Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

www.elsevier.com/locate/apthermeng

Modeling of ammonia absorption chillers integration in energy systems of process plants

J.C. Bruno a, J. Miquel b, F. Castells a,*
a

Dept d'Enginyeria Qumica, Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV), Carretera de Salou s/n, 43006, Tarragona, Catalunya, Spain b Dept de Mecanica de Fluids, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya (UPC), Catalunya, Spain Received 28 September 1998; accepted 21 December 1998

Abstract A mathematical programming approach is proposed to study the integration of absorption chillers in combined heat and power plants. The aim of this work is to determine the economic viability of the introduction of ammonia absorption chillers in energy systems instead of using the more conventional compression cycles. This procedure selects the best refrigeration alternative taking into account both absorption and compression cycles. To select the most suitable refrigeration cycle for a given refrigeration load, it is not only necessary to model the performance of each cycle, but also to take into account the interactions between the energy system and the considered cycles, optimizing the performance of the global plant. This approach has been implemented in the computer program XV, and tested in an energy plant in the petrochemical complex of Tarragona (Catalunya, Spain). The refrigeration demands to be met are at 0 and 208C. The results highlighted the benet obtained with the simultaneous presence of ammonia absorption cycles and a cogeneration based energy plant. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Absorption chillers; Refrigeration cycles; Combined heat and power plants; Cogeneration

1. Introduction Nowadays modern energy systems of chemical or petrochemical process plants make use of cogeneration systems to supply heat and power simultaneously. In these facilities, the
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +349-977-55-96-03; fax: +349-977-55-95-21. E-mail address: fcastell@etseq.urv.es (F. Castells)
1359-4311/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 1 3 5 9 - 4 3 1 1 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 0 4 - 6

1298

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Nomenclature C COP F fA/W fW h P Q R T v W x X Y Greek Z Zh p Zl p cost per unit ($/unit) coecient of performance ow rate (kg/h) ammonia/water thermodynamic property functions water thermodynamic property functions enthalpy (kJ/kg) pressure (Pa) heat exchanged (kW) reux ratio (R=FR/Fr) temperature (8C) specic volume (m3/kg) electrical or mechanical power (kW) ammonia mass fraction in the global stream (liquid+vapor) ammonia mass fraction in a liquid stream ammonia mass fraction in a vapor stream symbols eciency eciency of the strong solution pump at the HTA outlet eciency of the strong solution pump at the LTA outlet

Superscripts a absorption cycle c compression cycle eg electricity grid g generator gt gas turbine h high pressure or temperature HRSG heat recovery steam generator l low pressure or temperature pp process plant st steam turbine Subscripts ab absorber cw cooling water dw demineralized water e electricity eq equilibrium conditions ev evaporator F fuel

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1299

FG g h l m mp p pp r s sub w WHB R

ue gas generator high low medium mechanical power pump process plant refrigerant strong solution subcooling at the precooler outlet weak solution waste heat boiler reux

refrigeration demands below 08C are usually provided by electrically driven compression chillers. Another option is to produce chilled water by using ammonia absorption chillers driven by heat. The range of application for ammonia absorption chillers is growing, and capacities as low as 200 kW are currently feasible. Fig. 1 shows a scheme of the global energy plant devoted to the production of heat, power and refrigeration. The absorption alternative oers some advantages compared to compression chillers that make it attractive (Table 1).

Fig. 1. Simplied diagram of a global energy plant.

1300

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Table 1 Brief comparison between compression and ammonia/water absorption chillers Compression chiller Energy consumption Environment Operation Capital cost Eciency High quality and high cost primary energy (cost of electricity I $0.015/MJ) Many refrigerants cause environment hazards Noise and vibration Lower capital cost Higher eciency (COP I 6.0) Ammonia/water absorption chiller Steam at relatively low pressure generated from waste heat or boilers (cost of natural gas I $0.0024/MJ) Environmentally benign technology Very few rotary parts. Low maintenance Higher number of unit. Higher capital costs (about 1525 % higher) Lower eciency (COP I 0.5)

Unfortunately, the drawbacks of this technology, especially the lower eciency and higher capital cost, have prevented the more general use of absorption chillers in industrial applications. Their area of application is reduced in practice to the cases which are extremely favorable to absorption systems, e.g. only when process low-quality waste heat is available. The ASHRAE guide for application of absorption chillers using waste heat [1] provides interesting basic information using rules and graphical charts based on previous experience. In [2] are explained the possibilities of combining ammonia absorption and compression cycles to produce chilled water for the same refrigeration demand. A less advantageous situation appears when there is no waste heat available, as illustrated in [3]. In that work a case study that considers dierent cogeneration alternatives for a textile plant is presented. One of the options considered in this latter study included an absorption chiller, but this option was ruled out because there was no waste heat available. The required chilled water plant is not specied, and also the absorption chiller type is not given. By far the most studied application area for absorption chillers in industrial facilities is their use to cool the inlet air to the compressor of a gas turbine. The increased density of the cooled air increases the mass ow through the gas turbine, producing a signicant increase in power output. Due to ambient conditions, only certain hot regions could clearly benet from the development of this technology. There is a quite extensive literature on this particular application, that is not intended to be reviewed here. A review can be found in [4]. There are numerous models in the literature for the simulation of absorption cycles. Mainly there are two approaches to process simulation: the sequential approach, and the equationsoriented approach. The main features of this last approach are the simultaneous solution of the equations generated by each unit present in the cycle, and the exibility that this method oers. The principal example is the computer code ABSIM [5] used to simulate absorption cycles in a modular form, based on dierent working uids. In [6] a collection of absorption cycle examples modeled in the framework of Engineering Equation Solver is presented. This software is applied to solve nonlinear equations and includes property functions specic to absorption cycle uids. Some simulation models specic to ammonia absorption chillers have been presented. In [7] a simplied model using a generator without a rectier and with no reux is used to maximize

