(69c) R&D Opportunities for Energy Efficiency in the Chemical Industry

The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (DOE/EERE), Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) supports research and development (R&D) to improve the energy efficiency and environmental performance of industrial processes. The program's primary role is to invest in high-risk, high-value R&D projects that will reduce industrial energy requirements while stimulating economic productivity, growth, and global economic competitiveness.ITP's Chemicals' subprogram, which supports R&D relevant to the chemical industries, sponsored a study to help guide its research decision-making process and ensure that Federal funds are spent effectively on the kind of projects that support DOE mission and goals. During the study, energy and exergy analysis were applied to 53 highest energy-consuming chemical manufacturing processes to determine the sources of inefficiency and to locate potential process-specific areas for energy recovery. ITP needed to know which manufacturing processes are the most users of high quality energy and therefore the least efficient in consumption of high quality energy. The study provided valuable insights into potential targets for the development and adoption of advanced, energy-efficient technologies in chemicals manufacture, and has become an important tool for assessing future directions in chemicals R&D conducted under the ITP Chemicals subprogram. The inefficiencies of existing technologies and processes in the 53 processes studied were identified and quantified. The locations of energy losses were pinpointed. Recoverable energies for each process were calculated and energy losses in major unit operations that are common across the chemical processes studied were examined. The methodology used for the study as well as the results and trends observed for the 53 process technologies studied will be presented in this paper.