Debottlenecking: Exploiting Opportunities to Boost Performance

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A practical application of Pinch technology is presented by Dr. Willmar Schwabe Arzneimittel, Germany. Production takes place in batch mode, and large amounts of heat and cooling energy are needed, particularly for the extraction processes. Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) is a critical factor, and it places severe restrictions on changes to material processing. As a result, the engineers concentrated primarily on energy consumption at the plant.

The results were as follows. The potential energy savings in the process and supply system was around 310,000 euros a year, which was 20 percent of energy costs at the time. Of the projects which were developed to exploit this potential, around half had a payback period of less than two years. This was a case of energy “debottlenecking”.

Debottlenecking by virtual reality

Optimization is not limited to production assets. Workflows can also be improved. Supply chain optimization is a good example, and it is often used for batch processing. Once the process sequence in a batch system, e.g. charging, cleaning, etc. is understood, the next step is to take a close look at the times involved and perform an availability analysis. Simply by changing the workflow sequence or installing a buffer tank, process engineers can often increase system capacity.

Users today have access to powerful visualization and simulation tools which support debottlenecking. A simulation model is often provided with new systems to train the operators, and ideally the model is linked to the process control system. Personnel can not only practice system operation, they can also use the model to try out different parameters and eliminate bottlenecks. Virtual reality blurs the boundary between system operator and system optimizer.

Conclusion: Debottlenecking can involve specific modifications to the dimensions of heat exchangers and columns. It can also mean using Pinch technology or taking advantage of suggestions for improvement which are submitted more or less at random. In any case, it is usually an extremely profitable exercise for users compared to new build or expansion. It is hardly surprising therefore that identification of bottlenecks has become an important aspect of the engineering services business (see the interview with Dr. Ralf Sick-Sonntag from BTS).

* The author works as a freelancer with PROCESS

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