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Analysis and Cost Estimation of a Total Site Using

R-Curve
CONFERENCE PAPER JANUARY 2009
DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2009-12547

2 AUTHORS:
Shervin Karimkashi

Majid Amidpour

University of New South Wales

Khaje Nasir Toosi University of Technology

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Proceedings of the ASME 2009 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition
IMECE2009
November 13-19, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA

IMECE2009-12547
ANALYSIS AND COST ESTIMATION OF A TOTAL SITE USING R-CURVE
Sh. Karimkashi
Department of Energy system Engineering,
Mechanical Engineering Faculty, K.N. Toosi
University of Technology, No. 15, Pardis St.
Mollahsadra Ave.,
Tehran, Iran
shervin1k@gmail.com

M. Amidpour
Department of Energy system Engineering,
Mechanical Engineering Faculty, K.N. Toosi
University of Technology, No. 15, Pardis St.
Mollahsadra Ave.,
Tehran, Iran
amidpour@gmail.com, amidpour@kntu.ac.ir

ABSTRACT
In large processing sites the cost of fuel and power can be
very significant and better management of the utility system
can lead to significant cost savings. The R-curve is an analysis
tool that provides guidelines for the cogeneration efficiency
for a given site power-to-heat ratio demand of an ideal utility
system.
In this paper, the actual R-curve is combined with another
graphical tool, representing the cost of cogeneration potential
of a site. In fact in each case, actual R-curve is constructed and
then another curve of R-ratio vs. TAC is constructed to
demonstrate the cost of each point of the R-Curve.
Finally showing the results obtained for a case study, it is
suggested to change sizes of the turbines in the utility system
to improve the R-curve and also decrease the TAC for the
same R-ratios. These changes are almost dependent to the case
being studied.
NOMENCLATURE

$
$

,
,

.
.

.
.

Figuree 1. General rep

presentation of an
a industrial sitte

RODUCTION
INTR
E
Energy
is a maajor contributorr to the site opperational costss
for many
m
industrial plants. To maaximize the proofit for a plant,
reducction of energgy use and also
a
energy coost should bee
exam
mined.
U
Utility
systemss are an imporrtant part of most
m
processingg
sites. Cogenerationn is usually an
n important feeature of suchh
system
ms, particularly from steam turbines
t
or gass turbines, or a
combbination of bothh. On large pro
ocessing sites the
t cost of fuell
and power
p
can be very
v
significan
nt and better management
m
off
the uttility system caan lead to signiificant cost savvings.
A typical inddustrial site comprises
c
diffferent processs
produuction units linnked to a com
mmon utility system,
s
Fig. 1.
The centralized
c
utillity system meets the demandds for heat andd
poweer, creating inddirect links beetween the prrocesses. Highh

tempperature heatingg demands witthin process unnits may require

furnaace heating [1].
T fuel utilizaation curve andd the R-curve (Kenney,
The
(
19844;
Kimuura and Zhu,, 2000) are analysis toolss that provide
guideelines for the cogeneration efficiency foor a given site
poweer-to-heat ratioo demand of an
a idealized utiility system. Inn
the initial
i
version of the analyysis, Kenney (1984) studiedd
differrent configurattions within uttility systems, producing
p
plotts
of coogeneration effficiency vs. sitee power-to-heaat ratio [2]. Thiis
plot was referred to
t as a fuel utilization
u
curvve or R-curvee,
Fig. 2.
2 The terms uunfired boiler, supplementaary fired boilerr
and fully fired booiler in Fig. 2 refer to the different firingg
modees of a heat recovery steam generator,
g
connnected to a gaas
turbinne. This was intended to provide quanntitative designn
guideelines for the equipment
e
mosst likely to prodduce maximum
m
fuel efficiency
e
for a utility system
m.

Fiigure 2. Qualitaative sketch of the

t fuel utilizatiion curve by Keenney (1984)

requiired R-ratio. The

T
R-curve constructed above
a
has twoo
majoor limitations. First, it is deeveloped based on a simple
utilityy system and cannot deal with
w a complex system, whichh
incluudes multiple steam distributiion levels and complex steam
m
turbinne configurattion. Secondaarily, it assuumes constannt
isentrropic efficiencies for steam
m turbines, which
w
leads too
nonreealistic results. The above tw
wo limitations prevent this R
Rcurvee from practicaal applications [3].