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1301

the COP at dierent temperatures. The solution strategy is based on the NewtonRaphson method. Optimization charts are used to nd the maximum COP and to study the performance of ammonia absorption chillers in the work presented in [8]. Nevertheless, in all the simulations mentioned the eect of external conditioning factors to drive the cycle such as steam characteristics and its availability, and other necessary information about equipment plant data, are not included. In the eld of energy systems optimization many studies have been reported in the literature. The mathematical programming based approaches and their application are the ones which have attracted the most attention. The most widespread technique is linear programming. The original optimization problem is a MINLP (mixed-integer nonlinear programming) problem. A general procedure was developed to transform this into an MILP (mixed-integer linear programming) problem [9]. Some models dealt directly with the optimization of utility plants as NLP (nonlinear programming) problems [1012]. MINLP formulation has been used for optimal operation of utility plants as in the models presented in [1315]. This formulation has been also used for both operation and synthesis of complete energy plants [16]. Along with the works mentioned so far that deal with energy plant optimization or absorption cycles separately, a few papers have appeared about the integration of both systems, particularly, applying water/lithium bromide absorption chillers in energy systems by using cogenerated heat to produce the required chilled water, and comparing this option with the conventional compression chiller alternative [1719]. None of the previous works have treated the integration of ammonia absorption chillers to supply refrigeration below 08C, in energy plants optimizing the performance of the global plant. In this paper, a methodology for the integration of absorption chillers in combined heat and power plants based on cogeneration systems is proposed. The aim is to study the viability of the integration of currently available ammonia/water absorption chillers in CHP plants and compare the results with the conventional way of producing cold using vapor compression chillers. Given a utility plant that may be a steam network or a complete combined heat and power plant, and the features of the required refrigeration load below 08C, a single or a double stage chiller is proposed, depending on the existence of only one or two refrigeration demands at two dierent temperature levels, respectively. For comparison, an equivalent compression chiller is also included to supply the same refrigeration load. For applications involving more than one refrigeration demand, a combination of absorption and compression chillers may be considered, as will be illustrated later in a case study of a real chemical process plant. In this work, the major conventional utility plant equipment is modeled, including the absorption and compression chillers, and optimized using a mathematical programming approach based on sequential linear programming [20]. The optimization is performed in order to minimize the operation cost of the global utility plant including the selected chiller. A spreadsheet program is used to calculate the payback return of the capital investment for each cycle alternative whenever it is necessary. In this approach, all the current technologically and commercially available absorption cycles are considered, including the single and double stage ammonia/water absorption chillers that will be treated in this paper. The methodology is implemented in a FORTRAN computer program, XV. The output of this program includes not only the operational cost coming from

1302

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

the integration, but also the characteristics of all the utility plant streams, including the absorption cycle streams, allowing for the selection of the best refrigeration cycle for the specied plant and the selected operating parameters. In the next section, the dierent types of ammonia/water absorption chillers considered are presented. Then, the CHP plant optimization method and the procedure used to account for the interaction between the utility plant and the absorption cycle are explained. To illustrate the proposed methodology a case study of an energy plant situated in the petrochemical complex of Bayer in Tarragona (Catalunya, Spain) is included. In this application, the impact of the introduction of a cogeneration system of higher capacity is evaluated. A brief description of the equations used to model the absorption cycles is given in Appendices A and B.

2. Single stage ammoniawater absorption chiller A scheme of a single stage absorption chiller is given in Fig. 2. In this paper, when the term strong solution is used, it refers to a solution with a high refrigerant content. In the same way, when a weak solution is mentioned, it is understood to mean a solution with a low content of refrigerant. For this system, ammonia is the refrigerant, and the absorbent is water, which

Fig. 2. Scheme of a single stage ammonia absorption chiller.

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1303

presents a vapor pressure that is not negligible compared to that of ammonia. Thus the vapor raised in the generator contains a certain amount of water. This would negatively aect the performance of the entire cycle. To reduce the water content in the refrigerant ow, a distillation column is typically used. The saturated liquid solution leaving the absorber (9), is pumped to the inlet of the distillation column, by the solution pump. In order to minimize the input (15) of high level energy as steam, the saturated weak solution leaving the generator (12) exchanges heat with the solution coming from the absorber (10). The subcooled weak solution (13) exiting the exchanger is throttled to the absorber pressure (low pressure) and the two phase solution is brought into contact with the refrigerant vapor in the absorber (8). The heat generated in the absorption process (Qa) is rejected to cooling water, which will be later used also as a medium temperature sink in the condenser. The saturated liquid solution rich in refrigerant (9), the strong solution, leaves the absorber and starts again the solution circuit. The refrigerant leaving the top of the distillation column (1) follows the same path as the refrigerant of a compression machine. It enters the condenser where the steam is condensed by rejecting heat (Qc) to a medium temperature sink (cooling water). To improve the performance of the system a condensate precooler is included. This heat exchanger subcools the saturated liquid refrigerant leaving the condenser (4) by pre-heating the evaporator outlet (7). Provided that stream (7) is usually kept at the required temperature if the enthalpy content of liquid refrigerant (5) is reduced by the precooler the performance of the evaporator is increased, because a higher mean temperature dierence between the refrigerant and the chilled water is reached. This benet overcomes the inconvenience of a higher rejected heat in the absorber, and the extra pressure drop caused by this heat exchanger in real machines. The evaporation of refrigerant takes place at low pressure using the heat released by the water to be chilled (Qev). The steam generated in this process (7) ows to the subcooler and nally to the absorber to dilute the weak solution. It is assumed that pressure changes are only signicant in valves and pumps, and the heat loss to the surroundings is negligible. The states at the outlet of the throttle or expansion valves are calculated assuming isoenthalpic expansion and by applying the corresponding balances. Also at the outlet of the evaporator two phases are allowed. An abbreviated summary of modeling equations used in the simulation algorithm of this cycle is given in Appendix A. In this model the properties for ammonia/water solutions were obtained from [21,22].

3. Double stage ammoniawater absorption chiller A double stage ammoniawater machine consists of two pairs of evaporators and absorbers at dierent pressure levels providing refrigeration at two dierent temperature levels. Also, two condensate precoolers are used for each pair of evaporator/absorbers. Its operation is similar to the single stage cycle previously described. The main advantage of this conguration is that it makes possible to obtain two dierent levels of cooling temperature by using a single source of external heat. Fig. 3 shows an schematic of this cycle. In its modeling the same assumptions

1304

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Fig. 3. Scheme of a double stage ammonia absorption chiller.

used for single stage modeling are applied. A brief summary of the double stage model is presented in Appendix B.

