Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

Dynamic modelling and simulation of a cogeneration system

integrated with a salt recrystallization process
Raquel Durana Moita a , Henrique A. Matos a, , Cristina Fernandes a ,
Clemente Pedro Nunes a , Jorge Miguel Prior b
a

Instituto Superior TecnicoDEQ, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal

b Quimigal, Quinta da Ind
ustria, 3864-755 Estarreja, Portugal
Available online 9 March 2005

Abstract
The aim of this study is to optimise a Portuguese industrial three integrated process system, by studying the effect of some operational and
atmospheric conditions on the system. For this main goal it was built a dynamic model, which includes the cogeneration system, the plate
heat exchangers and the salt production unit.
The cogeneration system was modelled and analysed in GateCycle 5.34.0.r. and the interface variables were used as input of the dynamic
model of the remaining integrated process. This model was developed and exploited through gPROMS 2.3.
Some particular issues (start-up, scheduling and atmospheric conditions) were investigated to forecast the performance of the integrated
system.
The best start-up conditions were established. Several atmospheric conditions were studied and the minimum number of ponds required for
each situation was calculated. The scheduling of the evaporation ponds in operation was also investigated to enhance the salt production and
to optimise the salt harvesting. The process simulation indicated that it is better to work with the corresponding minimum number of ponds,
having a turbo pond that receives a larger quantity of heated brine.
The efficiency of the cogeneration system (thermal plus electric power divided by natural gas consumption) was approximately 92%.
However, the global process efficiency (accounting for energy losses in the evaporation step of the salt production process) was in the range
of 7080%, depending on the atmospheric and operational conditions considered.
2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Dynamic modelling; Optimisation; Process integration; Industrial case study; Cogeneration; gPROMS; Crystallization process

1. Introduction
Process integration (PI) emerged in the decade of eighties as a new area in Chemical Engineering with emphasis on
the efficient use of primary energy by analysing the whole
process and not the stand alone units to find the best and
optimal streams heat exchanger network. Currently the complex plants are characterized by the existence of recycles of
materials and energy making necessary their integration in a
systematic and rational way (Linnhoff et al., 1982).
Up to 1990, Process Synthesis and Process Integration
were considered separately although complementary activi

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: henrimatos@ist.utl.pt (H.A. Matos).

0098-1354/$ see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.compchemeng.2005.02.015

ties. The original definition in 1995 from International Energy Agency (IEA) states Process Integration as: Systematic and General Methods for Designing Integrated Production Systems, ranging from Individual Processes to Total Sites, with special emphasis on theEfficient Use of
Energy and reducing Environmental Effects (Gundersen,
2002).
However, in recent years the borderline between these two
activities has practically disappeared (Smith, 1995). Therefore, Process Integration appears now as an optimal integration of different units in process system and this goal is efficiently achieved using process simulation that was a former
main tool for analysis and synthesis. The power of modern
simulation techniques enables the study of complex processes
close to the real situation.

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R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

Nomenclature
area (m2 )
heat capacity (MJ/(kg C))
air heat capacity (J/(kg K))
energy loss by convection (MJ/(m2 h))
enthalpy of the vapor water stream (MJ/(m2 h))
enthalpy of the salt precipitated stream
(MJ/(m2 h))
Erad
energy loss by radiation (MJ/(m2 h))
Esolar
net solar energy that is effectively absorbed
through the brine (MJ/(m2 h))
Ethermal effective thermal power (MJ/h)
fEntP,i
fraction of the brine flow rate QHE that is sent
to each pond i
fExitP,i fraction of the brine flow rate (Qchannel ) that
leaves each pond i
FM
salt mass fraction (%)
hwater 1 enthalpy of the inlet water stream of the
economizer at temperature T1 (kJ/kg)
hwater 2 enthalpy of the outlet water stream of the
economizer at temperature T2 (kJ/kg)
H
enthalpy of the liquid brine stream (MJ/h)
HL ,Tap,Ei enthalpy of the liquid brine stream entering
in Ei through the tap, per unit length of the
element (MJ/(h m))
HT
total enthalpy of the accumulated brine
(MJ/m2 )
Kair
air conductivity (W/(m K))
Lc
characteristic length (m)
Mevap water evaporation rate (kg/(m2 h))
MNaclpp salt precipitation rate (kg/(m2 h))
MNaclpp,total total mass of salt precipitated (kg)
Mwater mass flow rate of the water circulating in the
economizer (kg/h)
n
number of moles (moles)
P
water vapour partial pressure at temperature T
(Pa)
Patm
atmospheric pressure (Pa)
PGateCycle thermal power determined through
GateCycle (MJ/h)
Q
brine volumetric flow rate (m3 /h)
QL,Tap,Ei brine volumetric flow rate entering in Ei
through the pond tap, per unit length of the
element (m3 /(h m))
S
salinity (%)
Sol
NaCl salt solubility in the water
(g NaCl/100g H2 O)
T
brine temperature ( C)
T1
temperature of the cold water entering in the
economizer ( C)
T2
temperature of the heated water leaving from
the economizer ( C)
A
Cp
Cp,air
Econv
Eevap
ENaClpp