L
Later,
aiming too provide betteer insights to site
s operationall
manaagement and debottlenecking
d
g, the R-curvee concept wass
extennded by Kimurra and Zhu (20
000). They empployed the sitee
cogenneration targetiing methodolog
gy developed by
b Mavromatiss
and Kokossis
K
(19988) to estimate the power geeneration of ann
ideal utility system
m. This allowed
d Kimura and Zhu (2000) too
devellop the so callled ideal R-cu
urve. By introoducing a pathh
efficiency analysis, Kimura and
d Zhu (2000) attempted too
redisttribute the steaam turbine flow
ws through an existing utilityy
system
m so that it opperated at max
ximum fuel effficiency [3,4].
This allowed the construction of
o the so-callled actual R-curvee, which givess a tighter bou
und on the utiliity system fuell
efficiency. Howevver, their analysis had a number off
limitaations. It usedd simplistic models
m
for stteam and gass
turbinnes. Also poweer import and export and steeam generationn
by processes were not
n taken into account.
a
It should be noted that th
he R-curve does
d
not takee
econoomic term intoo account and it is only a thhermodynamicc
tool thhat considers the
t potential off saving steam and power.
In thiis paper, a new
w graphical tooll is combined with
w the actuall
R-currve, to demonsstrate the cost of
o cogenerationn potential of a
site. Then
T
in each case
c
study afteer constructingg the actual R-curvee, another curve of R-ratio vs.
v Total Annuaal Cost (TAC)
is connstructed to deemonstrate the cost of each desirable
d
pointt
of operation; hence, taking econom
mic term into account.
a
Thesee
curvees are construccted using a code
c
prepared in MATLAB.
Usingg some initial information
i
ab
bout the site, thhis code is ablee
to draaw R-curves and R-ratio vs.
v TAC curvess for any casee
studyy.
O
Overall,
optim
mal options forr energy cost reduction andd
fuel minimization
m
o a utility sysstem can be deetermined withh
of
minim
mal engineeringg effort, i.e. grraphical tools.

F
Figure
3. A typiical R-curve

A
Applying
somee newer methoods, and using a newer modeel
for steam
s
turbine, it is possible to solve theese two majoor
probllems of the R-curve.
R
Thenn drawing R--curve for anyy
compplex system will
w be possiblle with approximately exacct
answ
wers.
ACT
TUAL R-CURV
RVE CONSTR
RUCTION
T
There
are som
me systematic methods
m
for constructing the
R-cuurve. One of theese methods, used
u
in this papper, is describedd
below
w.
A shown in Fig.
As
F 4, there aree many steam paths
p
through a
systeem being studiied [5]. It is necessary
n
to deetermine whichh
path should be moodified first annd also what is the order oof
modiifications.

URVE CONST
TRUCTION
R-CU
R-CU
URVE CONCE
EPT
In ann industrial plaant, the fuel en
nergy is conveerted into heatt
.
and power,
p
and partt of the energy
y is lost in the transformation
t
The cogeneration efficiency (
), whichh is the fuell
utilizaation efficiency, is defined as a ratio of thee useful part off
energgy and the fueel consumption
n (Eq. (1)). A power-to-heatt
ratio is defined inn Eq. (2) wh
hich specifies the operatingg
condiition of a site [55].
(1))
(2))
For a fixed steam heat
h demand, by
b varying pow
wer generation,
we can obtain different R--ratios and correspondingg
cogenneration efficieencies. As a result, we can generate the so-calledd R-curve as shown in Fig.. 3. The R-curve shows thee
relatioon between the maximum
m cogeneratiion efficiencyy
(
) and poweer-to-heat ratio
o (R). It also indicates thee
optim
mal configuratiion for a sim
mple utility syystem for thee

F
Figure
4. Differrent paths existeence in a site uttility system

Figure 5.
5 The procedurre for constructting the actual R-curve
R

T
There
is a syystematic metthod for thiss purpose. Too
differrentiate betweeen these paths, it is necessarry to calculatee
path cogeneration efficiency (
), foor each path too
distinnguish primarily between different utiliity paths. Too
distinnguish betweeen paths with
h equal pathh cogenerationn
efficiency (
), it is recommended to calculate pathh
poweer generation efficiency (
). (To findd
descrription of
and
, refe
fer to Appendixx
A.)
T path with higher
The
(or higheer
in thee case of equal
), is prior to the path withh
lowerr one.
N
Now
that priorrities for all paaths are knownn, the actual R-curvee can be constrructed for an existing
e
site utiility system byy
follow
wing the procedure presented
d in Fig. 5 [4].