4. Integration of ammonia absorption chillers in CHP plants Refrigeration demands below 08C can be satised using single stage and double stage ammonia/water absorption chillers, compression chillers or a combination of both systems. Cycle selection will not be an easy task, as it is conditioned by many factors. Some factors are due to the type of cycle. For example, absorption chillers are usually driven by low cost and low temperature waste heat. Compression chillers on the other hand are the most ecient, and also have the lowest capital cost due to the fact that a lower number of pieces of equipment are required, but nevertheless high quality primary energy will be consumed, with the potential increase in operation costs. Cycle selection is also conditioned by a very high number of

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1305

factors external to the cycle itself. These factors may include availability of electricity, coming from the general grid or locally generated, steam raised in a conventional or cogeneration plant, the availability of waste heat, and also factors involving the retrot, renewal or enlargement of existing equipment units. Therefore, due to the variety and great number of parameters involved in many cases in the integration of absorption cycles it is very dicult to generalize. Thus, to select the most suitable refrigeration cycle for a given refrigeration load, it is not only necessary to model the performance of each cycle, but also to take into account the interactions between the energy system and the considered cycles, optimizing the performance of the global plant. Once the features of the energy plant and the features of the required refrigeration load are clearly specied, candidate cycles are proposed. The integration is performed by using a computer program, XV, based on the simulation and optimization of CHP plants. This computer model was developed to be applied only in an industrial environment. In this program, the CHP plant units, refrigeration system data and operating conditions (pressures, eciencies in some devices, maximum ow rates, etc.) are introduced in a standard input data le. Based on this le, the program automatically builds a linearized set of equations describing the material and energy balances, and also equipment constraints involved in the considered energy system. In a rst step, the program performs the CHP plant simulation, giving a rst set of variables (ow rates, enthalpies, temperatures, fuel consumption, etc.) that satisfy the set of equations. These results are used to perform the optimization of ow rates and enthalpies by using a successive linear programming (SLP) algorithm. This software provides the modeling of any unit that is usually present in a CHP plant, including the typical cogeneration system consisting of a gas turbine and a heat recovery steam generator. All the technologically available ammonia absorption chillers are modeled. The header providing the required steam has to be chosen according to the features of the candidate cycle, and has to be specied in the input data along with the necessary cycle operating parameters. In this integration method, the candidate refrigeration cycle may be viewed as a module which produces the required refrigeration load (Qev) at the specied temperature level, taking the necessary heat from the steam header. The program gives the properties of the condensate leaving the absorption cycle generator and also the performance results of the cycle according to the cycle simulation model. When the required refrigeration loads are at dierent temperature levels, a dierent type of refrigeration cycle can be selected for each of them, as will be illustrated shortly in the case study. The plant operation conditions and therefore the features of the heat input to the absorption cycle are selected by the optimization algorithm using as objective function the global energy plant operation costs: . . . . Cost Cost Cost Cost of of of of the the the the fuel consumed in gas turbines and boilers. cooling water used in the steam network and refrigeration cycles. demineralized water. net electricity consumption.

The objective function is given by the following expression:

1306

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

fof QHRSG Qgt CF Qa Qc Ccw Fdw Cdw W eg W c W gt W st Ce F F cw cw e e e e As seen in the previous expression, when an electrically driven compression chiller is selected the electricity and cooling water consumptions are included in the cost function. For this type of cycle, the operating conditions inside the cycle are not simulated, as there is no interaction with the steam network to be optimized. Applying this approach, operation costs and performance of the energy plant, using each of the candidate cycles, are obtained. These results are screened in order to select the cycle or combination of cycles which oer the best results. When high capital cost cycles oer an attractive operation cost, an economic analysis including investment cost needs to be performed to establish the viability of the project. Obviously if an energy plant oers the worse operation cost among the considered cycles and also has the highest capital cost, there is no need to calculate the viability of the project by calculating the payback period. Realistic investment costs for these cycles have been obtained from the manufacturers and suppliers (Sulzer Espana, SA, Colibri bv, and Prematecnica, SA) although reliable sources in the literature [1,24,25] are also available.

5. Application to an energy plant in Tarragona The proposed methodology for absorption chillers integration is applied to the combined heat and power plant of Bayer in its petrochemical plant situated in Tarragona (Catalunya, Spain). A scheme of this plant is given in Fig. 4. In this scheme an absorption cycle has been included to show the interaction of this cycle with the existing plant. The considered plant produces heat and power using a combined cycle. The plant consists mainly of two dierent gas turbines (GT) units, two heat recovery steam generators (HRSG), a waste heat boiler (WHB), and a back pressure steam turbine (ST) exhausting steam to low pressure with an extraction to medium pressure used to inject steam to one of the gas turbines (GT-2). GT-1 has a power of 5 MWe. The heat content of its exhaust gas is recovered in a boiler (HRSG-1) to produce high pressure steam (3100 kPa). This boiler has the option of using supplementary ring. GT-2 generates 7 MWe. The exhaust gas is used to raise steam in a boiler (HRSG-2) without postcombustion. In both recovery boilers the blowdown is ashed and used to generate additional low pressure steam. The waste heat boiler recovers process heat (1685 kW) to generate steam at high pressure. As mentioned before the high pressure steam turbine exhausts to medium and low pressure producing 1100 kWe. This steam network supplies heat to a high pressure consumer (4300 kW) and to a low pressure consumer (11204 kW). Neither of them returns steam as a condensate. A deaerator is present to remove dissolved gases in fresh demineralized water and supply the required boiler feed water to each steam generator. The chemical process plant requires refrigeration at two temperature levels, 0 and 208C. These demands are currently supplied by using compression chillers. The coecients of performance (COP) of these cycles are 6.0 and 3.0, for 0 and 208C, respectively. The refrigeration load throughout the year is not uniform, thus monthly averages have been taken. An utilization factor of roughly 96% has been used, that is, 8400 h of operation per year was

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1307

Fig. 4. Scheme of the global energy plant including an absorption chiller.

