Christoph Brunner 1, Hans Schnitzer 1 2, Bettina Slawitsch 1,

Hans Schweiger 3, Claudia Vannoni 4

1JOANNEUM RESEARCH Forschungsgesellschaft mbH — Institut fur Nachhaltige Techniken und Systeme

Elisabethstrasse 16, A-8010 Graz
Tel.: +43-316 / 876 2413, Fax: +43-316 / 8769 2413
E-Mail: christoph. brunner@joanneum. at

2Institute fur Ressourcenschonende und Nachhaltige Systeme, Technische Universitat Graz

Inffeldgasse 21, A-8010 Graz

3energyXperts. BCN

Creu dels Molers 15, 2-1, Barcelona, Spain
4Dipartimento di Meccanica e Aeronautica, Univerity of Rome, Sapienza

Abstract

Thermal energy (heat and cold) demand in industry constitutes about 20 % of the total final energy demand and produces about 21 % of the CO2 emissions in Europe. Even if energy efficiency in industry in Europe has improved the last decades, there remains a large unexploited potential for reducing energy demand that could be achieved by the intelligent combination of existing solutions and technologies.

The present project aims at contributing to a widespread implementation of integral energy- efficient solutions for thermal energy supply in the industrial sectors with a high fraction of low and medium temperature heat demand, especially the food, wood processing and metal treatment sectors that will be first addressed within this project.

For optimising thermal energy supply, a holistic integral approach is required that includes possibilities of demand reduction by heat recovery and process integration, and by an intelligent combination of existing affordable heat (and cold) supply technologies, under the given economic constraints. The presented Intelligent Energy Europe — IEE project uses as a basis available methods and tools that address some parts of these topics, adds missing elements and brings them together into a complete EINSTEIN tool kit for thermal energy auditing, which is used in all the project’s activities.

Most of the tools have been developed within the IEA Task 33/IV “Solar heating for industrial processes (SHIP)”. The proposed methodology focuses at first on the optimization of the given process to reduce the absolute energy demand before further integrating solar heat in the technical and economical most suitable way.

The optimization of the process is achieved by the integration of energy efficiency measures and heat exchange. The analysis for this optimization is done with the mathematical model of the Pinch Analysis. With the help of the Pinch Analysis the minimal heat and minimal cooling demand of a process can be calculated and the theoretical possibilities of heat recovery are shown.

After having gained a proposed solution for optimizing the given process in terms of energy efficiency, a strong information tool is used that allows for further optimization that might lead to changes of the process, changes of the energy distribution system or changes of the energy supply system. This developed tool, the so called “matrix of indicators” will be described in the following. It was designed as a decision support tool for solar experts and facilitates work with industry and the identification of suitable solar applications.

With the help of the “Matrix of Indicators” the ideal solution to implement energy efficiency measures and integrate solar process heat can be found. The final steps prior to implementation include the solar simulation, the economical evaluation and the analysis of the practicability of the proposed solution.

The realisation of the methodology in form of a complete auditing tool-kit including an expert system software tool makes it easy to use, easily distributable, and helps reducing time (and therefore cost) and increasing standardisation (and therefore quality) of energy audits. The EINSTEIN tool-kit will be available in Czech, English, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and Slovenian language. Within the project, 90 industrial companies will be audited, starting from autumn 2008. It is assumed that in addition to the thermal audits carried out within this project; at least 100 companies will have used this self-assessment at the end of the project and 100 reports to be available. Energy auditors and consultants are trained in training courses. At least about 200 trained auditors (of the 240 people attending the training courses) will be available at the end of this project as multipliers, who in their everyday practice are working in the field of energy auditing and therefore in the future will induce further improvements in energy efficiency. A Europe-wide training-of-trainers course will complete the training program and help to expand its impact also to countries not directly involved into the project’s activities.

1. Introduction

Thermal energy (heat and cold) demand in industry constitutes about 20 % of the total final energy demand and produces about 21 % of the CO2 emissions in Europe. Even if energy efficiency in industry in Europe has improved the last decades, there remains a large unexploited potential for reducing energy demand that could be achieved by the intelligent combination of existing solutions and technologies.

The present project aims at contributing to a widespread implementation of integral energy — efficient solutions for thermal energy supply in the industrial sectors with a high fraction of low and medium temperature heat demand, especially the food, wood processing and metal treatment sectors that will be first addressed within this project.

2. Methodology

The present project aims at overcoming the barriers mentioned above (and described in details in b) and at contributing to a widespread implementation of integral energy-efficient solutions for thermal energy supply, especially in SMEs and in general in all industrial companies where the really used energy supply systems are still far from best practice. The project focuses on the food, wood processing and metal treatment sectors but can be easily extended to other industrial sectors

with high fraction of low and medium temperature heat demand such as chemical, textile industry, pulp and paper industry.