R
R-curve
is a thermodynam
mic-based currve, describingg
cogenneration potenntial available in a site. To make R-curve
moree comprehensibble, inserting economic
e
term
m will be usefull.
In faact economic term,
t
makes thhe site easier to
t be analyzedd,
thouggh
choosingg
the
besst
point
o
of
operationn,
therm
moeconomicallly, is possible.
T insert econoomic term, Tottal Annual Cosst (TAC) of the
To
site in each R-ratio should be com
mputed.
TAC is expressed as:
a
.

and
f a new steam
m
are the capitall investments for
wherre
turbinne and a gas tuurbine, respectiively.
and
include the
installation costs and the inittial start-up cost. f is ann
annuualizing factor. In this examinnation, the capiital investmentts
are calculated as shhown in Table 1 [3].

ATIO VS. TAC

C CURVE
R-RA

T
Table
1. Calculaation of Capital Investment

Tablle 2. Inputs necessary for the MATLAB

M
code

MATHEMATICAL
L MODEL
In order to connstruct these two
t
curves (R
R-curve and R-ratio vs. TAC curvve), a MATLA
AB Code has been
b
prepared.
Usingg this MATL
LAB Code, these
t
two cuurves may bee
consttructed for anyy case study. The MATLAB
B Code needss
only some initial input informaation, about the
t
site beingg
studieed. The inputss, necessary for
f the MATL
LAB Code aree
listedd in Table 2.
T output will be the R-ccurve and R--ratio vs. TAC
The
C
curvee which in theem, each part of
o the site has been
b
separatedd
by different colors. This MATLAB
B Code determ
mines prioritiess
of eacch path first annd then draws the curves usiing the methodd
descrribed before. The
T results for case studies and
a discussionss
aboutt these results are
a mentioned in the last partt of the paper.

turbinnes sizes is beeneficial in thaat case study orr not. Also it iis
possiible to computee investment cost return.
T most impoortant feature of
The
o this method compared withh
previious methods is that it takkes the econoomic term intoo
accouunt for R-curvve concept. All
A previous R--curve analysiis
methhods were baseed on thermoddynamic analyssis only. But inn
this new
n method booth thermodynnamic and econnomic terms are
consiidered. Furthermore this meethod uses graaphical tools too
analyyze the TAC of a total sitee. Then it is a very simple
methhod with minim
mal engineeringg effort.
T method has
This
h the benefit that
t it reports the
t total annuaal
cost of the site with
w
R-ratio chhanges, immediately. It alsoo
show
ws some simplee improvementts possible for a site that leadds
to a very
v
significannt total annual cost
c reduction.

METHOD DISCRIIPTION
A new method for estimation of total annual cost of a totall
site iss introduced inn this paper. In
n this method,, it is assumedd
that operation
o
pointt of a total site may be any points
p
of the R-curvee. Then the totaal annual cost of
o a total site iss computed forr
each R-ratio. It meeans that usin
ng R-ratio vss. TAC curve
consttructed for a caase study, it is possible to obbtain TAC of a
total site
s in any operation conditio
ons.
A
After
constructting the R-cu
urve and R--ratio vs. TAC
C
curvee, it is possibble to investig
gate about channging turbiness
sizes.. After applyinng some chang
ges to the turbbines sizes, wee
will achieve
a
a moree efficient R-ccurve or a moore economicall
R-raatio vs. TAC curve. By com
mputing the invvestment costss
for chhanging turbinees and as we have
h
the new tootal annual costt
of thee total site, it is possible to determine wheether changingg

RES
SULTS AND DISCUSSION
D
N
T case studiies are presenteed in this sectiion of the papeer
Two
to deemonstrate thee application of the methodd and also the
obtaiined results. Inn the first case study, only thhe results of the
methhod are shown, whilst in the second
s
one som
me changes are
appliied to improve the utility systtem of the casee study.
CAS
SE STUDY 1
T
The
first casse study conttains a gas turbine
t
and a
backppressure turbinne in its total site. The schem
matic figure oof
utilityy system of thhe first case stuudy is demonsttrated in Fig. 66.
The case
c
study shoown in Fig. 6 has
h four levels of steam mainns
(VHP
P, HP, MP, and LP) and onee extraction tuurbine (T1). T1
has two backpressure sub turbbines. The poower deficit iis
satisffied by impoorting power and the gass turbine. Noo
conddensate loss is returned
r
to the boiler.

