Activated Energy Analysis in Aspen HYSYS – Natural Gas Plant

Introduction
Using the demo file and this walkthrough, the user will learn how to properly use Activated Energy
Analysis in Aspen HYSYS to revamp the existing heat exchanger network in order to reduce energy
consumption in the developed process model. In order to access the Activated Energy Analysis features,
Aspen HYSYS V8.8 and higher versions must be installed.

Process Description
The demo file is based on a simplified natural gas processing plant, modeled in Aspen HYSYS. Raw
natural gas stream is first sweetened to remove the acid gas, and then the water content is removed in
dehydration section. The dehydrated gases is cooled down by recovering cold heat source from the top
of de-methanizer column and then further cooled by the refrigeration before being separated in the de-
methanizer. The overhead from the column is further compressed and cooled before being sent to the
gas pipeline for sales. The bottom liquid product is separated in the downstream columns for NGL
recovery, which is not modeled in this example file.

Activated Energy Analysis Procedure

To begin, load case ‘Natural Gas Plant Model.HSC’ from HYSYS Sample folder. Before clicking on the
panel to activate energy analysis, user is strongly recommended to edit the utilities available to the site.
To do this, user should click Home ribbon>Process Utility Manager as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. Launch Process Utility Manager form in Aspen HYSYS

In Aspen HYSYS V8.4 and higher version, activated energy analysis can automatically select the optimal
utilities among all utilities defined in Process Utility Manager. There are many default utilities such as LP
Steam, MP Steam, Refrigerant 1, and Refrigerant 2, etc. included with HYSYS Utilities databases. These
utilities need to be edited to suit the plant need, or deleted if they are not available to the model so
energy analysis will not select them, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. Edit Utilities available to the site in Aspen HYSYS

Click the empty space on the Energy panel to bring up the Configuration form, outlined in Figure 3.
Change the Process Type to Low Temperature Process because the natural gas needs to be cooled down
by refrigeration loop.

Figure 3. Location of Energy Analysis Tile to Activate Energy Analysis Dashboard

If user want to calculate the greenhouse gas emission cost, carbon fee need to be entered in the
configuration tab of energy Analysis form in Aspen HYSYS, as shown in Figure 3. Note this step need to
be performed whenever HYSYS is installed. The cost is not stored in HYSYS case file but rather in HYSYS
installation.
Activate the analysis by clicking Analyze Energy Saving button at the bottom of the form. Energy Analysis
dashboard is populated with the two values namely the absolute energy saving opportunities (16.7 MW)
and relative energy saving opportunities (21.7%), as shown in Figure 4. The summary form shows the
breakdown of saving opportunities among the heating and cooling as well as the carbon emissions in
mass flow. User is able to view the cost flow and heat flow of utilities consumption and target on this
form.

Figure 4. Refreshed energy panel and Summary tab of energy analysis form in Aspen HYSYS

If no utilities are selected, Activated Energy Analysis will automatically choose the appropriate utilities
based on temperature and utilities cost information; if an incorrect utility selection is made, a warning
icon will appear in the table.

User clicks Utilities tab on Energy Analysis form to see the detailed breakdown of each utility’s usage
and target, as well as the cost saving potential (Figure 5). From this table, it is noted that utility LPSteam
could be eliminated when “perfect” heat integration is carried out on the flowsheet.
Figure 5. Detail breakdown of utilities consumption vs. utilities target in Aspen HYSYS

User can also check the carbon emission details by switching to Carbon Emissions tab as shown in Figure
6 below.

Figure 6. Carbon Emissions tab of Energy Analysis form in Aspen HYSYS

Exchangers table (Figure 6) shows the details of all existing heat exchangers including process-process
heat exchangers, heater and coolers extracted from HYSYS flowsheet to Aspen Energy Analyzer. The
columns are explained in details below

