Benefit from steam-balance optimization strategies

• Published in: Chemical Engineering Vol. 107; no. 12; pp. 70 - 74
• Main Authors: Matas-Valiente, Pablo, Theron, Jan
• Format: Magazine Article Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY McGraw-Hill 01-11-2000; Access Intelligence, LLC; Access Intelligence LLC
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Capital expenditures; Chemical engineering; Chemical plants; Consumption; Cost control; Electricity; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Engines and turbines; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Generators; Heat; Optimization techniques; Petroleum refineries; Prices; Steam pressure; Thermal energy; Turbines; Valves; United States > US; Steam engine; Strategy; Maintenance; Water vapor; Thermocompression; Optimization; Control valve
• ISSN: 0009-2460; 1945-368X

The improvements to the steam engine that James Watt registered as a patent in 1769 lies at the origin of the industrial revolution. His "invented method of lessening the consumption of steam and fuel" is mirrored in today's quest for optimized steam systems. Such optimization in modern refineries and chemical plants is still not a simple or intuitive task. However, innovative technology can be used to optimize existing steam systems and to design new systems for optimal performance. Each steam main in a petroleum refinery or chemical plant may possess either an abundance of steam or a shortage of steam at a given moment, thus existing in an unbalanced mode. Any steam-control valve with a significant pressure drop could be replaced by a thermocompressor that controls pressure, flow or temperature in a manner similar to that of a normal control valve, while meeting the consumer steam demand by mixing steam with two different pressures.