GUJARAT TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

CHANDKHEDA, AHMEDABAD

PROJECT REPORT

ON

SCOPE OF UTILITY REDUCTION IN

CHEMICAL INDUSTRY
Submitted by: Guided by:
1. Harsh Chhatbar (180170105011) Prof. Jalpa Shah
2. Parth Darji (180170105012) Assistant
Professor
3. Jayendra Dharviya (180170105013)
4. Maulik Dobariya (180170105014)
5. Drashti Thakkar (190173105012)

CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

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 VISHWAKARMA GOVERNMENT ENGINEERING
COLLEGE

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Harsh Chhatbar (180170105011), student of Chemical

Engineering, 4th semester, of Vishwakarma Government Engineering College,
has satisfactorily completed the project on “SCOPE OF UTILITY
REDUCTION IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY” as a partial fulfilment towards the
degree of B.E. in Chemical Engineering.

Date: -
Place: -

Prof. J.A. Shah Dr. F.J. Patel

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Assistant Professor Head of Department

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Parth Darji (180170105012), student of Chemical

Engineering, 4th semester, of Vishwakarma Government Engineering College,
has satisfactorily completed the project on “SCOPE OF UTILITY
REDUCTION IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY” as a partial fulfilment towards the
degree of B.E. in Chemical Engineering.

Date: -
Place: -

Prof. J.A. Shah Dr. F.J. Patel

Assistant Professor Head of Department

VGEC- CHANDKHEDA 3|Page

 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Jayendra Dharviya (180170105013), student of

Chemical Engineering, 3rd semester, of Vishwakarma Government Engineering
College, has satisfactorily completed the project on “SCOPE OF UTILITY
REDUCTION IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY” as a partial fulfilment towards the
degree of B.E. in Chemical Engineering.

Date: -
Place: -

Prof. J.A. Shah Dr. F.J. Patel

Assistant Professor Head of Department

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Maulik Dobariya (180170105014), student of

Chemical Engineering, 4th semester, of Vishwakarma Government Engineering
College, has satisfactorily completed the project on “SCOPE OF UTILITY
REDUCTION IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY” as a partial fulfilment towards the
degree of B.E. in Chemical Engineering.

Date: -
Place: -

Prof. J.A. Shah Dr. F.J. Patel

Assistant Professor Head of Department

VGEC- CHANDKHEDA 5|Page

 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ms. Drashti Thakkar (190173105012), student of

Chemical Engineering, 4th semester, of Vishwakarma Government Engineering
College, has satisfactorily completed the project on “SCOPE OF UTILITY
REDUCTION IN CHEMICAL INDUSTRY” as a partial fulfilment towards the
degree of B.E. in Chemical Engineering.

Date: -
Place: -

Prof. J.A. Shah Dr. F.J. Patel

Assistant Professor Head of Department

VGEC- CHANDKHEDA 6|Page

 ACKNOWLEDGMENT

It has been a great pleasure and academically productive doing this project.
Sometimes this project seemed to be a bit difficult but it was a delight to
accomplish under the guidance and co –operation from various quarters.

With deep sense of gratitude, we would like to render our sincerest and the
heartfelt thanks to our guide, Ms. Jalpa Shah, for devoting her valuable time and
guiding us to accomplish our task. She literally updated us with study material
and was ever receptive to our queries and suggestion. We are truly
overwhelmed by her level of involvement in our project and we shall be ever
grateful for that.

We also extend our gratitude to our head of department, Dr. Femina Patel, for
constant encouragement, valuable helps permission to carry out this project.
And last but not least, we are very much thankful to our successful project.

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 ABSTRACT
Any Chemical Plant requires raw materials in order to produce final products. It
also requires various other services called Utilities for smoothly carrying out the
processes. Many chemical processes do not take place at ambient temperature
or pressures. In order to reach these non-ambient conditions, utilities will have
to be used to raise or lower temperatures and compressor gases. Utilities often
contribute 5 to 10% of the price of a product, and may come from public or
private utility companies or on-site plants. For purchased utilities, costs depend
on consumption, while for company-owned utilities, there will be both capital
and operating costs. They include things such as steam for heating, electricity,
cooling water, refrigeration, fuels such as natural gas, wastewater treatment,
waste disposal, and landfill. Steam is often the largest utility cost.

