Program for the Development of a Novel Methodology for the Design of Energy Efficient Biorefineries and Industrial Systems

虽然改造中的减少能源使用项目往往难以单独为工业流程提供经济上的理由，但当这些项目与重大项目和流程现代化结合起来时，就有很大的机会。生物精炼厂改造成纸浆和造纸米尔斯厂就是这种情况。 生物炼制项目可以为能源“重新配置”和提高整个场地的能源效率提供重要机会，同时也可以提高大型项目的整体经济盈利能力。 为了解决现有和新的工业流程中的能源管理问题，我们开发了一种突破性的实用方法，称为桥梁方法，该方法考虑了改造情况，现场能源整合和公用事业/热电联产系统等复杂问题。 桥式方法背后的基本原理是，在工业过程中，热级联通过热交换器和过程操作，从热到环境。 在桥接法中，这一特性反映在用于分析过程操作和换热网络的能量传递图（ETD）中，以减少外部能源的使用。一个连续的设计决策框架已经开发的桥梁方法在工业环境中的系统应用。该框架考虑了一种用户交互式决策方法，自动进行设计计算，并在设计过程中的不同点顺序地采取开放式设计决策，从而为工厂范围内的能源优化提供一套实用的建议。改进桥式方法框架是必要的，以达到一个实用的方法，适合在工业现场范围内的能源分析，结合国家的最先进的系统工程和数字化技术的目标，这一建议。 这项发现补助金提案的目标是改进基于桥梁方法的场地范围能源分析的决策框架，并使该方法实用，稳健并适合工业应用。 新的生物精炼工艺与现有工业场地的潜在能源整合机会相当大，如果在未来几年内在加拿大森林产品行业部署和应用桥梁方法，它有可能带来诱人的经济回报，显著减少温室气体排放，以及提高加拿大新兴生物经济的长期竞争地位。

While energy use reduction projects in retrofit are often difficult to justify economically for industrial processes on a stand-alone basis, there is a significant opportunity when these projects are made in conjunction with major projects and process modernizations. Such is the case for biorefinery retrofit into pulp and paper mills. With biorefinery projects, there can be an important opportunity for energy “re-profiling” and improved site-wide energy efficiency, and at the same time, for increasing the overall economic profitability of the larger project. To address energy management in existing and new industrial processes, in general and for the specific case of biorefinery implementation, we have developed a breakthrough practical methodology called the Bridge Method that considers complex issues such as retrofit situations, site-wide energy integration, and utility/cogeneration systems. The fundamental principle behind the Bridge Method is that in industrial processes, heat cascades through heat exchangers and process operations from hot to ambient. In the Bridge Method, this feature is reflected in the Energy Transfer Diagram (ETD) for the analysis of process operations and heat exchange networks in order to reduce external energy usage. A sequential design decision-making framework has been developed for the systematic application of the Bridge Method in the industrial context. The framework considers a user-interactive decision-making approach, where design calculations are made automatically and open-ended design decisions are taken at different points sequentially in the design process, leading to a practical set of recommendations for plant-wide energy optimization. Improvements in the Bridge Method Framework are necessary to arrive at a practical method suitable for site-wide energy analysis in industry, incorporating state-of-the-art systems engineering and digitalization techniques the objective of this proposal. The goals of this Discovery Grant proposal are to improve the decision-making framework for site-wide energy analysis based on the Bridge Method, and render the method practical, robust and suitable for industrial application. The potential energy integration opportunity of new biorefinery processes into existing industrial sites is considerable and if the Bridge Method is deployed and applied in the Canadian forest products industry in the coming years, it has the potential to result in attractive economic returns, significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improved competitive position of Canada's emerging bioeconomy for the longer-term.