Tair
air temperature ( C)
Tdew-point dew-point temperature ( C)
Tsky
sky temperature ( C)
UHE
service overall heat transfer coefficient of the
plate heat exchanger (MJ/(m2 C h))
Vwind wind velocity (m/s)
W
pond width (m)
X
salt concentration in the brine solution (kg/m3 )
Xm
mole fraction of the water
Z
brine level (m)
Greek symbols
Hdiss heat of dissolution of the salt in the water
(MJ/kg NaCl)
Tlm logarithmic mean temperature difference ( C)

surface emissivity

air relative humidity

evap
water latent heat of vaporization (MJ/kg)
air
air viscosity (N/(s m2 ))

brine density (kg/m3 )

0
auxiliary variable used in brine density
calculations (kg/m3 )
air
air density (kg/m3 )

StefanBoltzmann constant (W/(m2 K4 ))

Subscripts and superscripts
conv
convection
Ei
infinitesimal element i in each pond
EntP,i brine stream entering in each pond i
evap
evaporation
ExitP,i brine stream exiting from each pond i
F
fresh treated brine
HE
plate heat exchanger
rad
radiation
sat
saturation
Solar solar energy
Tap
pond tap for the heated brine entrance
Domains
L
axial (m)
t
time (h)
Abbreviations
CSE
cogeneration system efficiency
GPE
global process efficiency
PHE
plate heat exchanger

Several powerful systematic methodologies have been

used in the last two decades to support Process Integration
activities to achieve a parametric and structural optimisation
of the industrial sites (Relvas, Fernandes, Matos, & Nunes,
2002).

R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

The main goal of this study is to build a model of an

industrial integrated system including three processes, and
through simulation identify the best operational conditions
to maximize its global energy efficiency and to minimize the
environmental impact, reducing the primary energy supply
and the raw materials usage. This industrial site is located at
Carrico, Pombal (Portugal) and includes:
a salt cavern construction process to build a natural gas
reservoir (owned by Transgas);
a gas turbine cogeneration system (owned by Galp Power);
a salt recrystallization process (owned by Renoeste).
The three processes considered as separated units are neither efficient nor feasible. The integration of these three independent units, as shown in Fig. 1, improves the global system
efficiency. The leaching programme to construct the caverns
for a future natural gas storage generates the brine needed to
feed the salt recrystallization ponds, minimizing the environmental damage. Those caverns will allow a strategic storage
for the Portuguese Natural Gas supply system, providing a
buffer for eventual future supply fluctuations on the national
supply and consumption. The cogeneration system provides
the electrical power to satisfy the processes needs and to export towards the regional net the remaining production. Its
associated thermal energy is used in the salt recrystallization
process through a set of plate heat exchangers as an interface between the two processes, improving the global energy
efficiency. The pure salt (NaCl) produced in the ponds by
Renoeste is the main raw material to Quimigals chemical
industrial site at Estarreja (Aveiro) (Moita et al., 2004, submitted for publication).

2. Framework developed
A dynamic model of the whole process, which includes
the cogeneration system and the salt production unit, was

1493

developed to determine the best conditions to maximize the

global energy efficiency. This framework allows a very wide
range of studies such as:
Analyse the behaviour and feasibility of the integrated processes, by verifying if crucial variables values (such as
stream temperatures) are within the advisable operational
intervals, and determine the global energy efficiency.
Study by simulation several scenarios of operating conditions such as start up or ponds working scheduling.
Study the effect of different atmospheric cases on the performance of the integrated process.
To obtain a global description of this integrated system, it
was considered mainly the following procedure and tools:
1. modelling and simulation of the cogeneration system
through GateCycle 5.34.0.r of the GE Enter Software;
2. determination of a thermal power correlation, through
TableCurve 3D from SPSS Inc., using data from cogeneration system;
3. design of a dynamic distributed model of the whole integrated system (cogeneration, plate heat exchangers and
salt production process) via gPROMS 2.3 of the PSE Ltd.
Using different atmospheric and operational conditions as
state variables it is possible to obtain as output of the model,
among other variables, the pond level, the brine temperature
and concentration profiles, the salt production and the process
thermal efficiency.

3. Analysis of the cogeneration system

The cogeneration system installed at the industrial site
consists of a RollsRoyce natural gas turbine (RB211T DLE)
and its associated economizer. The economizer is divided
into four serial set of tubes, each having a superficial area of
2302.5 m2 , in which circulates the water that will be heated

Fig. 1. The three processes integrated system.

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R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

Fig. 2. Model structure of the cogeneration system in GateCycle 5.34.0.r (nominal conditions).

with the exhaust turbine gases (leaving the turbine at approximately 500 C).
The cogeneration system is modelled in the simulator
GateCycle 5.34.0.r of the GE Enter Software. This software
allows to model, simulate and predict the performance of several energy systems, such as combined cycle plants, cogeneration systems, combined heat-and-power plants, advanced
gas turbines cycles, etc. (GateCycle Software Website, 2004).
Fig. 2 shows the model structure of the cogeneration system in this simulator, the general required input and the output
values for the nominal operating conditions.
This model allows the study of the influence of some variables, such as the air and natural gas temperatures or the wa-

ter circulation conditions, on the gas turbine and economizer

performance.
Fig. 3 illustrates the effect of air temperature on gas turbine
performance, namely the net electric power, natural gas heat
consumption, exhaust gases temperature and mass flow rate.
Fig. 4 highlights the influence of air temperature and cold
water entering into the economizer on the thermal power
available and on the exit gases temperature.
From the analysis of these figures it is possible to conclude
that the air temperature strongly influences the cogeneration
system response: an increase of 10 C in Tair (above 15 C)
causes a reduction of almost 10% in the electric power and
around 3% in the thermal power. The thermal power avail-

Fig. 3. Variation of net electric power, natural gas consumption, exhaust gases temperature and mass flow rate with air temperature.