Utilities are situated outside plant limits should not give any wrong impression
that utilities are any less important than the main process, because it is the
Efficient Management of Utilities that generate Profits. The utilities help to
maintain proper process conditions like pressure, temperature etc., without
which it will be impossible to carry out the process. Now a day most of the
Engineering practices are aimed at reducing the consumption of utilities,
because the production of utilities whether it is compressed air, steam etc.,
requires energy and energy is becoming costlier day by day. Efficient Utility
Management doesn't end at cost cutting, if utilities supply is not proper the
equipment may not last their full life. For example, if Steam at higher
temperature than desired enters Heat Exchangers, the Exchangers may get
damaged. Air, water, steam, refrigeration, fuel, furnace, insulation etc., are the
common utilities used in Chemical Plants.

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Keywords: Utilities, raw materials, products, steam, fuel, water, water
treatment, refrigeration, air, operating cost, energy conservation

INDEX

Sr.no. Name

1. Introduction
2. Literature
3. Problem Identification
4. Proposed Solution
5. Conclusion
6. Reference
7. Appendices
I. AEIOU summary
II. Mind map
III. Empathy canvas
IV. Ideation canvas
V. Product Development canvas
VI. Prototype

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 1. INTRODUCTION
 Plant Utility: Utility is neither a reactant nor a product, But Utilities are
required for maintaining adequate conditions of a manufacturing unit.
Utility area is an important area of a Chemical Plant. This may house
various Boilers, Large Compressors, Refrigeration systems, Air
Conditioning systems, Water Treatment Plants, Cooling Towers etc.
 Common plant utilities incorporate steam, power, refrigerants, delta
water sources, packed air, mechanical gasses, heat transfer fluids, cooling
towers, and that's only the tip of the iceberg. Legitimate plan, operation
and upkeep of the building frameworks expected to give these things are
vital.
 Very few chemical processes are carried out entirely at ambient
temperature. Most require process streams to be heated or cooled to reach
the desired operation temperature, to add or remove heats of reaction,
mixing, adsorption, etc., to sterilize feed streams, or to cause vaporization
or condensation. Gas and liquid streams are usually heated or cooled by
indirect heat exchange with another fluid: either another process stream
or a utility stream such as steam, hot oil, cooling water, or refrigerant.
 It begins with a discussion of the different utilities that are used for
heating, cooling, and supplying other needs such as power, water, and air
to a process. The consumption of energy is a significant cost in many
processes. Energy costs can be reduced by recovering waste heat from
hot process streams and by making use of the fuel value of waste streams.
 When it is economically attractive, heating and cooling are accomplished
by heat recovery between process streams. The design of a network of
heat exchangers for heat recovery can be a complex task if there are
many hot and cold streams in a process.

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 2. LITERATURE
Utility system is an important part of manufacturing processes.
Consequently, steam system performance has a large impact on plant
productivity. Important operating characteristics of the steam system
include adequate heat delivery, reliability, and responsiveness. Motor and
compressed air systems are also essential to several production processes.
Steam:
 Steam is the most commonly used heat utility used in chemical plants,
and as a result understanding how it is used is essential in the study of
Utility systems. Steam is used both as a process fluid (feedstock, diluent
to absorb heat of reaction, heating agent, and stripping agent in absorbers
and absorbers) and utility. It can be used to drive pumps and
compressors, ejectors (for producing a vacuum), and heat exchangers. As
one can clearly see, steam is a versatile, and useful utility.
 By controlling the pressure of the steam, one can control the temperature
at which the heat is released. Having a strong control over the
temperature is essential in several processes. Steam is an efficient heat
source because the heat of condensation of steam is very high. Meaning
that there is high output per mass of utility at a constant temperature.
Heat exchangers that use steam are relatively cheap because condensing
steam has a high heat transfer coefficient. Steam is non-flammable,
nontoxic, and inert to several process fluids.