The specific objectives in order to achieve this are:

• the reduction of the time and cost required for thermal energy audits and the development of a self-assessment tool for thermal energy supply, in order to reach a wider market penetration of energy-efficient technologies

• a wider diffusion of knowledge on integral energy-efficient solutions for thermal energy supply in industry among the actors who can act as future driving forces for improving energy efficiency

• the execution of a thermal energy auditing campaign in industrial companies and the creation of best practice examples for an efficient heat and cold supply

• the improvement of the technical skill of the relevant actors (auditors, industrial technical staff, etc.) by means of training activities and of an assisted thermal energy auditing campaign

• the improvement of quality and reliability of thermal energy audits by means of the standardisation of the procedure and decision support tools

EINSTEIN contributes to the IEE priorities and in particular answers to the need of setting “tools to help industries, in particular SMEs, to develop an intelligent energy approach, including training of energy auditors”. The project is structured into the main blocks below:

• Standardized Audit — the EINSTEIN Expert System: methodology that works out energy efficient solutions for your production process based on energy saving and renewable energy sources

• Audit Campaign: A limited number of energy audits

• Self-Assessment Tool: Check your Performance

• High Quality Training: Training workshops for energy managers, technicians and consultants

• Information Workshops for decision makers

The EINSTEIN methodology can be divided into 4 main steps. During the pre-audit the important data for the future calculation will be collected and a preliminary evaluation will be done. If a potential will be identified the analysis of the status quo will form the main step during the audit phase. By using the EINSTEIN tool kit the conceptual design of saving options and preliminary energy targets will be defined. At the end an economical feasible solution will be proposed.

.

Most of the tools of the EINSTEIN audit tool kit have been developed within the IEA Task 33/IV “Solar heating for industrial processes (SHIP)”. The proposed methodology focuses at first on the optimization of the given process to reduce the absolute energy demand before further integrating solar heat in the technical and economical most suitable way.

The complete thermal auditing tool kit is formed by a software tool (expert system), questionnaires for data acquisition and thermal auditing and system design guidelines. The EINSTEIN tool kit for the day-by-day auditing practice is based on the information on current auditing practices, tools and user needs.

1st International Congress on Heating, Cooling, and Buildings " ‘ 7th to 10th October, Lisbon — Portugal * Fig: 2: Screen-shot of the EINSTEIN thermal audit software tool

The optimization of the process is achieved by the integration of energy efficiency measures and heat exchange. The analysis for this optimization is done with the mathematical model of the Pinch Analysis. With the help of the Pinch Analysis the minimal heat and minimal cooling demand of a process can be calculated and the theoretical possibilities of heat recovery are shown.

After having gained a proposed solution for optimizing the given process in terms of energy efficiency, a strong information tool is used that allows for further optimization that might lead to changes of the process, changes of the energy distribution system or changes of the energy supply system. This developed tool, the so called “matrix of indicators” will be described in the following. It was designed as a decision support tool for solar experts and facilitates work with industry and the identification of suitable solar applications.

With the help of the “Matrix of Indicators” the ideal solution to implement energy efficiency measures and integrate solar process heat can be found. The final steps prior to implementation include the solar simulation, the economical evaluation and the analysis of the practicability of the proposed solution.

As stated above the Matrix of Indicators was developed as decision support system for solar experts, to facilitate the ideal integration of solar process heat into industrial processes.

On the ordinate for solar application relevant industry sectors are listed. Although the above discussed processes occur in practically all industry sectors, some distinguish themselves by a greater potential than others. On the abscissa different unit operations, which have been identified as relevant for solar applications are listed.

Further on the ordinate there is a button for general information about the unit operations, about competitive technologies for this unit operations and a column for possible solar integration schemes.

The unit operation is generally described by the functioning of the unit operation, the implementation possibilities and the area in which it can be used.

Following information will be found in the description:

• general objectives

• influencing parameters (temp, pressure, humidity, medium)

• temperature levels

• fields of application

• descriptions of techniques, methods and equipment

• environmental issues

The idea of the competitive technologies is described generally and an overview of alternative technologies and possible application fields is given. Competitive technologies are technologies that might constitute an alternative option for the specific requirements. Solutions how else the required problem could be solved and how (dis)advantageous other options are compared to the proposed unit operation are shown.

The solar integration schemes give a general overview of the solar installations for different applications. Additionally, specific integration schemes are proposed for each problem, as solar integration is possible in several ways and the ideal methods depend on the industrial processes which are sector — and plant-specific.

The availability of a new methodology that allows for realising more energy audits in future at a lower cost, delivering at the same time high quality and innovative recommendations will be the main outcome of the present project, even more important as the impact of the directly induced improvements of energy efficiency in industry described below.

The realisation of the methodology in form of a complete auditing tool-kit including an expert system software tool makes it easy to use, easily distributable, and helps reducing time (and therefore cost) and increasing standardisation (and therefore quality) of energy audits. The EINSTEIN tool-kit will be available in Czech, English, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish and

Slovenian language. With the available EINSTEIN tool-kit it will be possible to realise high quality fast-audits including company visit, proposal and approximate energetic and economical evaluation of an alternative system within about 24 to 40 hours of a trained auditor. The alternative proposals will include all the available technological options including cogeneration and polygeneration, process integration technology, heat pumps, solar thermal energy and biomass.

