Industrial Energy Demand Research Articles

A Review of Power Electronics Applications for Wind Energy Systems in Microgrids

Wind energy conversion systems continue to show promises as energy source of the future. To champion the supply for future industrial and domestic energy demand, it is imperative to improve on their reliability, energy extraction efficiency and security as these factors would enormously affect their viability and deployment. This paper presents an overview of the applications of power electronics to speed control of generators in wind energy conversion systems. Wind energy conversion system, the basis on which they are classified and their various components are concisely reviewed. Further, an up-to-date highlight of wind turbines speed control schemes is presented with focus on the roles of power electronics in these schemes. Concluding, necessary technological and economic development to aid applications of power electronics devices in emerging wind energy systems and their significance to the microgrid is understudied.

Comparison of Small-Scale Wind Energy Conversion Systems: Economic Indexes

Wind energy is considered as one of the most prominent sources of energy for sustainable development. This technology is of interest owing to its capability to produce clean, eco-friendly, and cost-effective energy for small-scale users and rural areas where grid power availability is insufficient. Wind power generation has developed rapidly in the past decade and is expected to play a vital role in the economic development of countries. Therefore, studying dominant economic factors is crucial to properly approach public and private financing for this emerging technology, as industrial growth and energy demands may outpace further economic studies earlier than expected. In this study, a strategy-focused method for performing economic analysis on wind energy based on financial net present value, levelized cost of energy, internal rate of return, and investment recovery period is presented. Numerical and simulation results depict the most optimal and economical system from a 3 and a 10 kW wind energy conversion system (WECS). Moreover, the aforementioned criteria are used to determine which WECS range is the most suitable investment with the shortest payback period. Finally, an economically viable and profitable wind energy system is recommended.

Decarbonizing Industrial Thermal Energy Usage

The industrial sector is a large source of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Much of these industrial emissions result from the energy used to produce heat for the manufacturing production process. In industrial manufacturing, thermal energy delivers process and nonprocess heating and cooling, as well as building space heating and cooling. Across the globe, industrial heat makes up two‐thirds of industrial energy demand and almost one‐fifth of total energy consumption. In the United States, GHG emissions associated with industrial heat account for 32 percent of all industrial‐sector emissions and 7 percent of total US emissions. These emissions are concentrated in six energy‐intensive basic material manufacturing sectors—steel, chemicals, cement, pulp and paper, aluminum, and oil refining—that produce more than 77 percent of global industrial emissions. Climate solutions must include approaches to reduce emissions associated with heat production.

Optimization of Distributed Integrated Multi-energy System Considering Industrial Process Based on Energy Hub

As a typical scenario of distributed integrated multi-energy system (DIMS), industrial park contains complex production constraints and strong associations between industrial productions and energy demands. The industrial production process (IPP) consists of controllable subtasks and strict timing constraints. Taking IPP as a control variable of optimal scheduling, it is an available approach that models the IPP as material flow into an extension energy hub (EH) to achieve the optimization of industrial park. In this paper, considering the coupling between the production process and energy demands, a model of IPP is proposed by dividing the process into different adjustable steps, including continuous subtask, discrete subtask, and storage subtask. Then, a transport model of material flow is used to describe the IPP in an industrial park DIMS. Based on the concept of EH, a universal extension EH model is proposed considering the coupling among electricity, heat, cooling, and material. Furthermore, an optimal scheduling method for industrial park DIMS is proposed to improve the energy efficiency and operation economy. Finally, a case study of a typical battery factory is shown to illustrate the proposed method. The simulation results demonstrate that such a method reduces the operation cost and accurately reflects the operation state of the industrial factory.