Figure 6. Scchematic figure of the utility syystem of the firsst case study

Figure 7. Reesults of the firsst case study

m
It is assumed that mechaniccal efficienciess of all steam
ncy is 0.931. The fuel price iss
turbinnes are 0.9 andd boiler efficien
assum
med to be 0.01183 ($/kWh) an
nd the importeed power pricee
to be 0.0739 ($/kW
Wh). Unit life off 5 years and interest of 10%
%
is assumed in this caase study.
The following equuations are given
g
to calcuulate the fuell
consuumption in thee GT (
)
and
the
heat content in HP
P
,
steam
m generated att the HRSG (
),
which
are
e
,
addedd later to the site [6,7]:
,

2.75

8.01

9
o the informattion necessary for calculatingg n and
aas
All of
the sppecified turbinnes parameterss are presented at [10].
The shaft power of the gas turbiine used in thiis case study iis
also calculated
c
withh a same methood:

(4))

2.55

10

T result is shown in Fig. 7 in which R--curve and R

The
Rratio vs. TAC curvee is presented for the case stuudy.
SE STUDY 2
CAS
A site as a casse study shownn in Fig. 8 hass four levels oof
steam
m mains (VHP, HP, MP, and
a
LP) and two extractionn
turbinnes (T1 and T2).
T T2 consissts of three baackpressure subb
turbinnes, while T1 has one backppressure sub tuurbine and one
conddensing sub tuurbine. The power deficit is satisfied byy
impoorting power orr a gas turbine, may be installled.
C
Condensate
looss is returneed to boiler by
b percentagees
menttioned in the figgure, mixing with
w makeup water.
w

(6))

0.8

(5))

is generated power from the GT. Then, the GT

T
Wherre
system
m can be linkked with the rest
r
of the utillity system byy
usingg the following equations [8,9
9]:

(88)

n
that the shaft
s
power of steam turbiness,
Also it should be noted
is callculated using the Willans linne model [10,111]:

1.2
0.37

(7))

Figure 8. Sch
hematic figure of
o the utility system of the secon
nd case study

T
The
necessaryy equations for
f
calculationn of the fuell
consuumption in thee GT (
P
, ) and the heat content in HP
steam
m generated att the HRSG (
), which aree
,
addedd later to the site, are the sam
me as equations 4 through 8.
(It is assumed that the installed GT
G and HRSG
G are exhaustedd
to thee HP level.)

I should be noted
It
n
again thhat the shaft power
p
of steam
m
turbinnes, is calculatted using the Willans
W
line model
m
(Eq. (9))).
Also the shaft pow
wer of the gas tuurbine used in this case studyy
is callculated with a same method (Eq. (10)).
T results obttained for the second
The
s
case stuudy is shown inn
Fig. 9.
9

F
Figure
9. Resultts of the second
d case study

T
Table
3. New sizzes of turbines for
f the case stud
dy, yielding Figgure 10 (Previou
us sizes has yield Figure 9)

T1-1

T
T1-2

T2-1

T2-2

T2-3

N
New

Previo
ous

New

Previous

New

Preevious

New
w

Previouus

New

Previous

Max

100

130
0

60

90

50

60

400

80

80

100

Min

2
20

50

10

20

10

20

200

40

40

60

for thhe second casee study to obtaain Fig. 10 as result,

r
are listedd
in Taable 3.
Com
mparing Fig. 9 and
a Fig. 10, leaads to:

Applying new
w sizes, the TA
AC has been tootally decreasedd
for the same R-ratios.
R
Applying new
w sizes, the rannge of cogeneraation efficiencyy

is less for the same range off R-ratios.

A
new sizes, the cogeeneration efficiiency has beenn
Applying
t
totally
increaseed for the samee R-ratios.
It shoould be noted that this concllusions are vallid for this case
studyy. In any otherr case studies, it is possible to improve the
R-cuurve and R-ratiio vs. TAC cuurve by any otther changes too
the tuurbines sizes, to
t obtain betterr results.

