Work exchange is a promising innovative technology in recovering residual pressure energy. However, at the systematic level, the comprehensive utilization of different energy resources in an energy system has become an issue of concern. In this work, a systematic approach is proposed, one that successively integrates heat, work and adjusts operation parameters. A detailed procedure for building a heat-work coupling transfer network is provided. The synthesis mainly consists of constructing a work exchange sub-network with pinch analysis based on positive displacement type work exchangers. Simultaneously, another kind of sub-network based on turbine-type work exchangers is built as a schematic comparison. The influence of applying a positive displacement work exchanger on the system is investigated. Finally, as a case study, a renovation design of a typical rectisol process in the coal-water slurry gasification section of an ammonia plant is presented. The results show that the added work exchanger has little impact on the existing heat exchange sub-network. Moreover, extra pressure energy is recovered by coupling the transfer network. It is concluded that the heat-work systematic design is a promising and powerful method to use energy more efficiently. (C) 2016 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press. All rights reserved.