Study of the Energy Performance of the Air Gas Production Unit at the Bellara Complex
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Date
2025
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Publisher
National Higher School of Technology and Engineering-Annaba
Abstract
The cryogenic air separation is a critical step in industrial applications requiring high purity oxygen and nitrogen production such as steel making industries. This study focuses on evaluating the performance of the air separation unit located in Bellara, Jijel, using Aspen HYSYS V11 simulations, thermodynamic reference tables, and process flow diagrams. Key performance indicators were established as follows: the separation efficiency was determined at 21.66%, within the expected range for double-column systems, while the overall efficiency was found to be 53%. The specific energy consumption for the total pure product was 0.47 kWh/kg, compared to 0.74 kWh/kg for high-purity oxygen. Despite facing major challenges due to limited access to actual plant data, mainly due to confidentiality policies, the study successfully produced a technically reliable and insightful analysis. Importantly, the unit has not yet exhibited any significant degradation in performance, and the results obtained serve as proof of stable operation. This study demonstrates that simulation and thermodynamic analysis can effectively uncover performance insights even when real data is incomplete