R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

1495

Fig. 4. Variation of thermal power and exit gases temperature with air temperature and with cold water temperature.

able is also very dependent on the temperature of the cold

water entering in the economizer (T1 ): an increase of 10 C
in T1 leads to a reduction of around 2% in the thermal power.
Furthermore, the maximum thermal power is reached at Tair
around 15 C, with the smallest working T1 value.
Fig. 5 shows the temperature of the heated water leaving
the economizer (T2 ) as a function of Tair and of the cold
water temperature T1 . In this figure it is also represented the
advisable operational temperature interval for the circulation
water in the economizer: T2 = 90 5 C and T1 = 65 5 C.
Through simulation in GateCycle it was also concluded
that air humidity does not have a significant effect on the
system and that the pre-heating of the natural gas slightly
increases the turbine efficiency in the temperature range used
at the site (35 C).
It was also possible to obtain a correlation of thermal
power as a function of cold water temperature (T1 ) and air
temperature (Tair ), using TableCurve 3D from SPSS Inc.,
which was included in the integrated process model discussed
in the next section.

4. Dynamic model of the integrated system

The integrated system includes the cogeneration system,
the four plate heat exchangers and the salt production unit.
This unit involves, mainly, a maximum of six recrystallization
ponds, a feed tank and a collecting channel, as illustrated in
Fig. 6. This section presents all the algebraic and differential
equations used to model each one of these physical units.
The global dynamic model of the integrated process includes all these mathematical equations. It is based on known
physicalchemical relationships, which includes the conservation of mass and energy, as well as transport phenomena
and thermodynamics relationships (phase equilibrium, heat
transfer, etc.), and therefore it can be classified as a fundamental model (Bequette, 1998).
4.1. Cogeneration system
The cogeneration system is modelled via the thermal
power correlation obtained through the simulated values of

Fig. 5. Variation of heated water temperature with air temperature and with cold water temperature.

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R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

Fig. 6. Integrated process: cogeneration system, plate exchangers and salt production unit.

the cogeneration systemEq. (1), which was reduced in 3%

due to general energy losses in the pathwayEq. (2). It depends on the temperature of the air (Tair ) and of the cold water
entering in the economizer (T1 ). In this system there is neither heat nor mass accumulation, that is, it is treated as if in
a pseudo-steady-state since there is a time variation on the
entering water stream and atmospheric conditions:



8

i
PGateCycle = a + bT1 +
ci Tair 3.6
(1)
i=1

EThermal = 0.97PGateCycle

are equal:
EThermal
= UHE AHE Tlm
4

(3)

where the service overall heat transfer coefficient (UHE ), under fouling conditions, is 24.69 MJ/(m2 C h), the exchanger
area (AHE ) is 78.2 m2 and the logarithmic mean temperature
difference Tlm is a function given by:
Tlm =

(T2 THE ) (T1 Ttank )



THE
ln TT12T
tank

(4)

(2)

The constant values for a, b and c1 to c8, are given in

Table 1.
4.2. Plate heat exchangers set
The plate heat exchangers (PHE) are the physical connecting set between the cogeneration system and the recrystallization process. The PHE set was included using its design
equation, heat balances at both water and brine sides and material balances, assuming there is neither mass nor energy
accumulation inside the exchangers.
The PHE design equation Eq. (3) (Kakac & Liu, 2002),
in a counter-current flow arrangement, is applied to each exchanger since it is considered that all four heat exchangers

T1 , T2 , Ttank and THE are the temperatures of the cold and

heated water in the economizer and of the exit streams of the
tank and the PHE, respectively.
The PHE heat balance on the water side (Eq. (5)) is
based on the linear correlations obtained via simulated values in GateCycle for the water stream enthalpies (hwater 1
and hwater 2) . The zero-point of enthalpy is liquid water at
the triple-point: 0 C (GateCycle, 2001). It is also accounted
for the different pressures values in the water streams (inlet:
500 kPa; outlet: 490 kPa):
EThermal = Mwater [hwater2 hwater1 ]103

(5)

hwater1 = 4.1835T1 + 0.02714

(6)

hwater 2 = 4.2040T2 1.5812

(7)

Table 1
Constants a, b and c1 to c8 , for the thermal power correlation (Eq. (1))
a
45 078

b
88.73

c1
910.5

c2
244.6

c3
40.49

c4
3.56

c5
0.17

c6

c7

c8

0.00457

6.356 105

3.577 107

R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

1497

Fig. 7. Phase thermodynamics equilibrium: solid, liquid and gas.

