Unified Model of Purification Units in Hydrogen Networks

Purification processes are widely used in hydrogen networks of refineries to increase hydrogen reuse. In refineries, hydrogen purification techniques include hydrocarbon, hydrogen sulfide and CO removal units. In addition, light hydrocarbon recovery from the hydrogen source streams can also result in hydrogen purification. In order to simplify the superstructure and mathematical model of hydrogen network integration, the models of different purification processes are unified in this paper, including mass balance and the expressions for hydrogen recovery and impurity removal ratios, which are given for all the purification units in refineries. Based on the proposed unified model, a superstructure of hydrogen networks with purification processes is constructed.