Techno-economic impact assessments of energy efficiency improvements in the industrial combustion systems

Industrial energy efficiency assessments not only provide benefits to manufacturers, but also generate significant economic and environmental benefits to localities, states, and the nation through indirect and induced benefits. Quantifying these benefits requires a systematic economic framework for capturing these interactions. This article employs methodologies for improving the energy efficiency of small and medium-size industry through their combustion systems. Combustion systems offer large opportunities to enhance energy efficiency through adopting advanced technologies and better-informed operations. The case studies presented illuminate the potential savings and impacts from implementing energy-efficient combustion recommendations and the importance of energy audits and energy efficiency in the fight against climate change. This study describes and quantifies the cascading economic and environmental impacts of implementing the industrial energy efficiency recommendations offered by an energy auditing program by participating facilities over a ten-year period. Results showed that it is expected that a total of $185M would be saved in energy costs and 2.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions would be avoided annually, and about 972 jobs could be created in the studied region if all the combustion recommendations would be implemented. The broader view afforded by the proposed study can be used to support better energy efficient practices in manufacturing facilities, communities, and states.

Analysis of Local Exergy Losses in Combustion Systems Using a Hybrid Filtered Eulerian Stochastic Field Coupled with Detailed Chemistry Tabulation: Cases of Flames D and E

A second law analysis in combustion systems is performed along with an exergy loss study by quantifying the entropy generation sources using, for the first time, three different approaches: a classical-thermodynamics-based approach, a novel turbulence-based method and a look-up-table-based approach, respectively. The numerical computation is based on a hybrid filtered Eulerian stochastic field (ESF) method coupled with tabulated detailed chemistry according to a Famelet-Generated Manifold (FGM)-based combustion model. In this work, the capability of the three approaches to capture the effect of the Re number on local exergy losses is especially appraised. For this purpose, Sandia flames D and E are selected as application cases. First, the validation of the computed flow and scalar fields is achieved by comparison to available experimental data. For both flames, the flow field results for eight stochastic fields and the associated scalar fields show an excellent agreement. The ESF method reproduces all major features of the flames at a lower numerical cost. Next, the second law analysis carried out with the different approaches for the entropy generation computation provides comparable quantitative results. Using flame D as a reference, for which some results with the thermodynamic-based approach exist in the literature, it turns out that, among the sources of exergy loss, the heat transfer and the chemical reaction emerge notably as the main culprits for entropy production, causing 50% and 35% of it, respectively. This fact-finding increases in Sandia flame E, which features a high Re number compared to Sandia flame D. The computational cost is less once the entropy generation analysis is carried out by using the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) hybrid ESF/FGM approach together with the look-up-table-based or turbulence-based approach.

Decarbonization for Oil and Gas Value Chain: An Update Review

Apart from oil and natural gas conventional reservoirs scarcities, global warming is one of the environmental petroleum industry challenges in the short-medium-long term. This is related to the dramatic growth of greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission in which carbon dioxide (CO2) produced by the combustion of fossil fuels plays a significant role in atmosphere carbonization. Different technologies or systems for capturing CO2 are available such as pre-combustion systems, post-combustion systems, oxy-fuel combustion systems and capture from industrial process streams. However, decarbonization involves the removal of greenhouse gases emissions and storing them in geological formation or using them for other sectors of industries including oil production optimization. This process is known as carbon dioxide capture usage and storage (CCUS), a promising method to reduce CO2 emissions due to increasing energy demand and continued dependency on fossil fuel in the next decades while green energy is still under investigation or is not a mature option yet. Besides the CCUS method, emission reduction can also be achieved by improving energy efficiency or shifting to green energy. Therefore, Oil and gas (O&G) producers need to continue investigating the CCUS as an option that allows using fossil energy sources while the world is moving to transition to other green energies.