Simulation of unit operations of a chemical plant for acid gas removal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11048842-B2
Application number	US-201816135465-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 19, 2018
Priority date	Sep 19, 2018
Publication date	Jun 29, 2021
Grant date	Jun 29, 2021

Abstract

The present invention is related to a method for determination of unit operations of a chemical plant for acid gas removal, the method carried out by a computer or a distributed computer system and the method comprising the steps of: providing a first set of parameters for the unit operations; providing a second set of parameters for the unit operations based on the provided first set of parameters and based on data retrieved from a database; determining a digital model of the chemical plant based on the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters, wherein the digital model comprises a system of equations defining the unit operations of the chemical plant; selecting starting points for an equation-based solution method of the system of equations, wherein the starting points are at least partially selected from the: (i) the first set of parameters; (ii) the second set of parameters; and (iii) the data retrieved from the database; determining resultant settings for the unit operations of the chemical plant using the equation-based solution method for the system of equations initialized by the selected starting points.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of determining unit operations of a chemical plant configured for acid gas removal from a gaseous inlet stream, the method comprising:
i) receiving, by a processing device, a first set of parameters for the unit operations;
ii) identifying, by the processing device, a second set of parameters for the unit operations based on the first set of parameters and based on data retrieved from a database;
iii) generating, by the processing device, a digital model of the chemical plant based on the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters, wherein the digital model comprises a system of equations defining the unit operations of the chemical plant;
iv) selecting, by the processing device, starting points for an equation-based solution method of the system of equations and one starting profile out of multiple starting profiles via a metadata search, wherein selecting the starting profile is determined based on filtering the multiple starting profiles related to chemical plant structure or chemical plant simulation based on a subset of input parameters which are the closest to the metadata associated with the starting points, and wherein the starting points are at least partially selected from:
the first set of parameters;
the second set of parameters; and
the data retrieved from the database; and
v) determining, by the processing device, resultant settings for the unit operations of the chemical plant using the equation-based solution method for the system of equations initialized by the selected starting points.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the first set of parameters and at least partially the determined resultant settings for the unit operations of the chemical plant in the database.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of selecting the starting points for the equation-based solution method of the system of equations comprises selecting at least partially starting points of a previously performed equation-based solution method of the system of equations as stored in the database.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the step of selecting at least partially the starting points of the previously performed equation-based solution method of the system of equations as stored in the database comprises comparing the determined and stored resultant settings of the previously performed equation-based solution method with desired resultant settings of a current method for determination performed by the processing device, wherein optionally the first set of parameters for the unit operations comprises the desired settings.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein selecting the starting profile is determined based on user-specified input parameters received by the processing device.

6. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first set of parameters for the unit operations is provided by a user client; and/or
wherein the second set of parameters for the unit operations is provided by a determination server; and/or
wherein the data is provided by a database server.

7. The method according to claim 1 ,
wherein the first set of parameters for the unit operations comprises at least one relative parameter; and/or
wherein the second set of parameters for the unit operations comprises at least one relative parameter; and/or
wherein the data comprises at least one relative parameter.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the step of identifying the second set of parameters for the unit operations based on the first set of parameters comprises:
identifying at least one parameter, which was not specified by the first set of parameters; and/or
identifying at least one parameter, which is a complementary parameter to a parameter of the first set of parameters.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the identifying of the second set of parameters for the unit operations based on the first set of parameters comprises determining unspecified or complementary parameters with regard to the first set of parameters using chemical parameters and/or physical parameters and/or physical properties, equilibrium data kinetic data, physical data geometric data, or geometry model parameters as specified by the data retrieved from the database.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first set of parameters comprises at least one user-specified parameter, and wherein the starting points comprise data selected from each of:
the first set of parameters;
the second set of parameters; and
the data retrieved from the database.

11. A system for determining unit operations of a chemical plant configured for acid gas removal from a gaseous inlet stream, the system comprising:
a determination server communicatively coupled to a client device and a database server comprising a database, wherein the determination server is configured to:
receive a first set of parameters for the unit operations;
identify a second set of parameters for the unit operations based on the provided first set of parameters and based on the data retrieved from the database server,
generate a digital model of the chemical plant based on the first set of parameters and the second set of parameters, wherein the digital model comprises a system of equations defining the unit operations of the chemical plant;
select starting points for an equation-based solution method of the system of equations and one starting profile out of multiple starting profiles via a metadata search, wherein selecting the starting profile is determined based on filtering the multiple starting profiles related to chemical plant structure or chemical plant simulation based on a subset of input parameters which are the closest to the metadata associated with the starting points, and wherein the starting points are selected from the:
the first set of parameters;
the second set of parameters; and
the data retrieved from the database; and

determine resultant settings for the unit operations of the chemical plant using the equation-based solution method for the system of equations initialized by the selected starting points.

12. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the system is further configured to store the selected starting points and the determined resultant settings for the unit operations of the chemical plant in the database of the database server.

13. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the determination server is further configured to select the starting points for the equation-based solution method of the system of equations by selecting at least partially starting points of a previously performed equation-based solution method of the system of equations as stored in the database.

14. The system according to claim 13 , wherein the determination server is further configured to at least partially select the starting points of the previously performed equation-based solution method of the system of equations as stored in the database by comparing the determined and stored resultant settings of the previously performed equation-based solution method with desired settings of the current method for determination, wherein optionally the first set of parameters for the unit operations comprise the desired settings.

15. The system according to claim 11 , wherein the determination server is further configured to identify the second set of parameters for the unit operations based on the first set of parameters by:
identifying at least one parameter, which was not specified by the first set of parameters; and/or
identifying at least one parameter,

Assignees

• Basf Se

Inventors

• Dittel Agnes
• Notz Ralf
• Vorobyev Sergey
• Herget Rainer
• Katz Torsten
• Vorberg Gerald
• Hoeffken Kim

Classifications

• B01D2252/2021

  Methanol · CPC title

• B01D2252/20452

  containing a morpholine-ring · CPC title

• B01D2256/24

  Hydrocarbons · CPC title

• B01D53/0454

  Controlling adsorption (controlling temperature swing adsorption B01D53/0462, controlling pressure swing adsorption B01D53/047) · CPC title

• B01D2252/2056

  Sulfur compounds, e.g. Sulfolane, thiols · CPC title