Mwater is the mass flow rate of the water stream circulating in

the economizer and is equal to 1.47 106 kg/h.
Eq. (8) represents the PHE heat balance on the brine side,
in which HHE and Htank are the enthalpies of the outlet and
inlet streams in the exchangers set, respectively:
EThermal = HHE Htank

nate FM (FM = 100X/):



= 0.5 0 + 02 + 400X(7.7780 0.0063176T ) (11)
0 = 1001.23 0.22715T 0.0020480T 2

(12)

(8)
The Q and X values of the brine stream leaving the PHE
are calculated via the material balances for the brine and for
the salt (Eqs. (13) and (14)). It is assumed that there is no salt
precipitation within the exchangers:

The enthalpy reference state considered in all streams corresponds to the components in their state of aggregation at
25 C (that is, liquid water and solid NaCl). Thus, the enthalpy of a liquid brine stream with a flow rate (Q), salt concentration (X), temperature (T) and brine density () will be
determined through Eq. (9) (Coulson & Richardson, 1989;
Houghen, Watson, & Ragatz, 1972):

Qtank tank = QHE HE

(13)

Qtank Xtank = QHE XHE

(14)

H = Q[( X)Cpwater (T 25) + XCpNaCl (T 25)

4.3. Splitter unit

+ X Hdiss ]

(9)

where Cpwater and CpNaCl are mean heat capacity values calculated using the expressions given by Perry
and Green (1997), and are equal to 4.189 103 and
0.8712 103 MJ/(kg C), respectively. The heat of dissolution Hdiss (Eq. (10)) is determined through a linear correlation based on the enthalpies of formation values given by
Wagman et al. (1982), for X > 150 kg/m3 :




nwater
(10)
+ 19.4063 103
Hdiss = 1.3712
nNaCl
where n represents the number of moles of the respective
component.
Thus, the enthalpies values HHE and Htank are determined
through equations Eqs. (9) and (10), by considering the adequate values for Q, X, T and .
The brine density is related with brine concentration and
temperature values through Eqs. (11) and (12). This correlation was obtained using the tabulated values of the density at
different temperatures and salt mass fractions (FM ) presented
in Perry and Green (1997). The expression was modified in
Mathematica 4.1.0.9 of the Wolfram Research Inc. to elimi-

After leaving the plate heat exchangers set, the heated

brine is divided into the working ponds, as it can be seen in
Fig. 6. This is an isothermal process, and therefore it is only
required to determine the brine flow rate fraction entering in
each pond:
QEntP,i = fEntP,i QHE ,

i = 1, . . . , 6

(15)

4.4. Pond unit

As it is illustrated in Fig. 6, the salt production process
involves a maximum of six recrystallization ponds, which
for modelling purposes are considered to be equal.
The dynamic model proposed is built through algebraic
and differential equations taking into account the phase equilibrium thermodynamics: solid, liquid and gas equilibrium
(see Fig. 7). It is a distributed model, since there is a change
in the variables within both time and axial domain, providing
the expected profile inside the ponds and allowing modelling
the heated brine entrance through one or both the two existing
taps in each pond. It involves material and heat balances, as
well as constitutive relationships (Bequette, 1998).

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R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

4.4.1. Material balances

Consider a parallelepiped volume element V (in the axial domain L) and a time element t, in which there is a
continuous brine flow, a brine entrance through the tap in the
element, water evaporation and salt precipitation. Applying
the law of mass conservation for the brine solution contained
in the element considered, and after mathematical manipulation, results into the brine material balance equation Eq. (16)
(Bequette, 1998):
Ei W

(Z)
(Ei QEi )
=
Mevap,Ei W MNaClpp,Ei W
t
L
+ QL,Tap,Ei Tap,Ei
(16)

where W, the pond width, is 54.8 m and Ei represents the

infinitesimal element i.
QL,Tap,Ei is the brine flow rate entering in Ei through the
tap, per unit length of the element. There are two taps in each
pond, located in specific axial positions. Therefore, QL,Tap,Ei
is either equal to 0 (no tap exists in the element) or equal to the
total flow entering the pond multiplied by the brine entrance
flow fraction in the tap (between 0 and 1) and divided by the
element length (pond length182.5 m divided by the number
of elements considered).

and the salinity S:

S = 100

X
X

(19)

Pbrine and Pair are the water vapour partial pressure at brine
and air temperature, respectively, and are determined through
equation Eq. (20) (Perry & Green, 1997) by considering the
brine and air temperatures:

7258.2
P = exp 73.649
7.3037 ln[T + 273.15]
T + 273.15

(20)
+ 4.1653 106 (T + 273.15)2
The salt material balance is determined by applying to the
same infinitesimal element the law of mass conservation for
the salt presented in the brine solution (Eqs. (21)(24)). It
is assumed that precipitation only occurs when the concentration of the brine solution is 0.05 kg/m3 above its saturation value (XEi Xsat,Ei 0.05). The salt precipitation rate
MNaClpp,Ei is determined through the material balance equation (Eq. (22)) and the salt concentration value is fixed (Eq.
(21)). If the solution is not supersaturated, X will be computed
by the balance equation (Eq. (24)), with MNaClpp,Ei = 0:
Equations used if XEi Xsat,Ei 0.05:

XEi = Xsat,Ei + 0.05

(21)

(XEi QEi )
(Z)

=
MNaClpp,Ei W + QL,Tap,Ei XTap,Ei
XEi W
t
L
Equations used if XEi Xsat,Ei < 0.05