Utilisation and Quality Management of Power Plant Fly Ash

Over the past decades, both the residential and industrial energy demand has increased due to the continuously growing consumption and production. As a large share of the electricity is still produced using fossil fuels, the utilisation of the by-products is a contemporary and pervasive issue. Fly ash is generated in large quantities in coal-fired power plants and has been proven to be an appropriate raw material for various industrial uses. Among others, it is applicable as an additive and lightweight aggregate in the cement and concrete industry, can be used for CO2 sequestration, glass foam production, catalyst production, or as a base material for geopolymers, as well. Geopolymers are inorganic polymers produced via the reaction between solid alumina and silica containing or alkali silicate materials in alkali media. Due to their numerous advantageous properties and wide variety of utilisation possibilities, research on fly ash base geopolymers became widespread topic. The quality of fly ash is determined by technical requirements, and the degree of quality control requirements depends on the final use. In certain fields of applications, standards and regulations have already been created to ensure the consistent quality of the final products made from fly ash, e.g. in the cement and concrete industry. There are various methods for fly ash processing, however, the methods to achieve the necessary properties are not standardised.

Utilisation and Quality Management of Power Plant Fly Ash

Over the past decades, both the residential and industrial energy demand has increased due to the continuously growing consumption and production. As a large share of the electricity is still produced using fossil fuels, the utilisation of the by-products is a contemporary and pervasive issue. Fly ash is generated in large quantities in coal-fired power plants and has been proven to be an appropriate raw material for various industrial uses. Among others, it is applicable as an additive and lightweight aggregate in the cement and concrete industry, can be used for CO2 sequestration, glass foam production, catalyst production, or as a base material for geopolymers, as well. Geopolymers are inorganic polymers produced via the reaction between solid alumina and silica containing or alkali silicate materials in alkali media. Due to their numerous advantageous properties and wide variety of utilisation possibilities, research on fly ash base geopolymers became widespread topic. The quality of fly ash is determined by technical requirements, and the degree of quality control requirements depends on the final use. In certain fields of applications, standards and regulations have already been created to ensure the consistent quality of the final products made from fly ash, e.g. in the cement and concrete industry. There are various methods for fly ash processing, however, the methods to achieve the necessary properties are not standardised.

Creating Statistics for China’s Building Energy Consumption Using an Adapted Energy Balance Sheet

China’s regular energy statistics does not include the building sector, and data on building energy demand is included in other types of energy consumption in the Energy Balance Sheet (EBS). Therefore data on building energy demand is not collected based on statistics, but rather calculated or estimated by various approaches in China. This study aims at developing and testing China’s building energy statistics by applying an adapted EBS. The advantage of the adapted EBS is that statistical data is from the regular statistical system and no additional statistical efforts are needed. The research result shows that the adapted EBS can be included in China regular energy statistical system and can be standardized in a transparent way. Testing of the adapted EBS shows that China’s building energy demand has shown an annual increase of 7.6% since 2001, and a lower contribution to the total energy demand as compared to the developed world. There is also a close link to lifestyle and living standard while industrial energy demand is mainly driven by economy and decoupling of building energy demand with increasing of building floor area, this is due to a considerable improvement of building energy efficiency. The adapted EBS creates a method for China conducting statistics of building energy consumption at the sector level in a uniform way and serves as the basis for any sound building energy efficiency policy decisions.

Modelling industrial energy demand in Saudi Arabia

Between 1986 and 2016, industrial energy consumption in Saudi Arabia increased by tenfold, making it one of the largest end-use sectors in the Kingdom. Despite its importance, there appear to be no published econometric studies on aggregate industrial energy demand in Saudi Arabia. We model aggregate industrial energy demand in Saudi Arabia using Harvey’s (1989) Structural Time Series Model, showing that it is both price and income inelastic, with estimated long-run elasticities of −0.34 and 0.60, respectively. The estimated underlying energy demand trend suggests improvements in energy efficiency starting from 2010.Applying decomposition analysis to the estimated econometric equation highlights the prominent roles of the activity effect (the growth in industrial value added) and the structure effect (the shift towards energy-intensive production) in driving industrial energy demand growth. Moreover, the decomposition shows how exogenous factors such as energy efficiency helped mitigate some of that growth, delivering cumulative savings of 6.8 million tonnes of oil equivalent (Mtoe) between 2010 and 2016.Saudi Arabia implemented a broad energy price reform program in 2016, which raised electricity, fuel, and water prices for households and industry. The decomposition results reveal that, holding all else constant, higher industrial energy prices in 2016 reduced the sector’s energy consumption by 6.9 %, a decrease of around 3.0 Mtoe. Saudi policymakers could therefore build on the current policy of energy price reform and energy efficiency standards to mitigate the rate of growth of industrial energy consumption, increase economic efficiency, and maintain industrial sector competitiveness.