1308

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Table 2 Averages of refrigeration load demands Season 1 2 3 Period of year OctoberApril MayJune JulySeptember Time (h) 4872 1428 2100 Refrigeration load 470 kW at 08C 1917 kW at 208C 680 kW at 08C 2265 kW at 208C 889 kW at 08C 2788 kW at 208C

assumed. According to this, a year was divided into three periods (Table 2). Using ammonia/ water cycles these refrigeration demands could be satised. Fig. 4 shows how the ammonia absorption chiller (ARC) interacts with the steam network of the energy plant. For this case, single and double stage absorption cycles could be used. The present work is devoted to studying the real alternatives that appear in this plant when the existing compression cycles reach the end of their lifetime and need to be replaced. This situation is very similar to the one faced when a new plant is built, and dierent design alternatives for the refrigeration system need to be evaluated. The alternatives that can be explored for this plant are given in Table 3. These cycle alternatives should not be considered alone, as is highlighted throughout this work, and will be tested in dierent scenarios, given by enlargement or substitution of some units, partial or maximum load operation of the plant units, and so on, as is illustrated in the next sections. In the last section the option of increasing the gas turbine power has been considered and evaluated. 6. Integration of ammonia absorption chillers in the present plant In this scenario, all the energy plant units are kept at their current capacity. For each period of the year each cycle alternative is tested, using the cost of utilities indicated in Table 4. It is assumed that the buying and selling price of electricity to the grid is the same. The optimization of the CHP plant including the alternative A (only compression cycles), will
Table 3 Refrigeration cycle alternatives considered for the case study Alternative A B C D Cycle Compression chillers only (this is the option already implemented) Absorption chiller for 08C (lower refrigeration load), compression chiller for 208C (higher refrigeration load) Absorption chiller for 208C (higher refrigeration load), compressor chiller for 08C (lower refrigeration load) A double stage absorption chiller to supply both demands

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328 Table 4 Cost of utilities Utility Electricity Natural gas Cooling water Demineralized water Cost per unit $0.040/kWh $0.053/kWh $0.067/kWh $0.0016/MJ $0.0024/MJ $0.0032/MJ $0.020/m3 $0.033/m3 $0.047/m3 $0.267/m3

1309

correspond to the optimization of the plant currently in operation. When an absorption chiller is considered (alternatives B, C and D) additional steam must be raised, increasing the natural gas consumption used in the postcombustion of boiler HRSG-1. Each period of the year has the same trend, that is, for all the whole range of the considered utility prices, the alternative using compression chillers obtains the higher operation benet. As an example, the results for season 2 are given in Fig. 5. The operation benet decreases as the portion of refrigeration produced by absorption increases. The reason for this is the much higher eciency of compression systems. Thus, the relatively higher unit cost of electricity consumed by compression cycles, compared to the unit cost of fuel used to produce additional steam to drive absorption cycles is clearly overcome by the higher eciency of compression cycles. This conrms the widely known supremacy of compression cycles when there is no waste heat available and additional steam is required to drive absorption chillers. 7. Use of excess steam The uctuation in steam demands throughout a year could be reduced if at low steam demands periods, which usually correspond to the highest refrigeration demand periods, absorption chillers could be used. This second scenario consists of the use of absorption in some periods of the year when the demands for steam are lower. During these periods the excess of generated steam could be used to drive an absorption cycle. Logically, this option seems economically more attractive than the option of reducing the gas turbine load to avoid the excess of heat in the steam network. For this scenario, the electricity prices used are in the range given in Table 4. The cost of natural gas and cooling water has been taken as $0.0133/th and $0.033/m3, respectively. All the three annual periods show the same tendency. As an example see Fig. 6, where the results for season 2 are given. Except for the alternative B, in which only a low portion of the total refrigeration load is supplied by absorption, the rest of the alternatives including

1310

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Fig. 5. Operation benet for seaon 2 (cost of electricity, $0.053/kWh).

absorption cycles show better results than alternative A (only compression cycles) with an average improvement of about 20%. Chemical process plants have high utilization factors and it is not usual to have great uctuations in steam demands. According to the plant data supplied by the chemical company, the operation of absorption cycles would be only possible for periods not longer than 2 months per year. Thus the more favorable operation costs of absorption chillers are not enough to justify the investment cost due to the excessively short period of operation, if only excess steam is used. The results for this scenario would be dierent in another type of facility, such as commercial and centralized residential energy plants, where more variable demand conditions exist.

8. Increment of power production in the cogeneration system The presence of an absorption chiller integrated in a steam network increases the global steam demand for heating. This eect produces a potential increase in electricity production, as a higher capacity cogeneration system can be design. Based on this idea, the integration of the dierent cycle alternatives is studied.

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1311

Fig. 6. Operational benet using excess steam during season 2.

1312

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

The higher the refrigeration load satised by using ammonia absorption chillers, the higher the consumption of steam. Therefore high capacity absorption chillers will allow the use of larger cogeneration cycles. In this work, the gas turbine GT-1 will be calculated to take advantage of the mentioned situation, and the gas turbine GT-2 will be kept unchanged as it was installed in the last few years. It is important to be aware that in real practice only specic gas turbine sizes are available. To account for this, the sizes of the gas turbines used in this work have been selected according to the gas turbine sizes available in the market. When only compression cycles are considered, the existing 5 MW GT-1 is used. Another eect due to the inclusion of absorption cycles appears in combined cycles, such as the one studied here, or in any energy plant where steam turbines are present. As mentioned before, absorption cycles increase the steam consumption in the steam network. Additional steam is generated at high pressure, but it is consumed by the absorption chiller at relatively low pressure, creating a potential generation of power due to steam expansion to produce additional electricity and/or mechanical power. The increase in power generation may be limited in this case by the capacity of the existing steam turbine. The potential increment of power in the gas turbine and steam turbine depends on the refrigeration cycle alternative used. The increased power of the gas turbine (GT-1) is calculated based on the criterion of not using supplementary ring at the minimum expected demand for heat, and increasingly making use of it as the heating demand rises. Also the steam turbine needs to be sized to benet from the potential increase of power caused by the presence of an absorption cycle in the energy plant. The steam ow used to size the turbine corresponds to the period of the year with the lowest refrigeration demand. When the steam ow rate increases, at higher refrigeration demands, the ow through expansion valves will also increase. Another option for the design of the steam turbine could be the selection of the steam ow based on the period of the year corresponding to the highest refrigeration demand. This latter option has been discarded to avoid the lower eciency of the steam turbine during most of the year due to partial load operation. Table 5 shows the calculated increased capacities of gas and steam turbines for each of the cycle alternatives that include absorption cycles. Next, the possible situations that can appear in the application of each refrigeration cycle alternative will be presented. The two following situations using ammonia absorption cycles (1a and 1b) could be encountered when the power of the GT-1 is increased because of the inclusion of an ammonia absorption cycle in the steam network, but the power of the existing
Table 5 Calculated power of gas and steam turbines for design alternatives that include absorption cycles Design alternatives for the refrigeration system B C D Gas turbine 6836 kW 9286 kW 10,368 kW Steam turbine 1184 kW 1460 kW 1540 kW

