Abstract NGL fractionation is one of the most energy-intensive facilities in hydrocarbon processing plants playing an important role in the petrochemical supply chain. Innovative schemes for multicomponent distillation processes made the opportunity to attain more justifiable fractionation processes. The current study presents a systematic procedure to design and optimize both simple and complex distillation schemes based on the separation matrix approach and applies it to a NGL feedstock. A modular design approach is presented for the ultimate rigorous evaluation. The genetic algorithm with a hybrid objective function that minimizes the TAC and checks products specifications simultaneously carries out optimization. The results demonstrate the capability of complex distillation sequences in process improvements, reducing costs and saving energy in NGL fractionation plants resulting in reductions of up to 3.5% in annual operating costs, which is very significant bearing in mind the huge NGL fractionation scale of operation.

中文翻译：

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NGL分馏工艺精馏塔排序设计与优化

摘要 NGL 分馏是碳氢化合物加工厂中能耗最高的设施之一，在石化供应链中发挥着重要作用。多组分蒸馏过程的创新方案为实现更合理的分馏过程提供了机会。目前的研究提出了一个系统的程序来设计和优化基于分离矩阵方法的简单和复杂的蒸馏方案，并将其应用于 NGL 原料。提出了一种模块化设计方法，用于最终严格的评估。具有混合目标函数的遗传算法可将 TAC 最小化并同时检查产品规格进行优化。结果证明了复杂蒸馏序列在工艺改进中的能力，