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Elham Omidbakhsh Amiri

Elham Omidbakhsh Amiri

Academic rank: Assistant Professor
ORCID:
Education: PhD.
ScopusId:
Faculty: Faculty of Technology and Engineering
Address:
Phone: 35305117

Research

Title
Simulation and optimization of the natural gas liquid fractionation unit
Type
Thesis
Keywords
Natural gas liquids fractionation, Process modeling, single objective optimization, multi-objective optimization, economic analysis
Year
2023
Researchers Murtaka Alnasiri(Student)، Elham Omidbakhsh Amiri(PrimaryAdvisor)

Abstract

Due to the increase in greenhouse gas emissions, the world is shifting towards green or less carbon-intensive fuels. In this regard, “natural gas and natural gas liquids (NGLs)” are considered to be attractive options for meeting the energy requirements of the world. In this work, the NGLs fractionation process was simulated by using Aspen HYSYS, and the fractionation process was optimized by integrated use of Aspen HYSYS and MATLAB. The flowsheet was built and simulated in Aspen HYSYS. Along with the energy analysis, the economic outcomes of the Process were also analyzed. After the economic and energy analysis, the Process was further improved by performing the sensitivity analysis of the NGLs fractionation process. Integration of the HYSYS flowsheet with MATLAB was used for the sensitivity analysis. After the sensitivity analysis, optimization of the Process was performed. The pressure profiles of the distillation towers showed that the pressure increased as the columns moved down. Feedflowrate of 0.30 kmol/sec, feed inlet temperature of 70 °C, and 25 stages of the NGL column were identified to be the best in terms of PBT. The feed flow rate of 0.30 kmol/sec, feed inlet temperature of 70 °C, and 25 stages of the NGL column were identified to be the best in terms of normalized energy consumption. Single objective optimization for energy consumption presented that the optimum temperature of the feed is 69.7016 °C, the optimum feed molar flow rate is 0.2998 kmol/sec, and the optimum number of trays of LPG column is 21.