CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

For our works, Mass Exchangers (MEs) aremembrane equipment that exchange some component between two streams in acountercurrent arrangement. In previous works these were proposed to use them (withthe goal of hydrogen recovery, energy saving and waste minimization) at different stagesof the hierarchical decision procedure for process synthesis by Douglas: at an early designstage, when deciding the recycle structure of the process (resulting in considerablechanges in the process structure); or at a final design stage, before deciding the mass andenergy integrations of process streams (resulting in minor changes in the process structure). The heuristic allocation of MEs was usedindependently at both design stages in previous works, with the goal ofcomparing with other design alternatives reported in the literature that use membranes in theconventional configuration (one feed stream and two exit streams; retentate andpermeate). In contrast, the present work compares the results of using MEs, when they areused individually at both design stages, and when they are used jointly at bothdesign stages, in different configurations. For the case study example (the HDA Process),the use of a ME at an early design stage reduces the fresh hydrogen consumed by 3.37%,and the recycle compressor power by 4.09%. The use of a ME at a final design stagereduces the fresh hydrogen consumed by 31.64%, but it does not reduce the recyclecompressor power. The joint use of the MEs at both design stages reduces the fresh hydrogenconsumed by 14.54%, and the recycle compressor power by 2.91%. The joint use of MEs at both designstages retains the principal benefits of its use at early and final design stages (energysaving and hydrogen recovery, principally), so when both a reduction in the fresh hydrogenconsumed and in the recycle compressor power is desired, it is the most appropriate option.

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