It is assumed thhat mechanicaal efficiency off all turbines iss

0.95 and
a boiler efficciency is 0.92. The fuel pricee is assumed too
be 0..002 ($/kWh) and the impo
ort power price to be 0.011
($/kW
Wh). Unit life of
o 5 years and interest
i
of 10%
% is assumed inn
this case
c
study. As mentioned beefore, the resuult is shown inn
Fig. 9 in which R
R-curve and R-ratio vs. TAC
T
curve iss
presented for the caase study. As shown
s
in the fiigure, the pricee
of insstalling and ussing GT and HRSG
H
in the site
s are too bigg
and im
mporting poweer is more beneeficial.
T result mayy vary with oth
This
her prices for im
mport power orr
fuel price
p
or GT chharacteristics. As
A clear, the second curve iss
more useful for makking decision and
a hence reduucing the costs.
In thiis case study it is obvious that
t
if the turbbines sizes aree
reducced, a better R-curve
R
(more cogeneration efficiency forr
the saame R-ratio) and
a also better economic ressults (less TAC
C
for thhe same R-ratioo) is obtained (Fig. 10.). The new
n sizes usedd

Figu
ure 10. New result of the secon
nd case study for new turbine sizes
s
of Table 3

CONCLUSIONS
The method used in this paper for constructing the Rcurve, has not been used in application yet and it is applied
here in a MATLAB code to construct both the R-curve and
R-ratio vs. TAC curve.
The second curve has the benefit that it is easier to be
understood by engineers and even non-professional people. In
fact it is easier (than the R-curve), to analyze this curve for
decision making. This curve presents the changes of the total
annual cost by increasing the R-ratio in each part of the utility
system, separately.
Finally showing the results obtained for the second case
study, changing the sizes of the turbines in the utility systems
has been suggested to improve the R-curve and also decrease
the TAC for the same R-ratio. This size changing is almost
dependent to the case being studied and it is necessary to find
the best performance by changing the turbines sizes manually.
The benefits of this method have been shown for two case
studies in this paper.

[10] Varbanov, P.S., Doyle, S. and Smith, R., 2004,

Modelling and Optimisation of Utility Systems, Trans
IChemE, Part A, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 82(A5), pp. 561578.
[11] Makwana, Y., 1998, Energy Retrofit and
Debottlenecking of Total Sites, Ph.D. thesis, UMIST,
Manchester.

REFERENCES
[1] Varbanov, P.S., Perry, S., Makwana Y., Zhu, X. X. and
Smith, R.,2004, Top-level Analysis of Site Utility Systems,
Trans IChemE, Part A, Chem. Eng. Res. Des., 82(A6), pp.
784795.
[2] Kenney, W.F., 1984, Energy Conservation in Process
Industries, Academic Press, Orlando, London.
[3] Kimura, H. and Zhu, X.X., 2000, R-Curve Concept and
its Application for Industrial Energy Management, Ind. Eng.
Chem. Res., 39, pp. 23152335.
[4] Mavromatis, S.P. and Kokossis, A.C., 1998, Conceptual
Optimization of Utility Networks for Operational Variations
I. Targets and Level Optimization, Chem. Eng. Sci., 53(8),
pp. 15851608.
[5] Smith R., 2005, Chemical Process Design and Integration,
John Wiley & Sons.
[6] Nishio, M., Itoh, J., Shiroko, K. and Umeda, T., 1980, A
Thermodynamic Approach to Steam Power System Design,
Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev., 19, pp. 306-312.
[7] Chou, C. C. and Shih, Y. S., 1987, A Thermodynamic
Approach to the Design and Synthesis of Plant Utility
Systems, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res., 26, pp. 1100-1108.
[8] Colmenares, T. R. and Seider, W. D., 1989, Synthesis of
Utility Systems Integrated with Chemical Processes, Ind.
Eng. Chem. Res., 28, pp.84-93.
[9] Manninen, J. and Zhu, X. X., 1999, Optimal Gas Turbine
Integration to the Process Industries, Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.,
38 (11), pp.4317-4330.
9

APPENDIX A
DESCRIPTION OF

AND
Where:

1.
9

For back pressure turbine and condensing turbine:

9

12

For power import:

13

2.

Figure 11. Cogeneration efficiency for a path for back pressure

turbine

Figure 13. Power generation path efficiency

14

In which:
,

Figure 12. Cogeneration efficiency for a path for condensing

turbine

15

Where:
,

11

3.38

0.006123

It should be noted that q

.
load

10

3.6

16

varies with the turbine