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1313

steam turbine is not changed. Therefore no advantage is taken from the potential increment of power in the steam turbine. . Situation 1a: the existing steam turbine of 1100 kW is not changed. . Situation 1b: the existing steam turbine is replaced by a new one of the same capacity, 1100 kW. Situation 1b is considered because it will be used to measure the impact of the steam turbine capital cost, and also the impact of the additional benet coming from the power generated in the steam turbine due to the expansion of the additional steam generated to drive the absorption chiller by comparing this situation with the situation 2b. The following situations appear when the power of GT-1 is increased by the inclusion of the ammonia absorption cycle in the steam network as in the previous two situations, but now a steam turbine of higher capacity is included to benet from the potential increase of expansion work. . Situation 2a: the existing steam turbine is working at the present conditions below its maximum capacity, and is able to accommodate the increased steam ow rate. . Situation 2b: along with a new gas turbine, a new steam turbine of increased capacity is purchased to handle the increased ow rate of steam through the steam network when the absorption cycle is present. This may be the case when the existing steam turbine reaches the end of its life or simply when it is already working at its maximum capacity and it is considered worth studying its replacement. When only compression machines are involved the two following situations are considered: . Situation 3a: the existing compression refrigeration machines need to be replaced at the end of their lives, but the existing steam turbine is not replaced. It is interesting to compare this situation with its absorption equivalent (situation 1a) and with the case in which the potential increase of power in the steam turbine is used (situation 2a). . Situation 3b: the existing compression refrigeration machines need to be replaced once its lifetime has been reached as in the situation 3a. But now also the existing steam turbine needs to be replaced, and a new steam turbine of the same capacity is selected. Each refrigeration cycle alternative given in Table 3 will be studied in the above situations, considering both operation and capital costs to evaluate the benet of the dierent project alternatives. To take into account capital costs, the payback period is calculated using a capital recovery factor of 0.15. The program XV directly gives the operational costs. For the electricity cost two prices have been considered: $0.053/kWh and $0.067/kWh. The natural gas price used is $0.0032/MJ, and the cost of cooling water, $0.033/m3. The situations mentioned have been summarized in Table 6 for the sake of clarity. The results of this study are summarized in Tables 710. As an example of the type of information given by the output of program XV, Tables 11 and 12 are included. These tables correspond to

1314

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Table 6 Summary of situations considered when the cogeneration system capacity is increased Situation 1a Refrigeration alternative Existing ST of 1100 kW New ST of 1100 kW Existing ST>1100 kW New ST>1100 kW GT of 5 MW GT>5 MW B,C,D X 1b B,C,D X 2a B,C,D X X 2b B,C,D 3a A X 3b A X X

X X

the results of the global energy plant (represented in Fig. 4), including a double stage chiller (alternative D, represented in Fig. 3) in the situations 2a and 2b, season 2. The calculated values of the payback period for compression and absorption alternatives are quite similar. The slightly lower values for the compression alternative is due to the higher
Table 7 Summary of results for alternative A Operation benet Season OctoberApril MayJune JulySeptember Total annual benet (k$/year) Capital costs Cogeneration system of 5 MW (Turbomach TGC-435CT): 3667 k$ Compression cycle at 208C: 1020 k$ Compression cycle at 08C: 320 k$ Steam turbine of 1100 kW: 271 k$ (situation 3b) Situation 3a 3b
a b

Annual beneta (k$/year) 979 273 374 1626

Annual benetb (k$/year) 1784 506 711 3001

PBPa 4.9 5.3

PBPb 2.1 2.2

Electricity price=$0.053/kWh. Electricity price=$0.067/kWh.

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328 Table 8 Summary of results for alternative B Operation benet using a steam turbine of 1100 kW Season OctoberApril MayJune JulySeptember Total annual benet (k$/year) Operation benet using a steam turbine of 1184 kW OctoberApril MayJune JulySeptember Total annual benet (k$/year) Capital costs Cogeneration system of 6836 kW (Turbomach TGC-650CT): 6847 k$ Compression cycle at 208C: 1020 k$ Ammonia absorption cycle at 08C: 367 k$ Steam turbine of 1460 kW: 360 k$ (situation 2b) Situation 1a 1b 2a 2b
a b

1315

Annual beneta (k$/year) 1187 328 446 1961

Annual benetb (k$/year) 2094 592 829 3515

1215 335 454 2002

2128 600 839 3567

PBPa 5.4 5.7 5.2 5.6

PBPb 2.3 2.5 2.3 2.4

Electricity price=$0.053/kWh. Electricity price=$0.067/kWh.

investment cost of absorption plants and the corresponding cogeneration unit of higher capacity. It must be noticed that the operation benet is greater for the situations including absorption cycles, and among these the most attractive operation benet is the one obtained with a two-stage cycle. Electricity prices lower than $0.053/kW were not considered because the PBP for this global energy plant will clearly go beyond reasonable values. The PBP in alternatives B, C and D is lower when a steam turbine with increased capacity (situations 2a and 2b) is used in comparison with situations 1a and 1b where the steam turbine is restricted to the present maximum power (1100 kW), as it is shown in Tables 710. This

1316

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Table 9 Summary of results for alternative C Operation benet using a steam turbine of 1100 kW Season OctoberApril MayJune JulySeptember Total annual benet (k$/year) Operation benet using a steam turbine of 1460 kW OctoberApril MayJune JulySeptember Total annual benet (k$/year) Capital costs Cogeneration system of 9286 kW (Turbomach TGC-880CM): 6847 k$ Compression cycle at 08C: 320 k$ Ammonia absorption cycle at 208C: 1373 k$ Steam turbine of 1460 kW: 360 k$ (situation 2b) Situation 1a 1b 2a 2b
a b

Annual beneta (k$/year) 1552 435 597 2584

Annual benetb (k$/year) 2674 763 1079 4516

1633 456 629 2718

2781 792 1120 4693

PBPa 5.5 5.8 5.0 5.4

PBPb 2.4 2.5 2.3 2.5

Electricity price=$0.053/kWh. Electricity price=$0.067/kWh.

