Designing Optimal Heat and Power Systems for Industrial Processes

Industrial heat and power systems are complex and not fully understood as integrated systems. Within the context of the overall manufacturing process, they represent enormous capital investments and substantially contribute to the total operating cost for most industrial processes. Because of their importance, a methodology is needed to facilitate their selection and optimization. The methodology must be technically sound, give economically correct results, and be usable by competent engineers. It must facilitate understanding the tradeoffs among the components of the heat and power system including steam generation, furnaces used for process heating, steam and gas turbines, heat exchange networks, heat pumps, refrigeration systems, and purchased power. \nThis paper presents the results of a study for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) of Palo Alto, California. In the paper, the use of Pinch Technology as a tool for analyzing industrial processes is demonstrated along with proper simulation of a corresponding heat and power system. For each process, multiple utility systems are conceptualized using Pinch Technology concepts. Each conceptual utility system is then optimized ultimately resulting in one "best" utility system. For retrofit designs, the optimal system design is compared to the existing design to determine improvement opportunities.