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

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

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.