Abstract
Waste heat recovery is considered as one of the most promising options to improve the efficiency and sustainability of industrial processes. Even though industrial waste heat is abundantly available and its utilization is not a new concept, the implementation rate of waste-heat recovery interventions in industrial facilities is still low, due to several real or perceived barriers. Foremost challenges are represented by technical, economic, financial and regulatory factors. An additional prominent barrier lies in the lack or incompleteness of information concerning the material and energy flows within the factories, and the types and characteristics of waste heat sources and possible sinks for their internal or external reuse. With the aim to overcome some of the information barriers and increase the willingness of companies to approach waste heat recovery and reuse, a methodology to map waste heat sources and sinks in industrial processes is proposed in this study. The approach here presented combines information from the most relevant publications on the subject and data gathered from the analysis of energy audits carried out by large and energy-intensive enterprises. In order to demonstrate its feasibility, the methodology was applied to the Italian dairy sector, because of its large energy consumption and its enormous potential for the utilization of low-temperature waste heat sources.
Highlights
Energy efficiency represents one of the key principles of the European energy policies, being considered as the most affordable and effective way to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and energy dependency, increase the security of supply and strengthen the competitiveness and environmental sustainability of EU countries.As part of the Clean Energy for all Europeans package [1], the revised Energy EfficiencyDirective (EED) [2] set a new binding target of at least 32.5% energy efficiency by 2030, that would lead to a reduction in GHG emissions of about 45%
Using the information gathered from scientific articles and technical manuals concerning the efficiency of industrial processes, waste heat sources are characterized, depending on data availability, in terms of type of vector, temperature, pressure, mass flow rate and theoretical waste heat recoverable
The paragraph outlines the findings of this analysis, the waste heat recovery interventions envisaged bymain enterprises to improve their energy with a focus on waste heat sources identified within the manufacturing processes of dairy efficiency
Summary
Energy efficiency represents one of the key principles of the European energy policies, being considered as the most affordable and effective way to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions and energy dependency, increase the security of supply and strengthen the competitiveness and environmental sustainability of EU countries. The methodology provides for the definition of a typical production process, the selection of process phases generating low-grade waste heat sources, the identification and thermodynamic characterization of waste heat sources at phase-level and, the definition of possible sinks for waste heat reuse This step-by-step approach is based on data from literature review and its validation via comparison with the information retrieved from the analysis of energy audits. Using the information gathered from scientific articles and technical manuals concerning the efficiency of industrial processes, waste heat sources are characterized, depending on data availability, in terms of type of vector (exhaust gas, steam, condensate, etc.), temperature, pressure, mass flow rate and theoretical waste heat recoverable.
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