MNaClpp,Ei = 0

(XEi QEi )
(XEi Z)
W
=
+ QL,Tap,Ei XTap,Ei
t
L
The water evaporation rate (Mevap ) is a function of the salt
concentration (X), of the temperature of the brine solution
(T) and of the atmospheric conditions (air temperature Tair ,
humidity and wind velocity Vwind ), and corresponds to the
mixed laminar-turbulent flow regime (Sartori, 1991, 2000):
0.8 L0.2 0.01107L1 ]
[0.00407Vwind
c
c

Mevap =

[Xm Pbrine Pair ]3600

Patm

(17)

Lc is the characteristic length (equal to 54.8 m when wind

direction is north), and the mole fraction of the water Xm is
given by:
Xm =

1
S
1 + 0.621 100S

(18)

(22)

(23)
(24)

The brine saturation concentration Xsat is calculated

through equation Eq. (25):
Xsat =

Sol
sat
Sol + 100

(25)

where the salt solubility in the water Sol is given by equation

Eq. (26) (Langer & Offermann, 1982), and the saturation
density sat by equations Eqs. (11) and (12), using the Xsat
value:
Sol =

35.549 0.23125T
1 0.0069163T

(26)

The total salt mass obtained in the whole pond

(MNaClpp,total ) is determined by:
(MNaClpp,total )
=
t

L=182.5
L=0

MNaClpp,Ei W dL

(27)

R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

4.4.2. Energy balances

The same parallelepiped volume element V and time
element t were considered. In this case, it will also be accounted for the energy losses due to radiation and convection, as well as the solar energy, which is absorbed through
the brine solution contained in the defined element. The resulting energy balance is given by:
W

(HT,Ei )
(HEi )
=
Eevap,Ei W Erad,Ei W
t
L
Econv,Ei W + ENaclpp,Ei W + Esolar,Ei W
+ HL,Tap,Ei

(28)

The enthalpy of the liquid brine streams HEi and HL ,Tap,Ei

are computed via equations Eqs. (9) and (10), using (Q, X, T,
)Ei and (QL , X, T, )Tap,Ei values, respectively.
The total enthalpy in the element HT,Ei is calculated
through equation Eq. (29), for the same enthalpy reference
state as before, and the heat of dissolution in the element
(Hdiss,Ei ) determined by Eq. (10), with the corresponding T
and X values of Ei:
HT = Z[( X)Cpwater (T 25) + XCpNaCl (T 25)
+ X Hdiss ]

(29)

The enthalpy of a vapor water stream, according to the

enthalpy reference state defined, is determined by:
Eevap = Mevap [evap + Cpwater (T 25)]

(30)

with the water evaporation rate Mevap determined by Eq. (17)

and the latent heat of vaporization evap by a linear correlation
based on the values given by Daubert (1985):
evap = [2503.0 2.432T ]103

(31)

Thus, the enthalpy stream value Eevap,Ei is computed

through Eqs. (30) and (31) at the brine temperature in the
element Ei.
The radiation energy losses through the horizontal brine
surface (Erad ) depends on the sky and brine temperatures
(Incropera & DeWitt, 2001):
Erad = [(T + 273.15)4 (Tsky + 273.15)4 ]3.6 103
(32)
where is the surface emissivity (equal to 0.95), is the
StefanBoltzmann constant (5.67 108 W/(m2 K4 )) and
Tsky is the sky temperature calculated by Eq. (33) (Sartori,
1996):


Tdew-point 1/4
Tsky = [Tair + 273.15] 0.8 +
273.15 (33)
250
The dew-point temperature is correlated with the air temperature and humidity through the psychometric charts pre-

1499

sented by Perry and Green (1997), and is computed by:

Pdew-point = Pair

(34)

Pdew-point and Pair are the water vapour partial pressure at

dew-point and dry air temperature, respectively, and are determined though equation Eq. (20), by replacing those values.
Because of the air movement above the liquid brine surface
there are energy losses due to forced convection. These are
dependent on both brine temperature and atmospheric conditions (air temperature Tair and wind velocity Vwind ), and are
determined by considering the mixed laminar-turbulent flow
regime (Incropera & DeWitt, 2001):
0.8
3
L0.2
d2 L1
(35)
Econv = [d1 Vwind
c
c ][T Tair ]3.6 10

The constants values d1 and d2 depend on the air physical

properties:
2/3

1/3

7/15 0.8
air

d1 = 0.037Kair Cp,air air

(36)

2/3

(37)

1/3

1/3

d2 = 871Kair Cp,air air

where the air conductivity (Kair ), heat capacity (Cp,air ), viscosity (air ) and density (air ) are calculated through correlations, as a function of temperature, based on the tabulated
values given by Perry and Green (1997). Thus, using the
mean air temperature value of 25 C gives: d1 = 6.006 and
d2 = 20.30.
The enthalpy of the salt (NaCl solid) precipitated stream,
in the element Ei, is computed by:
ENaClpp,Ei = CpNaCl (TEi 25)MNaClpp,Ei

(38)

