Thermodynamic and Mathematical Methods in Heat Integration of Atmospheric Unit of Tehran Oil Refinery

In a process unit, reducing the energy consumption, increasing the production capacity and economic profit of the process, have been always considered and various methods, including thermodynamic methods and mathematical methods, have been improved for this purpose. In present study, atmospheric distillation process of Tehran refinery has been optimized by two different methods and their results, have been reported. By the first method, in which optimization has been performed by Aspen Analyzer software, based on pinch technology (as the thermodynamic method), comparisons between real situation and based ideal design, show the difference about 34%. The required number of units by ideal design is reported 21, the utility consumption is 1.3´ 105 kW and required area is 2.2´ 104 m2. The second method, performed optimization by GAMS software which is based on synheat model as the mathematical method. The required number of units is reported 28, the utility consumption is 5.2´ 104 kW and required area is 6.6´ 103 m2. In present study with the use of HeVi software, the results of mathematical optimization is visualized in the form of grid diagram for heat exchangers and streams