1. Heat Exchanger – name of heat exchanger. Click column header to sort the names in alphabetic
order
2. Status – indicate whether heat exchangers are extracted correctly from HYSYS to Energy
Analyzer
3. Type – Indicate the type of heat exchanger as Process Exchanger, Heater or Cooler
4. Base Duty – current duty of heat exchangers calculated in Aspen Energy Analyzer, which should
be very close to the HYSYS values.
5. Recoverable Duty – Cross Pinch duty for existing heat exchangers which indicate the inefficiency
of existing heat exchanger network. Click column header to sort all heat exchanger in the
descending order of cross pinch duty.
6. Hot Inlet Temperature – value reported in Aspen Energy Analyzer, which should be close to
HYSYS value if the stream segmentation is done correctly in Aspen Energy Analyzer. If not,
Launch Aspen Energy Analyzer to see the heat curve of the stream.
7. Hot Outlet Temperature – value reported in Aspen Energy Analyzer, which should be close to
HYSYS value if the stream segmentation is done correctly in Aspen Energy Analyzer. If not,
Launch Aspen Energy Analyzer to see the heat curve of the stream.
8. Cold Inlet Temperature - value reported in Aspen Energy Analyzer, which should be close to
HYSYS value if the stream segmentation is done correctly in Aspen Energy Analyzer. If not,
Launch Aspen Energy Analyzer to see the heat curve of the stream.
9. Cold Outlet Temperature – value reported in Aspen Energy Analyzer, which should be close to
HYSYS value if the stream segmentation is done correctly in Aspen Energy Analyzer. If not,
Launch Aspen Energy Analyzer to see the heat curve of the stream.
10. Hot Side Fluid – Name of the pinch stream on the hot side. Hovering mouse over the stream
name shows details of the stream information including inlet, outlet temperatures and stream
duty. Hovering mouse over the column header shows the hot side process pinch temperature. In
addition, user can click on filter on the column header to display the streams relative to the hot
pinch location.
11. Cold Side Fluid – Name of the pinch stream on the cold side. Hovering mouse over the stream
name shows details of the stream information including inlet, outlet temperatures and stream
duty. Hovering mouse over the column header shows the cold side process pinch temperature.
In addition, user can click on filter on the column header to display the streams relative to the
cold pinch location.

User could change the column positions by dragging columns to the desired location, or hide the
columns with column selector, as shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Exchangers tab of Energy Analysis form in Aspen HYSYS

Once user understand the energy saving potentials, user clicks the Design Changes tab as shown in
Figure 8 to generate the potential design changes to save energy. Clicking ‘Find Energy Savings’ button
automatically creates up to 11 possible design changes to the existing heat exchanger network to
achieve the energy saving opportunities. Three types of retrofit options are explored. These include:

Modify Exchanger – Add additional surface areas to the existing heat exchangers to save energy.
Only one solution is obtained.

Add Exchanger – Add one heat exchanger to the existing heat exchanger network at a time. This
run will provide up to 5 solutions. User is able to reduce the number of solutions for Add
Exchangers options in order to save solution time for a large case.

Relocate Exchanger – Relocate one existing heat exchanger to a different location at a time.
This run will provide up to 5 solutions. User is able to reduce the number of solutions for
Relocate Exchangers options in order to save solution time for a large case.
Figure 8. Create Potential Design Changes in Energy Analysis Panel

Once retrofit analysis is completed, the table is populated with the retrofit solutions, as shown below.
As there is no degree of freedom (loops and path) in the existing flowsheet, it is expected that the
optimizer cannot find a solution for modifying heat exchangers.

The row highlights the first solution for adding a new exchanger to the process. In this case, the first
heat exchanger addition solution reduces energy by 17.6% and has a payback period of .092 years.

Again, because of lack of degree of freedom in the existing flowsheet, optimizer failed to find a solution
in relocating existing heat exchanger to different position.

Click hyperlink Add E-100 on the grid will take user to the solution details in the Energy Analysis
environment, shown in Figure 9.
Figure 9. Solution details for adding a heat exchanger retrofit option in Aspen HYSYS

In the second table in the solution details window, the specific heat exchanger addition solution desired
by the user can be selected using the corresponding radio button, as shown in Figure 10. Note that the
areas (e.g. 99.0 m2) listed on the first column in this table are the total areas added to the entire heat
exchanger network, and not the area added to the new heat exchanger.

Figure 10. Add Heat Exchangers Solutions Generated by Activated Energy Analysis

The solutions are calculated without actual constraints. For that reason, the new total areas are large in
the initial solutions. The minimum temperature approach is set as 3°C, which is the minimum approach
temperature in the current flowsheet, and the maximum new area allowed for each heat exchanger is
set to be 10,000 m2. To refine the optimization solution, tighter constrains can be imposed on each heat
exchanger by manually updating the maximum areas and minimum approach temperatures, as listed in
blue font.
To illustrate this, select solution four, enter 2000 m2 in ‘Maximum Extra Area’ for E-100 and click on
‘Update’ button. The solution is shown in Figure 11 and indicates that the area required for this new
exchanger is reduced to 2000 m2 which complies to the constraint. Of course the energy saving is also
reduced as a tradeoff.

Figure 11. Imposing Tighter Constraints on a Heat Exchanger in the Energy Analysis Environment

Using this approach to tighten optimization constraints, the retrofit solution can be fine-tuned and the
capital cost expenditure can be reduced, keeping in mind that energy cost saving could also be
diminished through more stringent constraints. An equation oriented nonlinear optimizer helps to
achieve the optimum trade-off between capital cost expenditure and energy cost saving.

