IChemE Research Event.
4. Brooke, A., Kendrick, D., Meerans, A. (1992): GAMS: A User's Guide, Scientific Press; Palo Alto, CA.
5. Carlsson, A., Franck, P., Berntsson, T. (1993): Design better heat exchanger network retrofits. C.E.P.
(March), 87-96.
6. Ciric, A.R., Floudas, C.A. (1989): A retrofit approach for heat exchanger networks. Comp. and Chem. Eng.
13(6), 703-715.
7. Ciric, A. R., Floudas, C. A. (1990): A mixed integer non-linear programming model for retrofitting heat-
exchanger networks. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 29, 239-251.
8. Floudas, C.A., Grossmann, I.E. (1985): Automatic synthesis and optimisation of heat exchanger networks.
Paper No C5A, CHEMECA 85, 329-333.
9. Linnhoff, B. et al. (1982): User Guide on Process Integration for the Efficient Use of Energy. Institution of
Chemical Engineers, London.
10. Policy, G.T., Panjeh Shahi, M.H., Jegede, F.O. (1990): Pressure drop considerations in the retrofit of heat
exchanger networks. Trans. IChemE. 68 Part A, 211-220.
11. Shokoya, C.G., Kotjabasakis, E. (1991): A new targeting procedure for the retrofit of heat exchanger networks.
Paper presented at the International Conference, Athens, Greece.
12. Tjoe,T.N., Linnhoff, B. (1986): Using pinch technology for process retrofit. Chemical Engineering (28 April),
47-60.
13. Yee, T. F., Grossmann, I. E. (1991 ): A screening and optimisation approach for the retrofit of heat-exchanger
networks. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 30, 146-162.