result is reasonable as in situations 2a and 2b the plant is taking advantage of the increased expansion work due to the inclusion of absorption cycles. Thus whenever an absorption cycle is included in an energy system and more steam is required from the cogeneration unit, it is always advantageous to have the possibility of increasing the capacity of the considered back pressure steam turbines. The dierences in payback period between the situations that require capital investment for new a steam turbine (situation 1b and 2b) and those using the existing steam turbine (situation 1a and 2a), are not very signicant, although obviously the payback period of the situations that need a new steam turbine is slightly higher. Therefore the purchase of a new steam turbine

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328 Table 10 Summary of results for alternative D Operation benet using a steam turbine of 1100 kW Season OctoberApril MayJune JulySeptember Total annual benet (k$/year) Operation benet using a steam turbine of 1540 kW OctoberApril MayJune JulySeptember Total annual benet (k$/year) Capital costs Cogeneration system of 10368 kW (Turbomach TGC-100CM): 7773 k$ Double stage ammonia absorption cycle: 1507 k$ Steam turbine of 1540 kW: 380 k$ (situation 2b) Situation 1a 1b 2a 2b
a b

1317

Annual beneta (k$/year) 1715 474 647 2836

Annual benetb (k$/year) 2912 824 1162 4898

1803 500 685 2988

3028 859 1212 5099

PBPa 5.4 5.7 5.0 5.3

PBPb 2.5 2.5 2.3 2.5

Electricity price=$0.053/kWh. Electricity price=$0.067/kWh.

of higher capacity when an absorption cycle is present is well justied to take advantage of the expansion of the extra steam required. When the highest price of electricity is considered ($0.067/kWh), the operational benet is clearly more signicant than capital costs and the dierences between the payback periods of the dierent situations are smaller. The highest electricity price favors absorption alternatives not only due to the increased cost of the electricity consumed by the compression cycle but also due to the increment of value of the extra electricity generated in the cogeneration unit of increased capacity when an absorption alternative is considered. Also it can be noticed that in all the refrigeration alternatives an electricity price increase of 26% (from $0.053/kWh to $0.067/kWh) produces a reduction of about the 50% in the payback period.

1318

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Table 11 Example of results for the global energy plant State point 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 Flow rate (kg/h) 144,093 144,093 146,450 146,450 146,566 100,621 100,621 106,640 106,640 106,640 4500 21,308 72 21743 435 363 12,879 48 13,142 263 215 2329 2329 0 0 30,493 4500 25,993 5769 255 255 0 0 229 16,233 27,131 48 37214 9902 9902 9902 Pressure (kPa) 101 1327 1278 103 101 101 1079 1249 103 101 1818 3100 602 131 3100 602 3100 602 131 3100 602 131 3100 3100 1818 602 3100 3100 602 602 602 150 131 131 602 602 602 Temperature (8C) 15 366 1007 488 150 15 371 941 446 147 239 259 159 107 236 159 325 159 107 236 159 107 325 285 239 159 285 285 248 159 159 90 107 107 159 145 145 Consumption of natural gas GT-1 GT-2 HRSG-1 3031 Nm3/h 1953 Nm3/h 149 Nm3/h Enthalpy (kJ/kg) 15 378 1143 526 157 15 383 1063 479 154 2881 2878 2753 450 1017 671 3055 2753 450 1017 671 450 3055 2952 2881 2751 2952 2952 2952 2753 2753 377 2686 450 2753 608 608

Electric power generated GT-1 GT-2 Steam turbine 10,368 kW 6948 kW 1540 kW

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328 Table 12 Example of results for the double stage chiller (Fig. 3) State point 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Flow rate (kg/s) 3.13 3.13 0.46 2.67 2.07 0.60 2.07 0.60 2.07 0.60 2.07 0.60 2.07 0.60 12.99 15.67 15.67 15.07 15.07 15.07 12.99 12.99 2.75 2.75 Pressure (kPa) 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 275 160 275 160 275 160 160 160 275 275 1500 1500 1500 1500 602 602 Temperature (8C) 42 38.5 38.5 38.5 38.5 38.5 30.5 30.5 12 24 0 20 15 3 61 38 38 49 49 110.5 142 64.5 159 145 Enthalpy (kJ/kg) 1317 184 184 184 184 184 144 144 144 144 1275 1237 1314 1276 125 52 52 16 15 275 475 125 2753 608 Vapor quality 1.0 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 Subcooled Subcooled 0.152 0.189 0.999 0.998 1.000 1.000 0.008 0.000 Subcooled 0.000 Subcooled 0.000 0.000 Subcooled 1.000 Subcooled 1.7 kW 19 kW 508 m3/h 0.50

1319

Global composition of NH3 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.9996 0.2000 0.3365 0.3365 0.3100 0.3100 0.3100 0.2000 0.2000 0.0000 0.0000

liquid liquid

liquid liquid liquid liquid

Power consumption of the low pressure pump Power consumption of the high pressure pump Cooling water ow rate COP

8. Conclusions In this paper, a modeling and optimization tool has been proposed to study the economic viability of the integration of ammonia absorption chillers in energy systems and implemented in the computer program XV. Using this program the best refrigeration cycle or combination of them, including the option of using compression cycles, is selected according to an economic criterion, taking into account the constraints due to the features of the required refrigeration load and the combined heat and power plants. The integration of absorption cycles in cogeneration systems increases the demand for heat and consequently the electric power is also increased, as a consequence of the fact that a higher capacity gas turbine may now be included in the network. For this case, the program XV allows for the sizing and determination of the operating parameters of the most adequate gas turbine and absorption cycles. If the energy plant includes a combined cycle, then the size and

1320

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

operating parameters of the steam turbine are also determined. The steam generated to drive the absorption cycle may be used to generate additional power, due to the fact that absorption chillers consume steam at low pressure. Program XV determines the maximum power that can be produced. The presented approach has been tested using real data of the petrochemical plant of Bayer in Tarragona (Catalunya, Spain). Dierent absorption and compression cycle combinations were studied to supply the two existing refrigeration loads. It was concluded that without waste heat, as is the current situation, the compression alternative is the most attractive. For the particular situation of the studied plant, the use of absorption cycles during the periods of the year of low steam demand was not economically viable. However, when a higher capacity cogeneration system was considered, absorption chillers turned out to be the preferred option. The operation benet is higher than that obtained using only compression cycles, and the payback period of the project is reasonable. Finally, it may be concluded that the use of optimization tools based on mathematical programming is useful for the assessment of absorption chillers integration in combined heat and power plants in order to save energy.

