Retrofitted heat exchanger network of a FCC plant

The successful operation of the FCC unit determines the market position of the refinery. The actual heat exchanger network (HEN) of an industrial catalytic cracking plant (FCC) and is examined using real data provided by a refinery from Romania. The results highlight the possibility to improve the actual heat exchanger distribution in the HEN and to save energy. By adding heat exchangers, re-piping, and improving the performance of some heat exchangers, it is possible to save energy from the actual heat exchanger network and to improve the process operation. This economic optimization of the HEN gives a starting point to study possibilities of improving the industrial process. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the 18th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering (Prague, Czech Republic 8/24-28/2008).