Advanced Exergy Analysis for a Novel Gasoline Absorption–Stabilization Process

The advanced exergy analysis can identify the improved potential of each component and the interaction among components of the refining processes. In this work, a new gasoline absorption–stabilization process (GASP) is proposed for better energy utilization considering the absorption process intensification, which can be further explained using exergy analysis. Both conventional and new GASPs are simulated in PRO/II, which are verified with the actual plant operation data. The energy performance of both conventional and new GASPs is evaluated through the advanced exergy analysis. The exergy efficiencies of conventional and new GASPs are 65.04 and 71.44%, respectively. In addition, the total exergy destruction rates are 7.79 and 6.01 MW, respectively. The total exergy destructions of 46.37 and 40.73% can be reduced, respectively. Though the stabilizer has the largest exergy destruction in both the processes, the air cooler for the rich gas in the new GASP has the largest potential for reducing exergy destruction, which is different from the conventional GASP. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis of the new GASP is performed to study the effects of newly added operation and design parameters on the conventional and advanced exergy analyses of the absorber.