Flexibility analysis and design of heat exchanger network for syngas-to-methanol process

The heat exchanger network (HEN) in a syngas-to-methanol process was designed and optimized based on pinch technology under stable operating conditions to balance the energy consumption and economic gain. In actual industrial processes, fluctuations in production inevitably affect the stable operation of HENs. A flexibility analysis of the HEN was carried out to minimize such disturbances using the downstream paths method. The results show that two-third of the downstream paths cannot meet flexibility requirements, indicating that the HEN does not have enough flexibility to accommodate the disturbances in actual production. A flexible HEN was then designed with the method of dividing and subsequent merging of streams, which led to 13.89% and 20.82% reductions in energy consumption and total cost, respectively. Owing to the sufficient area margin and additional alternative heat exchangers, the flexible HEN was able to resist interference and maintain production stability and safety, with the total cost increasing by just 4.08%.