Targeting for energy efficiency and improved energy collaboration between different companies using total site analysis (TSA)

Journal article, 2011

Rising fuel prices, increasing costs associated with emissions of green house gases and the threat of global warming make efficient use of energy more and more important. Industrial clusters have the potential to significantly increase energy efficiency by energy collaboration. In this paper Sweden’s largest chemical cluster is analysed using the total site analysis (TSA) method. TSA delivers targets for the amount of utility consumed and generated through excess energy recovery by the different processes. The method enables investigation of opportunities to deliver waste heat from one process to another using a common utility system. The cluster consists of 5 chemical companies producing a variety of products, including polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), amines, ethylene, oxygen/nitrogen and plasticisers. The companies already work together by exchanging material streams. In this study the potential for energy collaboration is analysed in order to reach an industrial symbiosis. The overall heating and cooling demands of the site are around 442 MW and 953 MW, respectively. 122 MW of heat is produced in boilers and delivered to the processes. TSA is used to stepwise design a site-wide utility system which improves energy efficiency. It is shown that heat recovery in the cluster can be increased by 129 MW, i.e. the current utility demand could be completely eliminated and further 7 MW excess steam can be made available. The proposed retrofitted utility system involves the introduction of a site-wide hot water circuit, increased recovery of low pressure steam and shifting of heating steam pressure to lower levels in a number heat exchangers when possible. Qualitative evaluation of the suggested measures shows that 60 MW of the savings potential could to be achieved with moderate changes to the process utility system corresponding to 50% of the heat produced from purchased fuel in the boilers of the cluster. Further analysis showed that after implementation of the suggested energy efficiency measures there is still a large excess of heat at temperatures of up to 137 °C.