Electricity:
 Electricity is used to power many different kinds of equipment. It has
many advantages: it is efficient (> 90%), reliable, available in a wide

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 range of power, shaft speeds, designs, lifetimes, convenience, costs, and
maintenance. It is generally used up to 200 hp, and sometimes over
10,000 Hp. In chemical process plants, the electricity demand is generally
determined by the work or energy required for compression, pumping, air
cooling, lights, and many other items. This electricity often times is
purchased from local electricity providers, but many plants generate their
own electricity via sophisticated processes.
 The use of electricity carries with it some hazards depending on the
environment. Extra care must be taken when using electrically-powered
equipment in areas which may have combustible fluids, vapours, or dust,
and where liquids may be present.

Fuels:
 Fuel is burned in utility facilities such as boilers, electricity generation,
and cogeneration, and can be in solid, liquid, or gas form. It can also be
burned to provide heating for a process or stream or to drive pumps and
compressors. The fuel is usually burned with excess air to ensure
complete combustion.

Cooling Water:
 Cooling water is used to cool and/or condense streams. Cooling water is
usually circulated between process heat exchangers and a cooling tower.
Water is cooled during downward motion by contact with air blown
upwards, which can bring the water temperature to come within ~ 5 ⁰F of
air’s wet-bulb temperature.

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 4. PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION
 When generating energy on-site, many plants use a gas-turbine
cogeneration process. The thermal efficiency of a gas-turbine process is
in the range of 70-80% while conventional power stations, such as coal-
fired processes, have a 30-40% efficiency. The lower efficiency in more
conventional power stations is attributed to wasted heat in the exhaust
steam in the condenser.
 Steam trap that are blowing through, leaking, plugged, or flooding.
 The air compressors in the site’s centralized air compressor system
generate a significant amount of waste heat.
 The plant recycles very less amount of its steam condensate, roughly
about 5% in general
 Recycling of water is not done fully
 Approximately 80% of the temperature reduction is due to evaporation of
the cooling water and heat transfer to the surrounding air. Water can also
be cooled in spray ponds and cooling ponds. Both work by providing
high area for water to exchange heat with air. Water in cooling towers is
lost through drift and blowdown, and makeup is usually 1.5 to 3% of the
circulating rate
 As steam is so popular for heating purposes, it is useful to analyze the
numerous ways in which losses can occur in steam systems. There are
five primary sources of inefficiency and heat loss in the generation and
distribution of steam throughout a process plant:

• The heat content of boiler exhaust gas

• Incomplete combustion of boiler fuel

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 • Radiant losses from the boiler exterior
• Blowdown loss (steam trap etc.)

5. PROPOSED SOLUTIONS
Conventional Power Station

In general, most electricity is generated from a conventional coal-fired process,

whether it be on-site or purchased from a provider. Coal-fired processes have
been used to create electricity throughout history, and technological advances
have increased its efficiency and use worldwide. In a coal-fired steam station—
much like a nuclear station—water is turned into steam, which in turn drives
turbine generators to produce electricity. There are several variations on how to
create energy from coal, but here are the basics of how a coal-fired process
works:

 Heat is created
 Water turns to steam
 Steam turns the turbine
 Steam is converted back to water

After doing its work in the turbine, the steam is drawn into a condenser. In this
important step, millions of gallons of cool water from a nearby source (such as
a river or lake) are pumped through a network of tubes running through the
condenser. The cool water in the tubes converts the steam back into water that
can be used over and over again in the plant.
The cooling water is returned to its source without any contamination, and the
steam water is returned to the boiler to repeat the cycle.