Acknowledgements The authors would like to fully appreciate the collaboration of the Bayer technicians in Tarragona in testing the methodology proposed in this work.

Appendix A. Modeling of the single stage absorption cycle Main calculation steps: 1. Read data : Qev, Yr, Ph, Pl, Tev, Tsub, Xs, Xw, Zp, Zg, R. 2. Calculate ow rates and enthalpies: calculate the properties at the condenser inlet T1 fAaW Ph ,Yr h1 fAaW T1 ,Yr Calculate the properties at the condenser outlet, assuming a total condensation process Xr Yr T2 fAaW Ph ,Xr h2 fAaW T2 ,Xr Calculate the properties at the outlet of the subcooler A3 A4 A5 A1 A2

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1321

T5 T4 Tsub h5 fAaW T5 ,Xr

A6 A7

Knowing the enthalpy and the pressure at the evaporator inlet (h6=h5), calculate the remaining properties through an iterative process which in its general formulation is described as follows: 2.1. Assume the equilibrium ammonia mass fraction in the liquid phase (Xeq) 2.2. Calculate the equilibrium properties in the vapor phase (Yeq) Yeq fAaW P,Xeq A8 2.3. Calculate the vapor quality Xq, knowing the ammonia mass fraction in the global phase (x ) Xq x Xeq Yeq Xeq A9

2.4. Calculate the equilibrium temperature (T ) T fAaW P,Xeq 2.5. Calculate the enthalpies in the liquid (hliq) and vapor (hvap) phase hliq fAaW T,Xeq hvap fAaW T,Yeq 2.6. Check if the global mass, Eq. (A9), and the energy balance holds: h6 hl Xqhv hl A13 A11 A12 A10

otherwise go to the calculation step 2.1. This procedure, illustrated here for stream no. 6, is applied whenever a ash occurs in any stream of single or double eect absorption cycles. 3. Calculate the properties at the partial evaporator outlet: T7 Tev h7 fAaW Pl ,T7 ,Xr Calculate the ow rate of the refrigerant using the energy balance in the evaporator Fr Qev h7 h6 A16 A14 A15

Calculate the reux ow rate FR RFr A17

1322

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

Calculate the ow rate of refrigerant leaving the column tray section F g Fr FR r A18

Calculate the solution ow rates, using the global and ammonia mass balances in the absorber Fw Fr Yr Xs Xs Xw A19 A20

Fs Fr Fw Assume saturated conditions at the absorber outlet T9 fAaW Pl ,Xs h9 fAaW T9 ,Xs Calculate strong solution specic volume and pump power consumption vs fAaW T9 ,Xs Wp Ph Pl vs Fs Zp

A21 A22

A23 A24

Calculate the properties of the strong solution entering the solution heat exchanger h10 h9 Wp Fs A25

Calculate the properties of the weak solution leaving the generator T12 fAaW Ph ,Xw h12 fAaW T12 ,Xw Calculate the column feed properties assuming liquid saturated conditions T11 fAaW Ph ,Xs h11 fAaW T11 ,Xs A28 A29 A26 A27

Applying an energy balance in the solution heat exchanger, calculate the weak solution properties at the outlet of this heat exchanger h13 h12 Fs h10 h11 Fw A30

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1323

Calculate the absorber inlet properties h14 h13 T14 fAaW Pl ,h14 ,Xw A31 A32

Perform the energy balance in the precooler to obtain the refrigerant enthalpy at the absorber inlet h8 h4 h5 h7 T8 fAaW Pl ,h8 ,Xr A33 A34

Calculate the condensate return properties applying an energy balance in the generator and distillation column T16 T15 Zg T15 T12 4. Calculate the heat exchanged (Qg, Qc, Qab) and the COP COP Qev Qs Wp A36 A35

5. Calculate the number of stages in the distillation column applying the McCabeThiele calculation procedure, similar to the one simulated in [23]. The following relationships are needed: equilibrium line Y fAaW P,X rectication operation line Y R 1 X Xr 1R 1R RFr Fs Fw X Xw Fr 1 R Fr 1 R A38 A37

stripping operation line Y A39

Appendix B. Modeling of the double stage absorption cycle Main calculation steps: 1. Read data: Q h , Q lev , Yr, Ph, Pm, Pl, T lev , T h , T h , T lsub , X ls , Xw, Z lp , Z h , Zg , R. ev ev sub p

1324

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

2. Calculate ow rates and enthalpies: calculate the properties at the condenser inlet T1 fAaW Ph ,Yr h1 fAaW T1 ,Yr B1 B2

Calculate the properties at the condenser outlet, being a total condensation process assumed Xr Yr T2 fAaW Ph ,Xr h2 fAaW T2 ,Xr Calculate the properties at the outlet of the low and high temperature precooler T8 T6 T lsub h8 fAaW T8 ,Xr T7 T5 T h sub h7 fAaW T7 ,Xr B6 B7 B8 B9 B3 B4 B5

Calculate the properties at the evaporator inlet at low and high temperature. Assuming an isoenthalpic expansion T10 fAaW h10 ,Pl T9 fAaW h9 ,Pm Calculate the properties at each partial evaporator outlet h12 fAaW Pl , T lev , Xr h11 fAaW Pm , T h , Xr ev Calculate the ow rate of the refrigerant using the energy balance in each evaporator Fh r Qh ev h11 h9 Qlev h12 h10 B14 B12 B13 B10 B11

F lr

B15

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1325

Calculate the ow rate of refrigerant leaving the column tray section F G, knowing the r refrigerant and reux ow rate Fr F lr F h r Fr RFr F g Fr FR r B16 B17 B18

Calculate the ow rates of the weak and strong solution leaving the low temperature absorber (LTA), using the global and ammonia mass balances in the LTA Fw F lr Yr X ls X ls Xw B19 B20

F ls F lr Fw

Calculate the ow rate of the strong solution leaving the high temperature absorber (HTA) F h F ls F h s r B21

Calculate the ammonia mass fraction of the strong solution entering the distillation column, using the ammonia mass balance in the HTA Xh s F ls X ls F h Yr r Fh s B22

