An integration method for the refinery hydrogen network with coupling sink and source

•An integration method is developed with the variation of coupled sink and source considered.•The quantitative equations between the fresh hydrogen and coupled streams are deduced.•The quantitative diagrams are built to analyze the sulfur content and inlet hydrogen.•The pinch, utility and the optimal inlet hydrogen can be identified.

An integration method is developed for hydrogen network with the variation of the coupled sink and source considered. For sources or sink-tie-lines with different locations, the quantitative equations between the hydrogen utility adjustment and the coupled sink and source are deduced, and are simplified for the situations with the variations of the sulfur content of the material oil and inlet hydrogen. Based on this, the variations of the sulfur content, inlet hydrogen flow rate and inlet hydrogen purity versus hydrogen utility adjustment diagrams are built to analyze the effect of the corresponding parameters. The location and variation of the pinch point, the minimum hydrogen utility adjustment and the optimal inlet hydrogen are indicated by the far right broken line. The proposed method is simple and easy understanding. It can be applied to deal with the optimization problems of the hydrogen network with unfixed sink and/or source streams and analyze the effect of the inlet streams and operating parameters of the hydrogen consuming reactor, as shown by case study.