Integration of Heat Pump Storage Systems in Manufacturing Systems via Data Farming and Monte Carlo Simulation

The electrification of industrial energy demand is essential for effective climate protection and a successful energy transition. In production systems with fluctuating heating and cooling demands, heat pumps can make a significant contribution to electrification and increased efficiency in a demand-oriented production with automated standby operation. In order to dimension a suitable heat pump storage system, well-founded statistical information about the production system is required. For the creation of stochastic heating and cooling demand profiles, numerous material flow simulations were therefore carried out as part of a case study, whereby the simulated time is always a production week in seconds resolution with shutdown at the weekend. Input data for the simulation are real energy measurement data from an energy monitoring system. The results of the Monte Carlo simulation show that relatively small heat pumps and storages can ensure the reliable heat and cold supply of the manufacturing system thanks to the superposition and mutual compensation of numerous sources of uncertainty in the manufacturing system. In the case study presented in this paper, covering a constantly running HP in only 95 % of all possible cases instead of the entire 100 % leads to a drastic reduction in storage volume by a factor of about 25.

Integration of Graphite and Silicon Anodes for the Commercialization of High-Energy Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Silicon is considered a most promising anode material for overcoming the theoretical capacity limit of carbonaceous anodes. The use of nanomethods has led to significant progress being made with Si anodes to address the severe volume change during (de)lithiation. However, less progress has been made in the practical application of Si anodes in commercial lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). The drastic increase in the energy demands of diverse industries has led to the co-utilization of Si and graphite resurfacing as a commercially viable method for realizing high energy. Herein, we highlight the necessity for the co-utilization of graphite and Si for commercialization and discuss the development of graphite/Si anodes. Representative Si anodes used in graphite-blended electrodes are covered and a variety of strategies for building graphite/Si composites are organized according to their synthetic methods. The criteria for the co-utilization of graphite and Si are systematically presented. Finally, we provide suggestions for the commercialization of graphite/Si combinations.

Coffee parchment as potential biofuel for cement industries of Ethiopia

ABSTRACTThis study explores the biofuel potential of raw coffee parchment and its pellets to supplement the energy demand of the cement industries of Ethiopia by characterizing their combustion characteristics and ash qualities for clinker production. The raw and pelletized coffee parchments were characterized for ultimate and proximate composition, calorific value, heavy metals, and ash oxides. The ultimate analysis confirmed higher carbon (45.5%) and hydrogen (6.5%) content and lower nitrogen (0.4%) and sulfur (0.1%) content in the pellets as compared to the commonly used biomass fuels. The moisture content (11.2%) and ash content (5.97%) of the pellets meet the ISO standard for non-wood pellets (ISO 17225–6, 2014). Pelletization of the coffee parchment enhanced the gross heating value of the biomass. The ash analysis revealed that the ash may supplement a sufficient amount of oxides of calcium, silica, aluminum, and iron required for clinker production. Overall, the results signify that coffee parchment and its pellets have suitable properties to be used as cheap, sustainable and eco-friendly bio-fuel for the cement industries of Ethiopia.