Gas-turbine cogeneration process

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Overall, the process illustrated is not much different from a coal-fired process.
The main differences are that the cogeneration process creates both electricity
and a heat utility, and cogeneration processes use natural gas instead of coal.
Many of the advantages and disadvantages are similar to those of the coal-fired
process, but the cogeneration has a much higher efficiency, creates heat to be
used in another process, and uses a more volatile and expensive fuel. The main
advantage of cogeneration over coal-fired energy production is that heat is not
wasted. In coal-fired processes, heat is released and wasted during electricity
generation. Cogeneration captures some, if not all of the by-product for heat,
which is an extremely useful utility that will be discussed in subsequent
sections. In summary, the cogeneration plant is superior to the coal-fired
process because of its higher efficiency and ability to create a useful heat utility.

Steam

Boiler feed water at a high pressure can be preheated and fed to other boilers.
These other boilers superheat the steam to create a high pressure and high
temperature steam stream. A portion of the high pressure steam is used for
process heating in areas of the plant that require high temperatures. The rest of
the high pressure steam is turned into medium pressure steam by valves and
steam turbines. The medium pressure steam is then used to heat medium
temperature processes and to form low pressure steam. The low pressure steam
can be used to heat low pressure processes and it can be expanded in
condensing turbines to create shaft work and energy. In summary, steam can be
used for an innumerable amount of action items in a plant. High pressure,
medium pressure, and low pressure steam can all be used as a heat source. Low
pressure steam has utilities in creating electricity and it also has several other
uses.

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Process Cooling

If a large natural body of water is nearby, it can be used as a source of cooling

water and discharged downstream. This water is usually filtered to remove salts
and impurities that may lead to fouling, but it is not treated.

Air-to-fuel ratio
The air-to-fuel ratio can be optimized using a feedback process controller. The
control system will analyze the oxygen content of exhaust air and adjust the
incoming air flow rate to achieve a set percentage of excess air. While desired
excess oxygen will vary depending on the type of fuel, it is consistently seen
that in the minimum loss-range a 1% increase in excess air will result in a 1%
decrease in efficiency.

A few more solutions concisely:

• Connecting the preheating systems of the coal and gas boilers to transfer
the heat load
• Install new cooling tower to reduce process water usage
• Recover boiler heat and water losses
• Recycle steam condensate
• Recycle process cooling water to the power plant
• Repair the failed steam traps
• Capture waste heat from the air compressors and use it to preheat the
boiler feed water.

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 6. CONCLUSION
As with many energy efficiency projects, we realized benefits that are not
limited to cost savings, but also include improved performance and reliability.
By recovering heat from its process heating services, reduction in the load and
the stress on its steam system is observed. Since the steam system is a constraint
to the dyeing tasks, improving steam system performance can increase the
capacity of the dyehouse, which can increase the overall capacity of the plant.
Similar approach can be given to improve its compressed air and motor
systems, achieving better efficiency, lower maintenance, and greater reliability.

Considering Energy Efficiency

One of the chief concerns in selecting and designing process utility systems for
heating and cooling is how to achieve the most energy efficient design. There
are countless means by which plants lose energy, two of the foremost being
through the mixing of different temperature or pressure streams and through the
disposal of warmed cooling water. Proper utilities design can help mitigate each
of these losses as well as many others. The energy efficiency of a plant will
depend primarily on the heating and cooling methods that are being used and
the overall system design itself. These two parameters are important in
determining how well energy is transferred to the desired media as well as how
well that energy is recovered and recycled.

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 7. REFERENCES
 Utility systems via
https://processdesign.mccormick.northwestern.edu/index.php/Utilit
y_systems
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328567969_Chemical_Pl
ant_Utilities
 Peters, Max S.; Timmerhaus, Klaus D.; West, Ronald E. (2003). "
Plant Design and Economics for Chemical Engineers." McGraw
Hill Higher Education.
 Towler, G.P. and Sinnot, R. (2012). Chemical Engineering Design:
Principles, Practice and Economics of Plant and Process
Design. Elsevier.

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 8. APPENDICES

I. AEIOU CANVAS

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 II.MIND-MAPPING CANVAS

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 III.EMPATHY CANVAS

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 IV.IDEATION CANVAS

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 V.PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CANVAS

VI. PROTOTYPE

Gas-Turbine Cogeneration with a heat recovery steam generator boiler

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