-

One of the most recent methods in the retrofit of heat exchanger networks is a procedure that assumes fixed values for stream allowable pressure drops. This means that no consideration is taken into account for pump and / or compressor replacement study iii the network.
In this research, pressure drop optimization is incorporated into the previous method (i. e. : a three way trade-off is carried out between energy consumption, surface area and pressure drop), to achieve the most beneficial retrofit project. The method is then applied to a crude oil preheat train and the result is compared to the fixed pressure drop method.