The theory and practice of energy saving in the chemical industry: some methods for reducing thermodynamic irreversibility in chemical technology processes

The causes of thermodynamic irreversibility in chemical reactions and other industrial chemical processes (in particular absorption, stripping, and heat transfer) and ways of reducing energy consumption have been examined. Some thermodynamic principles based on the Second Law of thermodynamics such as the so called “counteraction principle,” “driving force method,” “quasi-static method,” and the result some of practical methods for energy saving design are discussed. It is demonstrated that the possibilities for reducing energy consumption are substantially higher than often seems possible. The correctness and practical effectiveness of the above methods have been confirmed by many commercial examples, for instance the lead author was able to reduce heat consumption in more than 20 commercial CO2 removal installations by changes in networks only, without changing the absorbent. The heat consumption was reduced to about 1/2 to 1/3 of that used with conventional flow sheets.