شبیه‌سازی و بهینه‌سازی فرایند بازیابی اتان در پتروشیمی بندر امام

Natural gas consists of various hydrocarbons, all of which have their own economic values. Ethane recovery provides ethane, which is one of the most important petrochemical feedstocks. In this study, simulation and optimization of the ethane recovery process in Bandar Imam Petrochemical in Iran was investigated. Simulation of the entire plant was carried out using the HYSYS (V.10) simulator, and the Peng-Robinson equation of state was used to calculate the thermodynamic properties. Using process flow diagram data, the accuracy of simulation was examined. At first, performance of the plant was investigated, then two improved configurations for the plant were examined. Results show that the plant performance must be improved by feeding back the additional cold reflux bypassing the top stream of demethanizer tower through heat exchanger (first configuration) or by compressing the top products of demethanizer tower and passing it through Joule- Thomson valve (second configuration). The first configuration increased ethane recovery to 96.55%, which was due to 3.67% increase of reflux flowrate; the second one enhanced ethane recovery to 99.76%, which was due to 24.58% increase of reflux flowrate. Economic analysis proved that new configurations are cost-efficient.