Hydrocarbon Processing - March 2022 - 34

Petrochemical Technology
400
450
500
200
250
300
350
100
150
50
HEX weight
CO2
emissions- CO2
Recycled steel
Low-finned solution
Enhanced nucleate boiling tubea
emissions-
New steel
solution
FIG. 8. CO2 equivalent emissions on mass
of steel and steel mix.
35
40
45
50
55
60
Tube length
Hot propylene-increased pressure
(low fin-tube-condensing)
Hot propylene-base pressure
(enhanced nucleate boiling tubea
Cold propylene (shell-boiling)
FIG. 9. Cold and hot stream temperatures
in the reboiler/condenser equipped with the
enhanced nucleate boiling tubea
(reference)
vs. low-finned tubes (increased pressure).
same level of heat duty, the condensing
vapor temperature must be raised by increasing
the pressure. TABLE 2 shows a 24%
loss of duty due to the use of a low-finned
tube. This can be compensated by increasing
the pressure by 1.8 bar, corresponding
to an increase of tube-side hot propylene
condensing temperature of 3.9°C (FIG. 9).
The pressure increase linked to the use
of the low-finned tube is proportional to
the electric consumption of the compressor
that must be provided, with approximately
26% more electric power required
at the compressor shaft (0.34 MWel).
The compressor
is
electric motor
driven. The extra carbon emissions of this
additional power when using a low-finned
tube instead of the enhanced nucleate
boiling tubea
used to supply the electricity. For various
fuel sources and their specific characteristics,
the extra CO2
emissions are calculated
in TABLE 3, assuming year-round operation
(8,640 hr). To make this increase
of CO2
emissions easier to understand,
the authors converted these values into
kilometers driven by a car. Converted
34 MARCH 2022 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
will depend on the fuel mix
Takeaway. As the world faces significant
environmental challenges, energyefficiency
solutions are necessary to meet
reductions in carbon footprint. The coauthors'
companies have worked for more
than 20 yr to develop such solutions for
the energy industry. By choosing these
solutions and engaging in several initiatives,
Borealis intends to be a leader in
energy efficiency.
The co-authors' companies' dual
enhanced tube solutions have demonstrated
their beneficial impacts vs. lowfinned
tubes, resulting in savings on the
number of shells that must be installed
and on capital expenditures. The technology
also preserves natural resources,
resulting in lower CO2
manufacturing, transportation and installation.
The enhanced nucleate boiling
tubea
technology has been proven to
be successful in supporting the introduction
of more efficient process schemes
with heat pumps, thus lowering power
consumption and reducing carbon footprints.
Additionally, it fosters the shift
from fossil fuels to electricity, further
promoting the use of renewable energy
sources in proposed solutions.
5
6
-tube-condensing)
TABLE 2. Technology impact on reboiler/condenser efficiency and size
Installed design: Enhanced
nucleate boiling tubea
Heat duty, %
No. of shells
Bare tube area, %
Total dry weight, %
Required vapor
pressure increase
100
1
100
100
N/A
Scenario 1: Low-finned
tube (iso duty)
100
2
175
187
N/A
Notes: Basis of 100% corresponds to the values of the enhanced nucleate boiling tubes designa
low-finned evaluation is based on a 30-fpi carbon steel low-finned tube geometry;
dry weights are calculated using HTRI Xist® section of Xchanger Suite® software version 8.2.
TABLE 3. Carbon footprint comparison vs. electricity production score
Electricity production source
Carbon emission, kgCO2eq/kWh
Extra CO2 emissions, tCO2
Earth rounds by car
eq
Nuclear
0.006
18
3
into Earth rounds, assuming a diesel car
with average emissions of 169 gCO2
eq/
km (as per the ADEME database), this
would range from 3-459 times around
the Earth. A significant contributor to
reduce CO2
emissions in the future is the
use of renewable energy sources.
Gas
0.418
1,228
181
3,107
459
;
Scenario 2: Low-finned
tube (iso size)
76
1
100
100
+1.80 bar
Coal Wind (onshore)
1.058
0.0141
41
6
Through the installation of a vapor recompression
heat pump system in its Porvoo
facility, Borealis and the co-authors'
companies-combining market and
carbon footprint objectives-have demonstrated
strong capabilities to design,
install and operate reliable, mature and
sustainable solutions.
NOTES
a Wieland GEWA-PB enhanced nucleate boiling tubes
b Wieland GEWA-KS dual enhanced condensing tube
c
Technip Energies and Wieland Thermal Solutions:
https://www.wieland-thermalsolutions.com/en/
industries/process-technology/cooperation-technip-wieland
LITERATURE
CITED
1
Bhatia, P., et al., " Corporate value chain (Scope 3)
accounting and reporting standard, " Greenhouse
Gas Protocol, 2013, online: https://ghgprotocol.
org/sites/default/files/standards/Corporate-ValueChain-Accounting-Reporing-Standard_041613_2.
pdf.
2
IEA,
" Energy efficiency: The first fuel of a sustainable
global energy system, " IEA, 2021, online: https://
www.iea.org/topics/energy-efficiency.
3
emissions during
4
KBC, a Yokogawa Company, " Industrial Energy
Transition Manifesto, " 2019, online: https://www.
kbc.global/insights/whitepapers/industrial-energytransition-manifesto.
Borealis,
" Combined Annual Report 2020, " 2021,
online: https://www.borealisgroup.com/storage/
Company/Investor-Relations/Financial-Reports/
Borealis-Combined-Report-2020_Group_EN.pdf.
Hängii, D. and I. Meszaros, " Vapor recompression.
Distillation without steam, " Sulzer Technical Review,
January 1999.
Borealis, " Borealis to significantly increase share of
renewable energy used for its operations in Finland, "
July 6, 2020, online: https://www.BOREALISgroup.
com/news/BOREALIS-to-significantly-increaseshare-of-renewable-energy-used-for-its-operationsin-finland.
%

