An integrated high-grade waste heat network for carbon emission reduction in industrial zones

Abstract

The global battle to reduce greenhouse gases changes many aspects of how we should think of our energy resources. For a large part, the industry is responsible for worldwide energy consumption. In the Netherlands, this share amounts to 41% of total energy production (Compendium voor de Leefomgeving, 2019). The industry is looking into different methods to lower their energy consumption to reduce carbon emissions. This is generally done by improved technologies, and by reusing existing energy flows. This study is focused on how industrial zones can optimally utilize their available waste heat (WH) in such a way that carbon emissions are minimized. By creating an optimal dispatch for waste heat in an industrial zone, insights into how the network should be operationalized are gained. It can also lead to industrial synergies due to cooperation between companies in the industrial zone. The research has been performed in four phases. (1) An orienting and descriptive phase, (2) a scenario creation and modeling phase, (3) verification, analyzing, and evaluation of the gained insights, and (4) the discussion and conclusion of the research. Sectors with both large scale demand and supply of WH are likely to be interested in participating in an integrated WH market. As a result, establishing large scale connections prevents large amounts of carbon emissions. Additionally, the financial incentive to invest in these solutions increases due to increasing carbon taxation. Key drivers for carbon reduction are the large scale connections, with a demand profile that exceeds the supply pattern by much. Determining the optimal dispatch of an industrial zone will offer a method to account for the volatility of supply and demand. It was expected that flexibility options in the WH market would be interesting, however with the current supply and demand patterns, WH can be utilized almost fully. That means that in the current system flexibility options do not add value. Several considerations remain for the implementation of integrated WH networks. Such as the power-to-heat technology that will likely increase the share of WH supply in industrial zones. Furthermore, a market mechanism has to be established when multiple parties (>2) get involved in the network to increase the feasibility of the deployment of the network.