Technological gap, scale economy, and China's industrial energy demand

Abstract The industrial sector in China is energy-intensive and accounts for more than 60% of the nation's total energy consumption (demand). Narrating the story behind the growth of China's industrial energy consumption could help us understand the past and prepare for the future. This paper aims to investigate the factors affecting China's industrial energy consumption in the 21st century by using an extended production-theoretical decomposition approach (PDA) with considering the technological gap and scale of the economy effects. The new proposed decomposition framework includes four new factors, namely, the energy technological gap, the output technological gap, energy scale efficiency, and output scale efficiency. The results show that in the 21st century, the energy consumption of China's industry increased by more than one billion tons of standard coal. The expansion of the industrial economy is a dominant driver of China's industrial energy consumption, while potential energy intensity, energy technology, and output technology are the three largest energy-saving factors. In addition to the conventional factors, the newly proposed factors also have important effects on China's industrial energy consumption. Specifically, output scale efficiency is an energy-saving factor, while the energy technological gap, output technological gap, and energy scale efficiency are drivers of energy consumption. This suggests that China's industry is at the stage of returns to scale that is beneficial to output performance but harmful to energy performance. Meanwhile, the widening of the industrial technological gaps has negative impacts on China's industrial energy conservation. The proposed decomposition approach can provide information that cannot be obtained from traditional approaches and it can also be applied to many other cases for investigating feasible paths of energy-saving and emissions reduction.

Industrial energy use and carbon emissions reduction in the iron and steel sector: A UK perspective

The opportunities and challenges to reducing industrial energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the iron & steel sector are evaluated with a focus is on the situation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), although the lessons learned are applicable across much of the industrialised world. It is the largest industrial sector in the UK in terms of energy demand and ‘greenhouse gas’ (GHG) emissions, and accounts for some 26% of GHG emissions from British industry. Current Best Available Technologies (BAT) will lead to short-term energy and CO2 emissions savings in iron & steel processing, but the prospects for the commercial exploitation of innovative technologies by mid-21st century are far more speculative. The attainment of significant falls in carbon emissions over the period to 2050 will depend critically on the adoption of a small number of key technologies [e.g., energy efficiency techniques, fuel switching towards bioenergy, and carbon capture and storage (CCS)], alongside the decarbonisation of national electricity supply. The blast furnace is the most efficient energy conversion process in the sector, but also the largest energy user and consequently a priority target for energy demand reduction. Many existing technologies could reduce a significant proportion of process energy loss, e.g., heat recovery at the coke ovens, sinter plant, and electric arc furnace, and further heat and gas recovery from the basic oxygen furnace. The uptake of key BAT technologies for hot-rolling could reduce sector primary energy by 18% and GHG emissions by 12%. Further potential may be available for blast furnace operation by optimising chemical transfer to minimise blast furnace gas (BFG) production. Nevertheless, there are a number of non-technological barriers to the take-up of such technologies going forward. Other radical process technological innovations (such as the ‘electrowinning’ or so-called HISARNA process) are likely to be available in the longer term.

Spatial planning and optimisation for virtual distribution of BioCNG derived from palm oil mill effluent to meet industrial energy demand

Rise in energy prices and energy security concerns have become more crucial for the industrial sector to opt for an alternative fuel. Biogas could be used as fuel for electricity generation, boilers or upgraded and compressed as bio compressed natural gas (BioCNG) that can be utilised in various applications, such as transportation, fuel for industry and injected into a gas grid (as biomethane). Biogas, produced by anaerobic digestion (AD) of palm oil mill effluent (POME) can be used as a fuel substitute for natural gas in industry while reducing CO2 emission. Virtual distribution of BioCNG, which is from remotely located natural gas pipeline, has become economically attractive to the industry. However, this concept poses some issues concerning logistic due to the scattered spatial distribution of palm oil mills which discharge large quantities of POME for biogas recovery. Addressing these aspect require an integrated spatial planning and optimisation to synthesise location and allocation network of BioCNG virtual transportation to the respective industry. This paper presents the development of integrated spatial planning and optimisation of BioCNG supply and distribution network through virtual pipelines to meet the on-site energy demand of specific industry, while minimising the total operational cost. The data from network analysis of ArcGIS will be coded into the Generalised Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS) model to generate a supply cost curve for multiple sources of energy carrier, i.e., LNG, NG through pipeline network, BioCNG through virtual pipelines with and without upgrading. Two case studies were evaluated to determine the optimal energy supply allocation for demand location. This model is beneficial for BioCNG network management while reducing carbon emissions. Results showed the optimised combination of energy supply to meet energy demand of selected industries, which was 198.9 MW of BioCNG production and 401.1 MW of LNG import. The percentage cost reduction of the optimised energy supply is 36.3%.