The extraterrestrial solar radiation, at the top of the atmosphere, depends on the geographic coordinates as well as
on the time of the day, month and year. Its monthly average
value (10 years data) can be retrieved from NASA Website
(2004), at latitude: 39.983 and longitude: 8.8. The solar
radiation that reaches the earths surface is lower due to absorption and scattering by the atmospheric constituents, and
is a sum of the direct and diffuse contributions (Incropera
& DeWitt, 2001). These values are estimated through the
Castro-Diez, Aladaos-Arboledas, and Jimenez (1989) work,
using sunshine data collected at the site and the retrieved
NASA values. Part of the radiation that reaches the brine surface is reflected (Weinberger, 1964), part is absorbed and the
rest passes through. The net solar energy value considered in
the energy balance equation Eq. (28), Esolar,Ei , is the radiation
absorbed by the brine, which is calculated using the Rabl and
Nielsen (1975) work, assuming a light path of two times the
brine depth.
4.4.3. Boundary and initial conditions
As the model includes first order partial differential equations in the spatial domain boundary conditions must be defined for the distributed state variables, namely, for the brine
concentration (Eq. (39)), temperature (Eq. (40)), flow rate

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R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

(Eq. (41)) and salt precipitation rate (Eq. (42)):


X 
=0
L L=0

T 
=0
L L=0
Q|L=0 = 0

MNaClpp L=0 = 0

there is no salt precipitation:

(39)

Mevap,tank Atank

(41)

The brine density value of each stream is determined by equations Eqs. (11) and (12), using X and T values on its respective
streams. The purge stream X and T values are equal to Xtank
and Ttank , respectively. The water evaporation rate (Mevap,tank )
is computed by equation Eq. (17) replacing T and X with Ttank
and Xtank values, and by considering a characteristic length
(Lc ) of 4 m, if wind direction is north. Tank area value (Atank )
is equal to 40 m2 .
The brine flow rate collected by the channel (Qchannel ) is
determined through Eq. (46), and therefore it is necessary an
extra equation to calculate the brine level in the tankZtank .
All hydrodynamics phenomenon are ignored, so Ztank is considered to be associated with the brine level inside all the
ponds. This value is obtained by the weighted mean of the
ponds brine levels (Zi , i = 1, . . ., 6) plus the 50 cm difference
between the tank and ponds floor (Eq. (47)):
6
Zi QExitP,i
Ztank = i=1
+ 0.5
(47)
6
i=1 QExitP,i

(42)

4.5. Channel unit

The brine leaving from each working pond flows to the
tank through the channel. For modelling purposes, the channel will be considered as a collecting unit only. It is in steadystate conditions, without neither salt precipitation nor water
evaporation. All hydrodynamics phenomenon are ignored,
and therefore the brine flow rate leaving each pond is considered to be a fraction of the total brine flow rate that goes into
the tank (Eq. (43)):
i = 1, . . . , 6

(43)

The temperature and salt concentration of the brine leaving

the channel is the weighted mean of its corresponding values
in the exit streams from the ponds (Eqs. (44) and (45)):
6
XExitP,i QExitP,i
Xchannel = i=1
(44)
6
i=1 QExitP,i
6
Tchannel =

i=1 TExitP,i QExitP,i

6
i=1 QExitP,i

(Ztank )
= QF F + Qchannel channel
t
Qpurge tank Qtank tank

(40)

It is also necessary to define the initial values of the state

variables, that is, at time zero. Initial values for the brine
level (Z), brine concentration (XEi ) and temperature (TEi ) in
each element Ei, as well as for the total salt mass precipitated
(MNaCl,total ), are given.

QExitP,i = fExitP,i Qchannel ,

tank Atank

(45)

4.6. Tank unit

The tank is the physical connecting unit between the salt
production process and the plate heat exchangers set, as it can
be seen in Fig. 6. Through this unit it is received the brine collected in the channel, mixed with the fresh treated brine, and
then sent to the heat exchangers set, discounting the system
purge. It is modeled using algebraic and ordinary differential
equations, which consist in the brine and salt material balances and its energy balance. It is a lumped model, since the
state variables change only with time (Bequette, 1998).
Equation Eq. (46) represents the macroscopic brine material balance, assuming a perfectly mixed system, and taking
into account for all entering and exiting streams. Considering the small dimensions of the tank and its permanent fluid
stirring due to the strong pumps suction, it is assumed that

(46)

The brine level time variation inside the tank (Ztank /t) is
also associated with its variation inside the ponds:
6  Zi 
i=1 t QExitP,i
Ztank
=
(48)
6
t
i=1 QExitP,i
When a state variable is specified in a DAE system in order
to compute a term on the right hand side of a differential
equation an index problem could arise. To avoid this index
problem, due to the calculation of the state variable Ztank by
equation Eq. (47), it was used an auxiliary variable for the
time derivative of the tank brine level in equations Eqs. (46)
and (48): VAR = (Ztank )/t.
The corresponding salt material balance is given by equation Eq. (49):
Atank

(Xtank Ztank )
= QF XF + Qchannel Xchannel
t
Qpurge Xtank Qtank Xtank

(49)

The tank energy balance equation is given by Eq. (50).

Due to the tank small surface area the energy losses by radiation and convection, as well as the solar energy, were not
considered:
Atank

(HT,tank )
= HF + Hchannel Hpurge Htank
t
Eevap,tank Atank

(50)

R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

The total enthalpy inside the tank HT,tank is calculated through

equation Eq. (29), with Hdiss,tank value obtained by Eq. (10),
using Ttank and Xtank values.
The enthalpy of the liquid brine streams HF , Hchannel ,
Hpurge and Htank are computed via equations Eqs. (9) and
(10), using its (Q, X, T, ) respective values.
The enthalpy value Eevap,tank is determined by Eqs. (30)
and (31), using Ttank .
The brine concentration and temperature initial values, at
time zero, are given.

