Conceptual design of energy-saving stripping process for industrial sour water

Sour water contains ammonia, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfides, producing from oil refining, coking, and coal gasification. To reduce the energy consumption in sour water stripping, a novel process is proposed which integrates with the bottom flashing mechanical vapor recompression heat pump (MVRHP) for treating such wastewater. Here, Aspen Plus (TM) as a powerful set of chemical process simulation software is utilized to investigate the economy and feasibility of the novel process. Comparison of the results of two process simulations, it can be seen that it is possible to reduce the total annual cost by nearly 45% to adopt the novel process, despite the capital investment increase 45% more than the conventional process. Thus, the provided conceptual design will play a guiding role in the industrialization of the process. (C) 2020 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.