Virtual sector profiles for innovation sharing in process industry : sector 01: chemicals

Production data in process industry are proprietary to a company since they are key to the process design and technology expertise. However, data confidentiality restrains industry from sharing results and advancing developments in and across process sectors. Using virtual profiles that simulate the typical operating modes of a given process industry offers an elegant solution for a company to share information with the outside world. This paper proposes a generic methodology to create sector blueprints and applies it to the chemicals industry. It details the profile of a typical chemical site based on essential units and realistic data gathered from existing refineries and chemical plants

My climate journey : a transmedia experience for climate activism

The purpose of this creative project is to expand an Indianapolis-based environmental organization’s mission to Muncie, Indiana in an effort to educate Muncie youth about the direct effects climate change has on their lives and how to positively mitigate climate change in their community. This creative project entailed a nonfiction transmedia storytelling experience in Muncie to raise awareness of climate change among youth ages 10-13 and inspire them to take climate action. This project was preceded by extensive academic research focused on the issue of climate change and its effects and youths’ (10-13 years old) perceptions of climate change. Semi-structured interviews with experts informed an understanding of what youth ages 10-13 know about climate issues and how to motivate youth to take action in their communities. Group discussions with students ages 10-13 from two different middle schools in Muncie were conducted to better understand their existing knowledge of climate change and climate issues. Design thinking exercises facilitated ideas for project development with stakeholders. This project was produced using the transmedia activism framework. In addition to contributing a new initiative to Earth Charter Indiana’s current programs, this project contributes to conversations within the area of transmedia storytelling for youth and social change.Department of JournalismLiterature review : transmedia storytelling -- Literature review : community engagement -- Project design -- Body of project.Thesis (M.A.

Energy Integration of Large-Scale Industrial Sites with Target-Compatible Sub-System Division Strategy

This paper presents a targeting strategy to solve the heat load distribution (HLD) problem for large-scale plant by dividing the system into sub-systems while considering the heat transfer opportunities between them. The methodology is based on a sequential approach. The optimal flow rates of utilities are first defined using a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model. The site is then divided into the subsystems where the overall interaction is resumed into a pair of virtual hot and cold stream with nonlinear T-H profile. The HLD problem is solved between these subsystems in a sequential procedure by considering a MILP model between these virtual representative streams, while each time one of the sub-systems is switched from virtual streams to the real ones. The main advantages are to reduce the size of the HLD problem and to find a feasible solution which is compatible with the minimum energy requirement (MER) objective. The potential of direct heat recovery between sub-systems are considered and the method can be practically adopted to consider the restricted matches between sub-systems as well. This methodology has been currently applied on a real site scale process integration industrial example and in this paper its application is illustrated through a case study with 23 streams

Environomic Design of Vehicle Integrated Energy System - Application on a Hybrid Electric Vehicle Energy System

With the increasing trend of mobility of the human population, vehicles have to face the problem of primary energy resources scarcity. The vehicles need higher efficiency and better adaptation to the alternative energy sources. The need to improve the efficiency of the vehicle energy system motivates to search for innovative solutions during the design process. The main design criteria for modern sustainable development of vehicle powertrain are the high energy efficiency of the conversion system, the competitive cost and the lowest possible environmental impacts. These objectives are most of the time antagonistic. To cope with this challenge the automotive engineers need a structured optimization methodology. A multi-objective optimization methodology is being applied as search for the best powertrain design solutions. This kind of approach named "multi-objectives optimization" is based on genetic algorithms, which are based on the process of natural selection. An innovative decision- making methodology, using this optimization technic is currently under development at PSA Peugeot Citroen. The idea is to obtain simultaneously a population of possible design solutions corresponding to the most efficient energy system definition for a vehicle. These solutions are optimal from a technical, economic and environmental point of view. In this article the methodology is applied on a hybrid electric vehicle study in order to define the powertrain configuration of the vehicle, estimate the cost of the powertrain equipment and show the environmental impact of the technical choices on the lifecycle perspective of the vehicle. For that a physical model of a hybrid electric vehicle is made. This model is coupled with a cost model for the vehicle and life cycle assessment (LCA) technics are used for the environmental assessment. After multi-objective optimization, the outcoming solutions from the Pareto frontiers curve are analysed

On the use of process integration techniques to generate optimal steam cycle configurations for the power plant industry

The integration of steam cycles in the power plant industry aims at optimizing the conversion of the available heat into mechanical power. The proposed method uses process integration techniques and a multi-objective optimisation procedure to generate optimal steam cycle configurations which can be ordered by complexity-costs and efficiency. The interest of this methods is to allow the integration of complex heat exchanger network layout, providing systematically alternative arrangements using an effective solving method

MINLP model and two-stage algorithm for the simultaneous synthesis of heat exchanger networks, utility systems and heat recovery cycles

This work proposes a novel approach for the simultaneous synthesis of Heat Exchanger Networks (HEN) and Utility Systems of chemical processes and energy systems. Given a set of hot and cold process streams and a set of available utility systems, the method determines the optimal selection, arrangement and design of utility systems and the heat exchanger network aiming to rigorously consider the trade-off between efficiency and capital costs. The mathematical formulation uses the SYNHEAT superstructure for the HEN, and ad hoc superstructures and nonlinear models to represent the utility systems. The challenging nonconvex MINLP is solved with a two-stage algorithm. A sequential synthesis algorithm is specifically developed to generate a good starting solution. The algorithm is tested on a literature test problem and two industrial problems, the optimization of the Heat Recovery Steam Cycle of a Natural Gas Combined Cycle and the heat recovery system of an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Thermodynamic analysis, energy integration and flowsheet improvement of a methanol absorption acid gas removal process

This paper analyses the thermodynamic performance and proposes different energy integration schemes for a methanol absorption based acid gas removal process, namely the Rectisol® process specifically designed for the selective removal of H2S and CO2 from coal derived syngas. The study consists of three major tasks: 1. Calibrating the PC-SAFT equation of state for MEOH-CO2-H2S-H2-CO mixtures at conditions relevant for the Rectisol® process. 2. Evaluating the thermodynamic performances and optimising the energy integration of the "Reference" scheme by means of "heat-cascade" based optimisation methodology. 3. Identifying attractive process modifications on the basis of Process Integration principles

Comparative Evaluation of Three Sugarcane Supply Strategies in Colombia: Logistics, Energy and GHG Emissions

Sugarcane-based ethanol in Colombia has a prospective opportunity to explore the production of ethanol from lignocellulosic biomass taking into account that a large amount of generated residues (between 50 and 100 t/ha) are left on the field after green harvesting. The use of sugarcane green harvesting residues for ethanol production could be considered as a feasible solution but it is facing high supply costs. A bottom-up engineering cost model was used to estimate the green harvesting residues supply cost for three collection strategies. The model took into account the investment and operation costs of the residues collection, processing, delivery, and machineries including depreciations, repair and maintenance, and labor cost. Overall energy consumptions and life-cycle GHG emissions of the three strategies were analyzed. The integral harvesting showed the best performance in costs (6.01 USD/dry-t), energy consumptions (125.32 MJ/dry-t), and GHG emissions (7.74 kg CO2-eq/dry-t), followed by the baled and chopped residues