Title: Exergy-economic analysis and optimisation of sulphuric acid production from sulphur based on Aspen simulation

Authors: Li Li; Hongchen Mu; Feng Wang; Minmin Ma; Yuncheng Shen; Shenghui Gao; Yafei Tian; Ye Huang; Le Wu

Addresses: Shaaxi Yuneng Group Energy and Chemical Research Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China ' Shaaxi Yulin Energy Group Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China ' Shaaxi Yuneng Group Energy and Chemical Research Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China ' Shaaxi Yuneng Group Energy and Chemical Research Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China ' Shaaxi Yuneng Group Energy and Chemical Research Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China ' Shaaxi Yuneng Group Energy and Chemical Research Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China ' Shaaxi Yuneng Group Energy and Chemical Research Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China ' Shaaxi Yuneng Group Energy and Chemical Research Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China; Shaaxi Yulin Energy Group Institute Co., Ltd., Yulin 719000, China ' School of Chemical Engineering, Northwest University, Xi'an 710069, China

Abstract: Energy recovery is important for sulphuric acid productions due to high exothermal effects of oxidation reactions and acid adsorption. Aspen Plus and exergy analysis of a sulphuric acid process was carried out based on actual operating data to reduce the energy consumption and enhance the exergy performance. After optimisation, the exergy loss was decreased from 15,139.73 kW to 8,917.86 kW by adding two pumps and one heat exchanger. The economic analysis showed that the steam revenue was also raised with 18.34% growth. The exergy performance and the product revenue were optimised by the proposed Aspen simulation and exergy analysis.

Keywords: sulphuric acid production; exergy analysis; Aspen simulation; economic analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2024.139226

International Journal of Exergy, 2024 Vol.44 No.2, pp.127 - 138

Received: 17 Apr 2023
Accepted: 24 Oct 2023
Published online: 26 Jun 2024 *

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