Exergy analysis of a diesel hydrotreater and mild hydrocracking unit in a petroleum refinery

Abstract

The aim of this research work is to analyse the exergy efficiency of the diesel hydrotreater and mild hydrocracking unit of Turkish Petroleum Refineries Corporation Izmit Refinery (TUPRAS). For this purpose, the process was simulated by using Aspen HYSYS (R) simulation tool. The exergetic efficiency of each equipment was calculated by using the mass exergy values obtained from the simulation tool. The overall exergetic efficiency of the process was found to be 66.9%. Exergy efficiencies of the reactor and the debutaniser column were found to be the lowest as 20% and 55% respectively. The total exergy destruction in the unit was calculated to be 33,207 kWh while the feed heater was the main contributor with 9,056 kWh and 27% of total exergy destruction.