Steam system optimization of an industrial heat and power plant

Abstract

Improvement of the energy conversion processes efficiency helps to achieve a more reliable energy supply, a cleaner environment, more competitive businesses, and higher living standard. Industry data indicate significant potential for improving the efficiency of steam systems and minimizing their operating costs by implementing various measures. The present work is a result of a systematic approach for energy performance analysis and identification of opportunities for optimizing the steam-condensate system of the combined heat and power plant ESM Energetika, Skopje, R. N. Macedonia. The boiler plants provide superheated steam used in a hot-water station for the district heating system, for electricity generation, and as process steam for industrial customers. As the main operating costs of the plant stem from the natural gas consumption, the implementation of a set of energy efficiency measures will lead to its reduction, accompanied by less environmental impact. As a result of the system analysis, a number of energy efficiency measures have been identified. For each measure, the impact on individual parts of the system, as well as on the system as a whole, is evaluated using the Steam System Modeler Tool. This paper elaborates some of the identified measures that are considered more reliable from an operational and financial aspect, mainly focused on steam production for the district heating system. Based on a conservative approach, significant potential for savings of natural gas, electrical energy, and treated water is estimated, which will lead to annual financial savings of about 245000 Euro.

Optimizing the Recovery of Latent Heat of Condensation from the Flue Gas Stream through the Combustion of Solid Biomass with a High Moisture Content

“…In district heating systems, the boiler generates thermal energy by fuel combustion at a certain excess of air. The heat is transferred to a working medium (water, thermal oil) by the structures inside the boiler (flames, flame tubes, tubes, depending on the design) and later in the economizer [29]. In typical solid fuel combustion solutions, heat recovery ends here, and the hot flue gases are dumped into the atmosphere.…”

Reducing deaerator-related energy losses in steam boilers

“…Steam has been one of the most valuable forces in the service of humanity for nearly 250 years. Boiler systems are widely used in industries and power plants to generate steam [1,2]. Steam boilers are devices that produce steam at the desired pressure, temperature, and amount.…”

A preface to the special issue of optimization and engineering dedicated to SDEWES 2020 conferences

“…The topics ranged from the optimization of a microchannel ceramic heat exchanger (Shi et al 2017 ), geometry determination for oscillating water-column wave-energy converters (Ulazia et al 2020 ) to studying the impact of district energy share in cities on the optimal sizing of energy storage (Dominković and Krajačić 2019 ). In the same category of decision-making problems, steam system optimization in an industrial combined heat and power (CHP) plant (Filkoski et al 2020 ) and energy recovery by retarded osmosis in a sugar plant (Safder et al 2020 ) was studied. Multi-objective optimization and other advanced decision-making approaches were adopted in studying a factory acting as a prosumer on the electricity market (Perković et al 2017 ), selecting working fluids for geothermal plants (Martínez-Gomez et al 2017 ), and designing equipment units or components for a CHP unit (Costa et al 2020 ) and aspirating smoke detection system (Višak et al 2021 ).…”