Framework methodology for increased energy efficiency and renewable feedstock integration in industrial clusters

Energy intensive industries, such as the bulk chemical industry, are facing major challenges and adopting strategies to face these challenges. This paper investigates options for clusters of chemical process plants to decrease their energy and emission footprints. There is a wide range of technologies and process integration opportunities available for achieving these objectives, including (i) decreasing fossil fuel and electricity demand by increasing heat integration within individual processes and across the total cluster site; (ii) replacing fossil feedstocks with renewables and biorefinery integration with the existing cluster; (iii) increasing external utilization of excess process heat wherever possible. This paper presents an overview of the use of process integration methods for development of chemical clusters. Process simulation, pinch analysis, Total Site Analysis (TSA) and exergy concepts are combined in a holistic approach to identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency and integrate renewable feedstocks within such clusters. The methodology is illustrated by application to a chemical cluster in Stenungsund on the West Coast of Sweden consisting of 5 different companies operating 6 process plants. The paper emphasizes and quantifies the gains that can be made by adopting a total-site approach for targeting energy efficiency measures within the cluster and when investigating integration opportunities for advanced biorefinery concepts compared to restricting the analysis to the individual constituent plants. The holistic approach applied highlights the significant potential improvement to energy and emissions footprints that can be achieved when applying a total site approach.