5. Dynamic simulations
The whole integrated system was modelled through the
general-purpose modelling, simulation and optimisation tool
gPROMS 2.3, of the Process System Enterprise Ltd. This software allows to adequately handling process discontinuities,
lumped and distributed systems and many different types of
operating procedures (gPROMS, 2004).
Fig. 8 is an information flow diagram illustrating the dynamic model structure implemented in this software. There
are five sub-models, each corresponding to an industrial physical unit, including the algebraic and differential equations
needed to describe each system. Some variables referring to
the brine flow rate (Q), concentration (X), temperature (T) and
density () are used as connecting sub-models information.
The global model that includes all these units is labelled
as the Recrystallization Unit model. Model Heating refers to
the plate heat exchangers equation set using also the thermal
power (TP) correlation determined previously. In the model
FlowSeparation the brine flow rate fraction that is sent to each
independent pond is determined. In the model Pond i (i = 1,
. . ., 6) all mass and heat balances equations and other relations
(such as: equilibrium, heat and mass transfer) are included to
characterize the brine profiles (for instance: temperature and
salt concentration) inside the ponds. Model Channel takes

1501

into account the brine received from each working pond allowing to characterize the brine entering in the feed tank
(model Tank). Through this model Tank it is included the information on the fresh treated brine fed to the recrystallization
unit and the purge of the system.
The external atmospheric conditions are included in the
models Heating and Pond i.
The model described in Section 4.4 is axially distributed.
For this kind of systems the selection of an appropriate discretisation method is crucial (gPROMS, 1998). For purely
convective problems the finite method is suggested with a
general rule: discretisation method opposite to the direction
of the flow. As the axial domain goes from top to bottom it
was chosen the backward finite difference method.
The total number of model variables depends on the number of discretisation intervals used in the axial distributed domain. For 20 intervals its value is approximately 5800, while
for 60 intervals is around 15,000. An increase of the number
of intervals requires a greater computational effort.
Among all the model variables, it is important to identify
the decision and the state variables. The decision variables are
the ones that allow verifying if the system response is within
its region of working feasibility. In this case, to respect the operational intervals of the temperature of the circulation water,
the model decision variables would be either the heated water
temperature T2 (with T2 = 90 5 C) or the brine temperature
in the collecting channel (since it can be correlated with T1
and T2 ). The state variables are independent variables with a
considerable influence in the system behaviour, and should
be carefully analysed. So, for the integrated process the main
state variables are: the number of ponds in service, the atmospheric conditions, the fresh brine flow rate, the initial brine
conditions, the number of plate exchangers working and the
flow rate of the brine pumped into the plate heat exchangers.
Table 2 summarizes the model mathematical structure.
Using the developed dynamic model of the integrated process, through simulation in gPROMS, it is possible to analyse

Fig. 8. Structure of the dynamic model of the integrated process in gPROMS 2.3.

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R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

Table 2
Mathematical structure the dynamic model
Main input variables

Main output variables

Typical performance statistics for 60 elements

Atmospheric conditions (d(t))

Tair , Vwind , , Esolar

Distributed
T
X
MNaClpp
Mevap

Number of variables
Differential: 1114
Algebraic: 14 538

Operational conditions (u(t))

Number of working ponds
Number of equations: 15 652
Taps used in each pond
Number of exchangers working
Others
Process time horizon: 1 month
Brine flow rate Qtank
Z
gPROMS execution time: 150 sa
Fraction fEntP for each pond
Ethermal
Fresh treated brine: QF , XF , TF
T1 and T2
Initial conditions to the ponds and the tank: Z(0), T(0), X(0), MNaCl (0) Process efficiencies: CSE and GPE
u(t): input variables that can be manipulated to optimise the system performance.
d(t): Input variables that correspond to external disturbances.
a Pentium 4, 2.0 GHz, 524 MB RAM.

the effect of some of these state variables on the system and

to study some scenarios in some special conditions.
5.1. Start-up conditions
Since it was necessary to have an operational plan to startup the recrystallization process, several studies were made to
determine the best start-up conditions: function of the minimum number of ponds, the initial brine levels and the fresh
brine flow rate. The simulations allowed concluding that the
atmospheric conditions have a very strong influence on the
system response since they modify the water evaporation
rate. Among several possible atmospheric conditions, it was
concluded that it is not possible to start the reception of the
thermal energy from the cogeneration system with less than
three ponds in service, to respect the operational intervals of
temperatures. The brine level only influences the system response in the beginning, since it led to the same steady state
conditions. The flow rate of fresh brine allowed is also very
dependent on the evaporation rate.
5.2. Scenarios of scheduling working ponds
To address one of the main objectives of this work several
scenarios of scheduling working ponds have been analysed.
Thus, four different scenarios were evaluated. In the first sce-

