Modeling the Energy Consumption of Chemical Batch Plants Top-Down Approach

Abstract

The aim of this work is the development of models describing the energy consumption of chemical batch plants. These models can then be used to forecast and optimize future energy consumption of the plants investigated. Three multipurpose batch plants, two multiproduct batch plants, and one monoproduct batch plant were analyzed. The utilities investigated were steam, brine, and electricity. In a first step, a top-down approach was used to investigate whether it is possible to correlate the overall energy consumption with the total amount of chemicals produced in a building. The results showed that the postulated model for energy consumption on the building level is suitable for monoproduct batch plants. For multiproduct and multipurpose batch plants, a good description of energy consumption was obtained only if the different chemicals produced had similar production processes or if the production mix stayed constant over time. The postulated model was not suitable for multiproduct or multipurpose batch pla...