Development of a software dedicated to Pinch analysis

Abstract

Energy is a precious resource, and yet it is often wasted due to processes using it not being optimal. Process integration addresses this problem by trying to use potentially wasted resources, such as mass or energy, which would be sent outside the system. By using as an energy source internal elements of the process that otherwise would be wasted, we can reduce energy dependency on external sources, thus reducing energy costs. The problem is that modifications to achieve this goal come at a price, and then It is hard to decide if is worth reducing costs on external utilities at the expense of investing in new equipment for process integration. The objective of this project is to develop a software tool capable of doing Pinch Analysis on an industrial process. The tool is meant to assist the engineer, making easier to analyze a process involving hot and cold streams, displaying graph data to visualize possible energy recovery, helping to make decisions by estimating costs on utilities and on new equipment in order to find an optimal solution for process integration. Furthermore, the tool is not simply programmed in classic functional way, but it is made using class based OOP (object oriented programming) and heavily documented so it can be easily modified and further upgraded to add more and more capabilities to it.