Refinery hydrogen management for clean fuels production

This paper presents a new method for refineries to make most efficient use of hydrogen. Hydrogen is an important utility in the production of clean fu els such as low-sulfur gasoline and diesel. The methodology is based upon m athematical optimisation of a superstructure and maximises the amount of hy drogen recovered across a site. The techniques account fully for pressure c onstraints as well as the existing equipment and are suited for revamping r eal, industrial systems. The optimum placement of new equipment such as com pressors and purification units is also considered. The methods are illustr ated with an industrial case study, where both operating cost savings and d ebottlenecking objectives are achieved. The approach in this paper can acco unt for economic issues such as payback time and capital budgets while deli vering process designs that make best use of resources and can provide sign ificant environmental benefits. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.