Customer Profile

Company Name
Petrofac
OilCrude
& GasOil Production
Service Provider

Challenge:
Copy.... technical and economic
Evaluate
feasibility of a gas plant expansion
Solution:
Petrofac Improves Accuracy Copy...
Solution:
of Process Models, Increases Aspen HYSYS and Integrated
Benefits:
Aspen Exchanger Design & Rating
Capacity 20% for Gas Plant Copy..

Expansion Benefits:
Copy..
Simulate a complex system that
Copy..
was previously difficult to model
Oil & Gas service provider achieves increased capacity
with standalone tools
Copy..
requirements by integrating rigorous Aspen Exchanger
Significantly
Copy.. increase accuracy of
Design & Rating models into Aspen HYSYS process
heat exchanger blocks
simulation flowsheet.
Improve understanding of process
Petrofac is the largest UK-listed service provider to the international oil constraints and scale-up
and gas industry with over 18,000 employees across the globe. Achieve 20% capacity increase
Recognized as the top engineering, procurement, and construction with less than one month payback
period
contractor in the Middle East for the past three years by Oil & Gas
Middle East, Petrofac is committed to excellence and strives for
increased innovation by continuing to utilize a unique, holistic approach
to process modeling.
Petrofac was asked to determine a feasible way to increase the capacity
of a gas plant with minimal changes to plant hardware. Using
AspenTech products, Petrofac was able to validate the technical and
economic feasibility of multiple process improvement schemes. For
modeling the process, Aspen HYSYSa process simulator for Oil & Gas
applicationswas utilized and Aspen Exchanger Design & Rating (EDR)
files were incorporated into the design resulting in a revamp plan with a
one month payback period.
Petrofac integrated rigorous heat exchanger models into Aspen HYSYS
process flowsheets to debottleneck a gas plant and meet 20%
increased capacity requirements.

The rigorous Aspen Exchanger Design & Rating

models available within Aspen HYSYS have enabled
us to solve debottlenecking problems in a way not
otherwise achievable.
Lakshmi Venkatesh, Petrofac
Rigorous Modeling Helps Debottleneck Gas Processes
AspenTech is a leading supplier of
The objective of the study was to revamp a gas plant with minimal changes to software that optimizes process
manufacturingfor energy, chemi-
the process equipment. The revamp evaluated a 20% increase in production
cals, engineering and construction,
due to the addition of a new oil processing train. In order to accomplish this and other industries that manufac-
with minimal CAPEX, the study focused on utilizing existing design margins ture and produce products from a
chemical process. With integrated
and relaxing some of the design criteria. This highly economical approach
aspenONE solutions, process
requires the use of accurate process simulation tools to ensure product manufacturers can implement best
specifications and plant safety. Aspen HYSYS was used to develop simulation practices for optimizing their engi-
neering, manufacturing, and supply
models; however, the heat exchangers used in the flowsheet werent rigorous chain operations. As a result,
enough for the study. AspenTech customers are better
able to increase capacity, improve
margins, reduce costs, and become
Integration of Heat Exchanger Models Saves Capital Costs more energy efficient. To see how the
worlds leading process manufactur-
The study revealed that the conventional heat exchanger modeling ers rely on AspenTech to achieve
approaches were inadequatelacking accuracy in correctly predicting thermal their operational excellence goals,
visit www.aspentech.com.
and hydraulic performance, which is critical due to the interaction between
cold product streams and hot feed streams in the self-refrigerated process.
The integration of heat exchanger configurations using Aspen Plate Fin
designs (from the Aspen EDR family) in Aspen HYSYS improved the accuracy
of the design and resulted in a realistic prediction of the sales gas
specifications. Incorporating Aspen EDR within Aspen HYSYS revealed that
only two of the three critical heat exchangers required replacement resulting
in significant CAPEX savings.

Value to Petrofac
The ability to integrate Aspen Plate Fin designs into the simulation flowsheet
resulted in an optimal design that minimized CAPEX. This unique capability in
Aspen HYSYS increases the accuracy of the simulation results with minimal
additional input. Ultimately, the plant revamp costs could be recovered in less Worldwide Headquarters
than one month of operation. Aspen Technology, Inc.
20 Crosby Drive
Bedford, MA 01730
United States
phone: +17812216400
fax: +17812216410
info@aspentech.com

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