Heat Exchanger Network Design of Palm Oil Mill in Tronoh, Perak for Maximum Energy Recovery
Résumé
A palm oil mill involves energy-intensive processes. Maximizing thermal efficiency of palm oil mill is crucial forthe plant profitability. Design and analysis of heat exchanger network is important to maximize heat recovery, which aims to lower the overall plant costs. This work implements a pinch analysis technique to maximize heat recovery and thermal efficiency ofa palm oil mill, subject to the existing process constraints. The procedures involve setting the maximum heat recovery targets and cost-effective of the heat exchanger network (HEN). Application of the technique on a palm oil mill processes resulted in reduction of 510 kW heating and cooling load at ∆Tmin of 10oC. The total annual savings in utility consumption is RM 184,735.63 giving the payback period forthe investment of 2.36 years.