Overview
Approximately 20% of the total energy use in Switzerland is consumed by industry of which 55% is necessary for process heating. An effective strategy to help meet the stringent requirements of the energy policy in Switzerland is to improve the thermal energy efficiency of the industrial sector. Process integration and pinch analysis (PI/PA) provide a systematic approach to design that aids in reducing the thermal energy resources needed for industrial processes. To help promote and expand the principles and application of PI/PA a software tool called PinCH has been developed and is being used in industry and in courses. Within Switzerland there are many processes that use batch process operation to meet the need to produce high quality products that demand flexibility in process operation. The PinCH software is to be extended to include the capability to integrate heat storages necessary for indirect heat recovery based on the principles of pinch analysis. This new capability will be particularly suited to maany processes commonly seen in Switzerland where batch processes that exhibit a high degree of schedule variation exclude the possibility for direct heat recovery as a design option. Based on the indirect heat recovery design, a heat exchange network schema can be automatically produced. Finally, an exergy analysis component is to be added and the existing heat exchanger network used for direct heat recovery design is to be extended to include pieces of equipment necessary for supporting design involving common heat exchangers.