nario there are four ponds in service receiving the thermal

power through an identical flow rate of heated brine. In the
second scenario there are also four ponds working, however
the first pond is a turbo because it receives a larger quantity of heated brine. The third scenario considers only three
working ponds, with one of them as a turbo pond. In the
last scenario there are four ponds involved but only three are
working simultaneously, and the first pond is also a turbo
(see Fig. 9). The average atmospheric conditions considered
were: Tair = 12 C, Vwind = 4.5 m/s, humidity = 82% and net
solar energy = 3.7 MW.
For all scenarios, the temperatures of the water circulating
in the economizer are within their defined operational intervals. It was observed that in the scenarios 3 and 4, with only
three working ponds, water evaporates up to 6% more than in
scenarios 1 and 2. Having a pond that receives a larger quantity of heated brine than the others is even a more favourable
scenario. The brine temperature in the turbo pond increases
up to 8 C. Thus, amongst all scenarios the more efficient
scheduling procedure was the third one.
Starting from the initial status (no solid, level = 1.5 m,
T = 22 C and X = 215 kg/m3 ) the salt production follows
the evaporation profile, therefore the precipitation of the
salt only occurs when three ponds were utilized (scenarios 3 and 4), for the period time interval assumed.
The third scenario was also the more adequate, since it

Fig. 9. Fraction of heated brine entering in each pond for several scheduling scenarios.

R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

1503

Fig. 10. Variation of the circulation water temperatures for two atmospheric cases, with the number of ponds indicated ((

enhances and accelerates the salt production (3.6 times

more).
5.3. Effect of atmospheric conditions
Fig. 10 shows the variation of the temperature of the water
circulating in the economizer (T1 and T2 ) for two different
atmospheric cases. In the first case study Tair = 20.7 C, humidity = 41.7% and Vwind = 1.5 m/s. The second case study
has the same values for the air temperature and humidity, but
a wind velocity of 2.0 m/s. In both cases, four ponds are in
service (receiving heated brine) while the fifth is filled up,
then five ponds are in service while the sixth is filled up, and
finally all the six ponds are working. From this figure it is possible to analyse the strong influence of the wind velocity on
the system and to conclude that for the most favourable atmospheric conditions (Vwind = 2 m/s) it is only required the use of

) feasible working region).

four ponds. However, when the wind velocity is smaller, and

therefore the water evaporation rate is reduced, it becomes
necessary to use at least five ponds, to obey the operational
defined temperature intervals.
5.4. Inuence of day and night patterns of atmospheric
conditions
Since the atmospheric conditions influence the system behaviour it is essential to analyse how the different day and
night patterns of air temperature, humidity, solar energy and
wind velocity values affect the system response. A typical
spring profile for the atmospheric conditions was assumed,
in which the air temperature varies from 5 C (at night) to
20 C (during the day). Air humidity varies from 85% (at
night) to 50% (at daylight). The wind velocity and the net solar energy vary from 0.5 to 3.5 m/s and 0 to 3.5 kWh/(m2 day),

Fig. 11. Effect of the day and night patterns on the water circulation temperatures with 3, 4 and 3 + 1 ponds ((

) feasible working region).

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R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

Fig. 12. Energy distribution in the recrystallization ponds for two example cases.

respectively. From this study it was possible to conclude that

it would be advisable to use an extra pond during the night
to respect the mentioned operational temperatures intervals,
as illustrated in Fig. 11. The industrial experience at the site
has confirmed that the highest temperatures values for the
circulation water were observed in the morning.

(GPE) of the integrated process is inferior to its CSE value.

The GPE efficiency is calculated by the ratio between evaporation power plus electrical power and the natural gas heat
consumption. It is strongly dependent on the atmospheric and
operational conditions considered, as illustrated in Fig. 12.
Simulations showed that the global process efficiency is in
the range of 7080%.

6. Determination of the process energy efciencies

7. Conclusions and future work
The cogeneration system efficiency (CSE) of the integrated process is the ratio of thermal and electrical power
over natural gas heat consumption. This value is dependent
on the atmospheric conditions and in average it is approximately 92%. During the recrystallization process there are
energy losses due for instance to radiation and convection
from the open-air ponds. So, the global process efficiency

A dynamic model was built to simulate the behaviour

of an integrated process that includes the cogeneration system and the salt recrystalisation process. The influence of
some variables on the cogeneration system performance was
studied using GateCycle 5.34.0.r. Then, a dynamic model
of the whole integrated process was developed and simu-

R.D. Moita et al. / Computers and Chemical Engineering 29 (2005) 14911505

lated in gPROMS 2.3. Different scenarios were explored with

the purpose of maximizing the global process efficiency, by
analysing the influence of several atmospheric and operational conditions on the integrated system.
The advantage of a model that can simulate the main processes is to minimize the negative influence caused by some
adverse atmospheric conditions to achieve the highest possible global efficiencies. Furthermore, the better understanding
of the integrated system acquired by simulating the process
under different possible scenarios, allows the definition of an
improved set of operational conditions to obtain a long-term
profitable business.
Future work will include the study of the spray system
effect on the salt production and long-term time simulations,
accounting for day and night patterns of atmospheric conditions. Moreover this will allow to obtain in advance the salt
harvesting activity scheduling.

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support
from the Portuguese National Team on Process Integration
(Grupo Nacional de Integraca o de Processos, GNIP), which
has been operating in Portugal, within the framework of the
Process Integration Implementing Agreement.

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