Overview
A great challenge that many countries face is to reduce energy needs and green house gas emissions. A central theme in meeting this challenge is improved energy efficiencies throughout the industrial infrastructure. An important technology used in improving energy utilization in industry of all sizes is the pinch method. The pinch analysis method is a major component of the broader theme of process integration and process synthesis. The aim of this project was to provide a software tool to enable the application of the classical pinch method. The software is a user friendly “engineering tool” that supports design engineers and other technical personnel in the praxis leading to better more efficient integrated process and energy designs. A previous pinch analysis tool was developed in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in the early 1990’s (“PinchLENI”, Prof. Dr. Daniel Favrat, Laboratoire d’énergétique industrielle LENI) that has been effectively used in industry and academia. A replacement software application for the older PinchLENI application with additional key functionality and documentation has been provided. The architectural basis of the software provides an open and flexible structure that allows future extension of the methods to be implemented.
