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

虽然改造中的能源消耗减少项目往往很难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一起实施时，就有很大的机会。将生物炼油厂改造成纸浆和造纸厂就是这种情况。有了生物炼油项目，就可以有一个重要的机会来“重新规划”能源结构，提高全厂的能源效率，同时也可以增加更大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，总体上和针对生物精炼实施的具体情况，我们开发了一种突破性的实用方法，称为Bridge方法，该方法考虑了复杂的问题，如改装情况、现场范围的能源集成和公用事业/热电联产系统。 桥接法背后的基本原理是，在工业过程中，热量通过热交换器级联，过程操作从热到环境。在桥接法中，这一特征反映在能量传递图(ETD)中，用于分析工艺操作和热交换网络，以减少外部能源消耗。为系统地在工业环境中应用桥接法，开发了一个顺序设计决策框架。该框架考虑了一种用户交互的决策方法，在这种方法中，设计计算是自动进行的，开放式设计决策是在设计过程中的不同时间点依次做出的，从而为工厂范围的能源优化提供了一套实用的建议。有必要改进桥梁方法框架，以得出一种适用于工业现场范围能量分析的实用方法，将最先进的系统工程和数字化技术纳入本提案的目标。 这项发现拨款提案的目的是改进基于桥接法的全站能源分析的决策框架，使该方法实用、健壮并适合工业应用。新的生物精炼工艺在现有工业场所的潜在能源整合机会很大，如果在未来几年在加拿大林产行业部署和应用Bridge方法，它有可能产生诱人的经济回报，显著减少温室气体排放，并改善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.