Assume saturated conditions at HTA and LTA outlets T18 fAaW Pm ,X h s h18 fAaW T18 ,X h s T16 fAaW Pl ,X ls h16 fAaW T16 ,X ls Calculate strong solution specic volume and pump power consumption vls fAaW T16 ,X ls vh fAaW T18 ,X h s s B27 B28 B23 B24 B25 B26

1326

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

W lp

Pm Pl vls l Fs Zlp Ph Pm vh h s Fs Zh p

B29

Wh p

B30

Calculate the properties of the strong solution leaving the solution pumps h17 h16 W lp F ls Wh p Fh s B31

h19 h18

B32

Calculate the properties of the weak solution leaving the generator T21 fAaW Ph ,Xw h21 fAaW T21 ,Xw Calculate the column feed properties assuming liquid saturated conditions T20 fAaW Ph ,X h s h20 fAaW T20 ,X h s B35 B36 B33 B34

Applying an energy balance in the solution heat exchanger, calculate the weak solution properties at the outlet of this heat exchanger h22 h21 Fh s h19 h20 Fw B37

Calculate the absorber inlet properties (h15=h22) T15 fAaW Pl ,h15 ,Xw B38

Perform the energy balance in the subcoolers to obtain the refrigerant enthalpy at the each absorber inlet h13 h5 h7 h11 h14 h6 h8 h12 B39 B40

Calculate the condensate return properties applying an energy balance in the generator and distillation column

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

1327

T24 T23 Zg T23 T21 3. Calculate the heat exchanged (Qg, Qc, Q h , Q l ) and the COP: ab ab COP Qlev Qh ev Qg W lp W h p

B41

B42

4. Calculate the number of stages in the distillation column applying the same expressions introduced in the single stage section.

References
[1] C.B. Dorgan, S.P. Leight, C.E. Dorgan, Application Guide for Absorption Cooling/Refrigeration using Recovered Heat, ASHRAE, Atlanta, GA, 1995. [2] J. Bassols, El frio industrial en la cogeneracion. Jornadas sobre Cogeneracion en la Industria Qu mica de Procesos. Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 1997. [3] O. Tang, B. Mohanty, Industrial energy eciency improvement through cogeneration: a case study of the textile industry in Thailand, Energy 21 (1996) 11691178. [4] Y.S.H. Najjar, Enhancement of performance of gas turbine engines by inlet air cooling and cogeneration system, Applied Thermal Engineering 16 (1996) 163173. [5] G. Grossman, M. Wilk, Advanced modular simulation of absorption systems, International Journal of Refrigeration 17 (1994) 231244. [6] K.E. Herold, R. Radermacher, S.A. Klein, Absorption Chillers and Heat Pumps, CRC Press, New York, 1995. [7] A.T. Bulgan, Optimization of the thermodynamic model of aqua-ammonia absorption refrigeration systems, Energy Conversion Management 36 (1995) 135143. [8] G. Vicatos, J. Gryzagoridis, The role of the heat exchanger in the design and optimization of the absorption refrigeration machines, in: International Ab-sorption Heat Pump Conference, Montreal, Canada, vol. I, 1996, pp. 361366. [9] S.A. Papoulias, I.E. Grossmann, A structural optimization approach in process synthesis-I. Utility systems, Computers and Chemical Engineering 7 (1983) 695706. [10] T.R. Colmenares, W.D. Seider, Synthesis of utility systems integrated with chemical process, Industrial Engineering Chemical Research 28 (1989) 8493. [11] C.A. Frangopoulos, A.I. Lygeros, C.T. Markou, P. Kaloritis, Thermoeconomic operation optimization of the hellenic aspropyrgos renery combined-cycle cogeneration system, Applied Thermal Engineering 16 (1996) 949 958. [12] G. Heyen, B. Kalitventze, Methodology for optimization of operation to reduce site-scale energy use in production plants, Applied Thermal Engineering 17 (1997) 10051014. [13] B. Kalitventze, Mixed integer non-linear programming and its application to the management of utility networks, Engineering Optimization 18 (1991) 183207. [14] M.S. Diaz, J.A. Bandoni, A mixed integer optimization strategy for a large scale chemical plant in operation, Computers and Chemical Engineering 20 (1996) 531545. [15] K.P. Papalexandri, E.N. Pistikopoulos, B. Kalitventze, M.N. Dumont, K. Urmann, J. Groschluter, Operation of a steam production network with variable demands modelling and optimization under uncertainty, Computers and Chemical Engineering 20 (Suppl.) (1996) S763S768. [16] J.C. Bruno, F. Fernandez, F. Castells, I.E. Grossmann, A Rigorous MINLP model for the optimal synthesis and operation of utility plants, Transactions of the Institution of Chemical Engineers 76 (1998) 246258. [17] B. Mohanty, H. Panda, Integrated energy system for industrial complexes. Part I: a linear programming approach, Applied Energy 46 (1993) 317348. [18] B. Mohanty, H. Panda, Integrated energy system for industrial complexes. Part II: a case study using the LP model, Applied Energy 51 (1995) 1938.

1328

J.C. Bruno et al. / Applied Thermal Engineering 19 (1999) 12971328

[19] N. Meloche, I. Larsson, C. Snoek, Integrating district cooling with combined heat and power, in: International Ab-sorption Heat Pump Conference, Montreal, Canada, vol. II, 1996, p. 795. [20] J. Miquel, Aplicacio d'algoritmes d'Optimitzacio a xarxes de vapor de plantes de proces. Ph.D. Thesis, Universitat de Barcelona 1991. [21] ASHRAE, Fundamentals Handbook, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, New York, 1977. [22] J. Patek, J. Klomfar, Simple functions for fast calculations of selected thermodynamic properties of the ammoniawater system, International Journal of Refrigeration 18 (1995) 228234. [23] K.E. Herold, M. Pande, Counterow vapor-liquid exchange processes using ammonia/water, in: International Ab-sorption Heat Pump Conference, Montreal, Canada, vol. I, 1996, pp. 481488. [24] J. Sahun, F. Valle, Economic aspects of absorption systems, in: Course on Energy Management by Absorption Cycles, Ciemat, Madrid, 1994 Chap. 7. [25] D.E. Garret, Chemical Engineering Economics, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 1989.