We offer a unique technique that proposes changes to preheating trains of crude units (and also sometimes to the column pump-around circuits), taking into account :  

• Processing of multiple crudes at maximum efficiency
• Process changes (pump-around circuit conditions, condenser duties, steam injection, etc.).
• Piping changes

When applied to crude units, NEW operating conditions (temperatures, pump-around and steam injection rates, etc.) and the pre-heating train changes (new and re-positioned heat exchangers, re-piping, etc.) are determined so that:

• The operating cost for each crude that is processed is minimum.
• The capital expenditure (investment on new heat exchangers and cost of re-piping) has a payoff time smaller than a pre-specified value.
• Piping changes are minimized. 
• Financial Risk is managed.

The technique has proven to demonstrate larger savings than the well-known and popular Pinch Methodologies, because it involves the optimization of the process together with heat integration. For example, savings of the order of $1 million/year for typical units have been demonstrated. We made studies for Phillips Petroleum and Exxon-Mobil.

For more details, download this document describing work done for Phillips Petroleum: Energy Retrofit Paper

If you have a running simulation of your plant, we will evaluate the horizon of savings (maximum achievable savings with unlimited capital) and can arrange to perform a more detailed evaluation of the potential for savings (no actual retrofit yet) at a very competitive price.