There will be also a simplified version of the software tool for web-based self-assessment of the companies, so that even a larger number of companies can be reached by the proposal, especially those companies who are not willing to spend money for energy-auditing due to other priorities. This web-page for self-assessment will be widely disseminated via the different dissemination activities foreseen in the project. It is assumed that in addition to the thermal audits carried out within this project, at least 100 companies will have used this self-assessment at the end of the project and 100 reports to be available.

Energy auditors and consultants will be trained in training courses. At least about 200 trained auditors (of the 300 people attending the training courses) will be available at the end of this project as multipliers, who in their every day practice are working in the field of energy auditing and therefore in the future will induce further improvements in energy efficiency. A Europe-wide training-of-trainers course will complete the training program and help to expand its impact also to countries not directly involved into the project’s activities. This training and the guidance towards proposals generated by the EINSTEIN expert system decision support tools will induce that energy auditors increase their horizon towards innovative, non-conventional solutions using the holistic approach of EINSTEIN. At the same time they will have the appropriate tool in order to correctly evaluate these options. Some of these auditors at the end of the project will be able to act as future trainers using the EINSTEIN training material.

From the dissemination activities, that range from workshops and conferences oriented to specific target groups, to distribution of the methodology and software tool via internet, further public will be reached. It is expected, that at least 10,000 persons (technicians and decision makers in industry, energy auditors, consultants, policy makers and local authorities) will be reached and 1,000 persons will assist to these activities while 2,500 copies of the EINSTEIN tool-kit will be distributed all over Europe by the end of the project.

Standardisation of the auditing methodology and comparability of energy supply alternatives also will help public bodies and energy agencies to evaluate the present state (situation with respect to current best practice) and the achieved improvements by energy efficiency measures, and therefore lead to a better control of the real impact of energy policies. The tool could become a reference for public support programmes in the field of industrial energy efficiency.

Within the project, 90 industrial companies will be audited. For all these industrial companies a proposal for improvement of energy efficiency and use of renewable energy for heating and cooling will be available and several best practice examples will be selected. Energy demand for heating and cooling in industrial companies may vary from 50 MWh/year for small enterprises up to several 100,000 MWh for big companies

Assuming a mean primary energy demand for heating and cooling of 5000 MWh/year for the studied companies, and a mean potential for saving of 30 %, a total saving potential of 150.000 MWh/year (about 2.5 M€/year in terms of energy costs based on natural gas prices) will be identified. It is expected that decisions for realisation of at least 10% of this savings potential will

be taken during the project and another 20% during the first year after the project leading to a real energy saving of 45,000 MWh/year (0.7 M€/year in terms of energy costs).

Furthermore it is assumed that this direct impact of the project is at least multiplied by a factor of two by energy efficiency measures and renewable energy projects indirectly induced by the project and while the project is ongoing, due to the training and dissemination activities.

3. Conclusions

Energy efficiency measures often have benefits that extend beyond energy savings and include pollution prevention, process efficiency, and increased productivity. Total benefits for industrial companies are therefore on the focus of the proposed action. Among such benefits, the implementation of the recommended measures for energy saving will lead to a reduction in the energy bill and therefore to an increased competitiveness of the companies. Apart from the economic savings on a short term, due to reduced demand and the use of renewable energy sources (RES) the companies will have a higher security of supply and more stable and foreseeable energy costs on the long term.

Moreover the thermal energy auditors will benefit directly from the project by improving their qualification, by learning about innovative technological options and by therefore being able to offer a better service.

The EINSTEIN tool will form a very innovative and strong tool which will change the energy audit methodology radically in order to identify the maximum of energy saving and the ideal integration of renewable energy into industrial processes in a very short time.

References

[1] Muller T., Begander U., Schnitzer H., Brunner Ch., Weiss W. (2003), PROMISE — Produzieren mit Sonnenenergie — Potenzialstudie zur thermischen Solarenergienutzung in Gewerbe — und Industriebetrieben in Abhangigkeit der Produktionsprozesse,

[2] Energieverwertungsagentur, www. eva. ac. at/enz/efluss. htm vom 8.6.2004

[3] Brunner CH. Schweiger H. Vannoni C. IEA Task 33 — Solar heating for industrial Processes — SHIP

[4] Faninger G. (2004), Entwicklung des Solarmarktes in Osterreich 1975 — 2003, Verband AUSTRIA SOLAR und Dachverband Energie-Klima, Marz 2004

[5] Schnitzer H., Brunner C., Gwehenberger G. (2006): Minimizing greenhouse gas emissions through the application of solar thermal energy in industrial processes. Journal of Cleaner Production,

doi: 10.106/j. jclepro.2006.07.023