Advanced Process Control Strategy for a Condensate Stabilization Unit: Energy, Exergy, Economic, and Environmental (4E) Study

Abstract

This study assesses the energy, exergy, economic, and environmental performance of a gas stabilization unit by employing a new strategy to implement an advanced control system. The advanced process control (APC) strategy is established based on the response surface methodology to assess the real-time performance of the process. The RSM-based APC technique targets the energy, exergy, economic, and environmental (4E) performance of the process in unsteady-state operations. A detailed sensitivity analysis is also conducted to evaluate the relative significance of operating parameters on the objective functions, such as exergy efficiency, energy cost, and CO2 emission. The RSM-based APC strategy proposes an algorithm that can readily be implemented in the plant to increase the plant’s energy performance. Implementing this intelligent control system leads to the production of standard products, while production cost, energy consumption, exergy efficiency, and environmental impacts are enhanced. The exergy and sensitivity results indicate that the stabilization tower has the highest potential for process enhancement, and reboiler temperature is the most influential factor among operating parameters. Also, the RSM-based APC improves the exergy efficiency of the plant by 19% and reduces the energy cost by 13%. At the optimal state, 457 kg/h CO2 emission is prevented.