Figure 12. Updated Heat Exchanger Details Table Showing New Limits Placed on Exchanger E-100

Additional modifications to the heat exchanger network can also be made on top of previous
optimization solutions (e.g., adding a second new exchanger E-101 on top of the first changes of adding
a new exchanger E-100, etc.).
Select the first solution and then click ‘Add Exchanger’ button from the Home ribbon again, shown in
Figure 13, to attempt to add a second new heat exchanger E-101 to the process after adding the first
heat exchanger E-100.

Figure 13. Add exchanger option to perform multiple retrofit scenarios

The solution generated indicates that a new exchanger named E-101 could be added to possible four
locations, as shown in Figure 14. However there is no improvement in energy saving with the second
new heat exchanger in this particular case. Thus user is advised to stick to the design with one new heat
exchanger (E-100).

Figure 14. Results for instituting multiple optimization solutions

The Activated Energy Analysis process described in this guide can be repeated and explored more in
depth for any Aspen HYSYS simulation.

Once the retrofit design is completed and user is satisfied with the results, HYSYS flowsheet can be
modified to incorporate the change on new heat exchanger addition (E-100 with duty 6.779 MW), as
shown in Figure 15.
Figure 15. Update HYSYS flowsheet with the changes from energy analysis

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Q: How are the targeted values calculated in Activated Energy Analysis in Aspen HYSYS?

A: The targeted values of heating and cooling consumptions are calculated using pinch analysis
through Aspen Energy Analyzer. As the user clicks to activate the energy dashboard, Aspen Energy
Analyzer is launched in the background and “reads” the flowsheet data to formulate the energy
analysis. The results are then populated back to the energy dashboard once the calculation is
completed.

2. Q: Why are the actual heating and cooling consumptions reported in the energy dashboard
sometimes doubled compared to the values reported in simulation?

A: As the data is transferred from simulation to Aspen Energy Analyzer, some heating and cooling
information might be double counted because of the way the simulation flowsheet is developed.
We strongly encourage the user to utilize subflowsheeting features in Aspen HYSYS to organize
entire heat exchanger networks into one subflowsheet. The user can then select the appropriate
hierarchies in Energy Analysis>Configuration tab (Figure 3 in this guide).
3. Q: Why are the absolute and relative energy saving potential negative for some flowsheet?

A: Energy Analysis in Aspen HYSYS utilizes pinch technology to calculate energy target based on user
specified heat recovery temperature approach (HRAT). When the HRAT is larger than the actual heat
exchanger minimum approach temperature (EMAT) in the flowsheet, the saving potential could be
negative. It is critical to specify the “right” HRAT in order to derive the correct energy target.
Reducing HRAT closer to EMAT would help to get rid of this problem in some circumstances.

4. Q: Are there any online training materials available for the Activated Energy Analysis?

A: Yes. There is a computer based training material “Getting Started with Energy Analysis in Aspen
HYSYS”, available via the online training websites of Aspen HYSYS.

5. Q: Can I enter custom heat exchanger cost correlations in energy analysis?

A: Yes. The user can enter the cost correlations in the Energy Analysis environment under the
‘Costing’ tab in the ‘Setup’ window located in Energy Analysis environment. However, the cost
correlations need to be in the format of exponential functions of new area on the heat exchanger.

6. Q: Can I make additional modifications (e.g. adding multiple heat exchangers or relocating
multiple heat exchangers) on top of the previous modifications to the heat exchanger network?

A: Yes. Even though the retrofit engine only allows user to add or relocate one heat exchanger at a
time, the user can still add or relocate more exchangers sequentially in multiple run. Using the
scenario tree is a great way to organize the revamping options in the Energy Analysis environment.
Multiple designs can be created in one scenario. The energy savings from each design is cumulative
from the base simulation case.

7. Q: Why are the new areas required from the initial solutions so large?

A: The initial solution from automatic optimization design is calculated without any constraints, i.e.
the maximum extra area and minimum approach temperature are not constrained during the
solution generation. As a result, the approach temperature of a heat exchanger could be very small.
Generally, it is best to generate solutions first and then fine tune the solution later, due to the
complex mathematical model.

8. Q: How can I control the new area distribution within the heat exchanger network?

A: The user can impose the limits in Maximum Extra Area column, or Minimum Approach
Temperature column for each exchanger in the heat exchanger details table. Then, click the
‘Update’ button on the top left corner of the table to regenerate the solution. However, the energy
savings could be compromised as more and more constraints are imposed on the heat exchangers.

9. Why I see zero cost for GHG emission on the dashboard, even though GHG emission in utilities
specification is activated
 A: User needs to specify carbon fee/tax in Energy Analysis>Configuration form, as shown below. By
default the value is zero.

10. Where can I see the composite curves and grand composite curve?

A: User needs to see composite curves and grand composite curves inside Aspen Energy Analyzer,
which can be launched directly in Energy Analysis environment as shown below.