PINCH POINTS the way to integration

It was in March 1983 that PE took its first in-depth look at the emerging technique of pinch analysis. It was used then to determine the minimum energy requirement of a process. Nine years on, pinch technology was being applied to distillation column design (see PE, June, July and August 1992). Both our reports featured work at UMIST's Centre (now Department) for Process Integration by Bodo Linnhoff and, for distillation, Vikas Dhole.

Today, the technology - and its commercialisation - has moved on a pace. Well known as the `pinch guru', Linnhoff runs the leading process integration company Linnhoff March, from where Dhole and others decamped last year to join Aspen Technology.

Originally set up to offer consultancy in pinch technology, Linnhoff March (LM) has found that demand has been so great that the best way forward for the company has been to develop software, which it then licenses to customers so that they can carry out pinch studies, or part studies, on their own.

STEAMNG AHEAD

Disproving the possible perception of pinch analysis as a complicated process, LM's software includes simple products such as Steam97. As the name suggests, this package helps the engineer to quickly model the utility systems used in chemical and process plants and power generation systems, and to find the way forward to better energy usage.

Originally developed to model and optimise site utilities on the basis of operating cost, Steam97's practical use is to minimise the quantity of fuel that needs to be burnt, and by extension the level of emissions from the plant.

It also allows comparison of the effectiveness of alternative heat recovery projects in order to minimise costs. In other words, it is a full-blown simulator - but with an ease of use and cost that allows every process engineer to have it on his or her PC.

As pinch technology has grown in scope, moving away from improving energy usage to the design of optimum cost processes, so too has the importance of LM products like SuperTarget 4.0. This was specifically developed to carry out pinch and total site studies and has been used on over a thousand projects worldwide.

SuperTarget enables the process design engineer to trade-off energy and capital costs to produce optimum designs in new plants or in retrofits. The latest version, launched this July, is said to have a much improved user interface, making the best use of Windows 95. Other improvements include a fully automatic interface to process simulators. `It has been developed with infrequent or novice users in mind,' says Marek Wasilewski, LM's general manager for development.

The recent establishment of a new research consortium, the Water Club, is also leading to the development of software for improving water usage in industry. LM already has in-house products - WaterTracker and WaterPinch - but members of the consortium will get early access to the new products.

Perhaps indicative of the now widespread acceptance of pinch technology is the signing of an `Engineering Service Provider' agreement between LM and process simulation specialist Simulation Sciences (SimSci). Announced in June at Achema, this gives Linnhoff March licences to many of SimSci's products.

According to Bodo Linnhoff, the move fits with his company's strategy of building relationships with other suppliers where the customer obtains an advantage. `We intend to grow our business while generating SimSci software revenue,' he said. `In addition, we plan to take advantage of SimSci's software integration and GUI technology to improve our own software tools'.

Also at Achema, Aspen Technology released a Windows version of its pinch package Advent. "We have redesigned the Advent graphical user interface to take full advantage of a Windows look and feel,' said Jerry Wareck, Advent technology manager. Commenting further, Su Ahmad, AspenTech's vice president for advanced process design, said: `The Windows release is part of AspenTech's overall initiatives to extend our market leadership in advanced process design. We have also recently announced the addition of well-known, leading consultants in pinch technology and other related fields.'

As mentioned earlier, some of these `leading consultants' are those who had left Linnhoff March in a move that should keep an already competitive market on the boil.