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85 Energy Efficiency Measures
Decreasing cooling demand
- Catégorie: Cross-Cutting
- Zone: Processes
- Sous-domaine: Process cooling
- Effort de mise en œuvre :
- Potentiel d'économie :
Decreasing the actual demand for cooling can contribute to saving energy. There are various options to do so: One option is to improve the insulation of a building or cooling area, e.g. by using insulating glazing and or by reducing air infiltration. Automatically closing doors can also help to maintain lower temperatures. Another way to decrease cooling demand is to adjust the temperature levels outside production hours through programmable control systems.
Adjustment of cooling temperatures
- Catégorie: Cross-Cutting
- Zone: Processes
- Sous-domaine: Process cooling
- Effort de mise en œuvre :
- Potentiel d'économie :
In cooling applications, a temperature range is usually specified to ensure that the intended cooling purpose, e.g. keeping goods fresh, is attained. The lower the temperature, the higher the energy demand for cooling. Operating towards the upper border of temperature ranges while still adhering to constraints like regulatory maximum temperatures to maintain product quality for food, can decrease energy consumption substantially.
Recovery of heat from hot processes
- Catégorie: Process-specific
- Zone: Processes
- Sous-domaine: Process heating
- Effort de mise en œuvre :
- Potentiel d'économie :
Many processes in the food industry require elevated temperature levels. Flue gases, cooling liquids or hot products transport this thermal energy out of the processes and release them to then environment as "waste heat" at some point of the process. A means to reduce the energy demand of production processes is to recover it using heat exchangers and re-inject the energy into the process, e.g. also using heat pumps, or to use it for other purposes, e.g. for heating sanitary water.
Generating electricity from waste heat of hot processes
- Catégorie: Cross-Cutting
- Zone: Processes
- Sous-domaine: Process heating
- Effort de mise en œuvre :
- Potentiel d'économie :
Flue gases, cooling liquids or hot products are a source of "waste heat" from processes with elevated temperature levels. If the exhaust temperatures are well beyond 100°C, a potential option for consideration is to recover thermal energy and by thereby generating electricity, e.g. via an Organic Rankine installation.
Proper insulation of steam and condensate return pipes
- Catégorie: Cross-Cutting
- Zone: Processes
- Sous-domaine: Process heating
- Effort de mise en œuvre :
- Potentiel d'économie :
Uninsulated steam pipes and condensate return pipes lead entail thermal losses. In most cases, insulating hot surfaces and repairing localised damages (wet or hardened insulation) is a simple and cost-effective measure to save energy. Reattaching insulation removed during maintenance or repairs as soon as possible is also an easy approach to avoid excessive energy losses.
Utilization of highly efficient steam generators
- Catégorie: Cross-Cutting
- Zone: Processes
- Sous-domaine: Process heating
- Effort de mise en œuvre :
- Potentiel d'économie :
The usage of highly efficient steam generators can reduce the energy requirements of steam generators as compared to conventional systems. Efficiency increases in steam generators are achieved, among others, via optimizations in terms of design and operation.
Utilization of heat pumps
- Catégorie: Cross-Cutting
- Zone: Processes
- Sous-domaine: Process heating
- Effort de mise en œuvre :
- Potentiel d'économie :
Heat pumps increase the temperature levels of heat sources that cannot be used for other purposes because of their low temperature levels. Thereby, they render low grade heat usable and thus reduce energy demand for heating purposes, yet they also consume energy on their own. The consumption of heat pump systems depends, among others, on the required temperature lift from source to sink. Heat pumps are particularly interesting if the required temperature lift is rather small. Application areas for heat pumps include space heating, heating of process flows, water heating for washing, sanitation and cleaning, steam production, drying/dehumidification, evaporation, distillation and concentration.
Optimized steam systems
- Catégorie: Cross-Cutting
- Zone: Processes
- Sous-domaine: Process heating
- Effort de mise en œuvre :
- Potentiel d'économie :
A highly efficient steam system beyond an efficient steam generator requires an optimization along the entire steam system. For optimization purposes, a variety of individual points can be looked at. They include options on the design of the pipework including throttling devices, on operation including include boiler controls, on distribution such as enhancing insulation on steam pipes or on recovery which addresses collecting and returning condensate to the boiler for reuse.