https://www.wieland-thermalsolutions.com/en/industries/process-technology/cooperation-technip-wieland https://www.wieland-thermalsolutions.com/en/industries/process-technology/cooperation-technip-wieland https://www.wieland-thermalsolutions.com/en/industries/process-technology/cooperation-technip-wieland https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Corporate-Value-Chain-Accounting-Reporing-Standard_041613_2.pdf https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Corporate-Value-Chain-Accounting-Reporing-Standard_041613_2.pdf https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Corporate-Value-Chain-Accounting-Reporing-Standard_041613_2.pdf https://ghgprotocol.org/sites/default/files/standards/Corporate-Value-Chain-Accounting-Reporing-Standard_041613_2.pdf https://www.iea.org/topics/energy-efficiency https://www.iea.org/topics/energy-efficiency https://www.kbc.global/insights/whitepapers/industrial-energytransition-manifesto https://www.kbc.global/insights/whitepapers/industrial-energytransition-manifesto https://www.kbc.global/insights/whitepapers/industrial-energytransition-manifesto https://www.borealisgroup.com/storage/Company/Investor-Relations/Financial-Reports/Borealis-Combined-Report-2020_Group_EN.pdf https://www.borealisgroup.com/storage/Company/Investor-Relations/Financial-Reports/Borealis-Combined-Report-2020_Group_EN.pdf https://www.borealisgroup.com/storage/Company/Investor-Relations/Financial-Reports/Borealis-Combined-Report-2020_Group_EN.pdf https://www.BOREALISgroup.com/news/BOREALIS-to-significantly-increaseshare-of-renewable-energy-used-for-its-operationsin-finland https://www.BOREALISgroup.com/news/BOREALIS-to-significantly-increaseshare-of-renewable-energy-used-for-its-operationsin-finland https://www.BOREALISgroup.com/news/BOREALIS-to-significantly-increaseshare-of-renewable-energy-used-for-its-operationsin-finland https://www.BOREALISgroup.com/news/BOREALIS-to-significantly-increaseshare-of-renewable-energy-used-for-its-operationsin-finland http://www.HydrocarbonProcessing.com

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