An improved approach to estimate direct rebound effect by incorporating energy efficiency: A revisit of China's industrial energy demand

The rebound effect, or the response to energy efficiency improvement, has drawn considerable attention from economists and policymakers. However, the magnitude remains quite controversial because of the differences in the definitions and methods being used. Originating from the definition of direct rebound effect, we develop an improved approach incorporating energy efficiency. The main advantages of the proposed approach are twofold. First, it enables us to estimate the demand elasticity of useful energy service with respect to energy service price. The estimates are more consistent with the definition of rebound effect and are more effective. Second, it decomposes direct rebound effect into substitution and output channels, enabling us to further understand the microeconomic mechanisms. Applying this method, we assess the direct energy rebound effect in China's industrial sectors. We find that the direct rebound effect for the industry is 37.0%, and the substitution and output channels contribute to 13.1% and 23.9%, respectively. Substantial variations in the magnitudes and mechanisms occur by sector. For heavy industry, most energy rebound is induced by output expansion because of its sizeable cost decrease from efficiency improvements. Unlike heavy industry, most energy rebound in light industry comes from substituting energy service for other inputs because firms in light industry are more flexible in adjusting production inputs. Our results provide evidences for the importance of energy efficiency measures, and highlight the necessity of differentiated measures according to the sectoral characteristics.

Analysis of the potential for energy demand and carbon emissions reduction in the iron and steel sector

The opportunities and challenges to reducing industrial energy demand and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the iron & steel sector are evaluated with a focus is on the situation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), although the lessons learned are applicable across much of the industrialised world. It is the largest industrial sector in the UK in terms of energy demand and ‘ greenhouse gas’ (GHG) emissions, and accounts for some 26% of GHG emissions from British industry. Current Best Available Technologies (BAT) will lead to short-term energy and CO2 emissions savings in iron & steel processing, but the prospects for the commercial exploitation of innovative technologies by mid-21st century are far more speculative. The blast furnace is the most efficient energy conversion process in the sector, but also the largest energy user and consequently is a priority target for energy demand reduction. Many existing technologies, that have yet to be adopted, could reduce a significant proportion of process energy loss. These include, among others, heat recovery at the coke ovens, sinter plant, and electric arc furnace, and further heat and gas recovery from the basic oxygen furnace. The uptake of key BAT technologies for hot-rolling could reduce sector primary energy by 18% and GHG emissions by 12%. Further potential may be available for blast furnace operation by optimising chemical transfer to minimise blast furnace gas (BFG) production. Nevertheless, there are a number of non-technological barriers to the take-up of such technologies going forward. The transition to a low carbon future in UK industry by 2050 will therefore exhibit rather large uncertainties. The attainment of significant falls in carbon emissions over this period will depends critically on the adoption of a small number of key technologies [e.g., energy efficiency techniques, fuel switching towards bioenergy, and carbon capture and storage (CCS),], alongside the decarbonisation of national electricity supply. Other radical process technological innovations (such as the ‘electrowinning’ or so-called HISARNA process) are likely to be available in the longer term.

