Cost reduction of fluid catalytic cracking unit in kaduna refining and petrochemical company using pinch technology

Abstract

Pinch technology is one of the most powerful methodologies of process integration that allows industries to increase their profitability through reductions in energy, water and raw materials consumption. In this study, reduction in the total annual cost of heat exchanger network (HEN) of Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) unit in Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC), Kaduna was determined. With the help of pinch technology, the reduction was achieved by first determining optimum minimum temperature difference by trading off energy cost and capital cost targets as a function of minimum temperature difference. Thereafter, the total annual cost obtained at the optimum minimum temperature difference was compared with total annual cost of existing design. The results of the analysis showed that the optimum minimum temperature difference was 12℃, the total annual costs of the existing design and the optimum-minimum-temperature-difference based cost were $8.7 and $7.1 Million respectively. This amounted to percentage reduction in the total annual cost of 18.4% which means that about $1.6 Million would been saved annually using the optimum minimum temperature difference to design the HEN of the FCC unit.