Modelling deep decarbonization of industrial energy consumption under 2-degree target: Comparing China, India and Western Europe

The decarbonization of industrial energy consumption is critical for global climate change mitigation, and this process can bring multiple challenges, especially for regions at the early stage of industrialization. To explore the possible transitions of industry sector under 2-degree target, this paper applied a 14-region energy system model (Global TIMES) to analyze the transition pathways of industry sector. The socio-economic uncertainty was considered by introducing Shared Socio-economic Pathways into scenario design. Moreover, a comparison between China, India and West Europe was conducted, to provide information on the key challenges for regions at different industrialization stages. Modeling results show that: 1. In reference scenarios, global industrial energy demand and CO2 emissions would keep growing in next decades, industry sector may emit over 25% of total energy-related CO2 emissions in 2050; 2. The changes in socio-economic developing pattern could slow down the emission growth, however, under 2-degree target, at least 118 Gt of additional emission reduction is required from 2010 to 2050; 3. The mitigation requirement would lead to great energy structure changes including rapid electrification, electricity may be able to provide nearly 40% of Western Europe’s industrial final energy consumption by 2050; 4. Improvement on energy intensity would be accelerated in RCP26 scenarios, especially for emerging economies, by mid-century, China and India’s industrial energy intensity would reduce by over 60% and 50% respectively, compared with 2010’s level.

A methodology for bottom-up modelling of energy transitions in the industry sector: The FORECAST model

Bottom-up energy models can support strategic decision-making and can help to manage an efficient transition to a low-carbon energy system. The manufacturing industry accounted for about 19% of EU-wide greenhouse gas emissions in 2014, which underlines the importance of this sector for model-based decarbonisation assessments.This paper describes the methodology of the FORECAST model. FORECAST is a bottom-up simulation model used to develop long-term scenarios for the future energy demand of industry, services and household sectors. In this study, we discuss the model in the light of developing transition scenarios for the decarbonisation of the industry sector. In doing so, we focus on the model's structure and simulation algorithms, and provide illustrative results.The FORECAST model includes a broad range of mitigation options combined with a high level of technological detail. Technology diffusion and stock turnover are explicitly considered to allow insights into transition pathways. The model further includes different policy levers to improve its applicability as a policy support tool. The model is designed to cover the entire industry sector from major energy-intensive processes to the numerous less energy-intensive sub-sectors and applications.The concluding discussion suggests future research directions to improve the contribution industry sector models can make to supporting the industrial energy transition.

Mining experts' perspectives on the determinants of solar technologies adoption in the Chilean mining industry

The energy demand in Chile arises mostly from mining, its largest industry that accounts for about 35% of total electricity consumption. Energy generation to satisfy this demand depends completely on imported fossil fuels. As a result, the mining industry faces several energy related challenges. In particular, the cost and environmental impact of fuel sources are threatening the competitiveness of the industry and urge for new developments. In that regard, the importance of using clean and cost-competitive renewable energy sources has increased significantly in Chile and several government policies helped to increase the investment in them. The impact has been particularly large in the development of solar energy in the northern part of the country, where almost all mines are located. In fact, the country has become one of the largest solar markets in Latin America thanks to its abundant solar resources, favorable market conditions, and successful policy reforms. Solar energy then, could play a significant role as an alternative to satisfy the mining industry's energy demand offering a broad range of technological solutions. This study examines the key issues -barriers and drivers- influencing the adoption of solar technologies in the Chilean mining industry from the perspective of mining actors. As a result of the analysis the paper also provides a scope for appropriate policy interventions.

‘Decarbonising’ UK industry: towards a cleaner economy

Reducing industrial energy demand and improving resource efficiency could make a substantial contribution towards the UK government's goal of achieving 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, while simultaneously improving productivity and creating employment opportunities. In this context, the government released its ‘Clean Growth Strategy’ in October 2017, although it has a number of limitations. The associated technology roadmaps exhibit quite large uncertainties, and reducing carbon dioxide emissions over the long term will depend critically on the adoption of a small number of key technologies, alongside the ‘decarbonisation’ of electricity supply. ‘Circular economy’ interventions have the potential to make significant energy savings that are complementary to other energy-efficiency measures. However, the task for both industrial and policy decision makers will still be challenging.