The Factory of the Future: An analysis on buildings, HVAC, and heat recovery systems in order to reduce energy consumption

Abstract

The industrial sector in Sweden accounted for 38 percent of the country’s total
energy consumption in 2019. As the world’s focus has shifted drastically on energy
consumption, the industry sector’s has as well due to energy initiatives and
government-driven regulations. The energy issue is currently of great relevance
for energy-intensive industries where enormous potential remains due to factors
e.g., lack of energy-efficiency policies and insufficient investments in sustainable
buildings.

This paper presents an analysis of energy consumption for active and passive
building envelopes, focusing on buildings and heating, ventilation, and airconditioning
systems (HVAC-systems). The focus on buildings and HVAC-systems
enabled an analysis that highlighted key areas for energy-savings solutions outside
the scope of production processes. The project was carried out at three different
production facilities within Alfa Laval: Lund, Sweden; Ronneby, Sweden; Kolding,
Denmark. The methodology for this project provided for the use of literature,
benchmarking with energy-intensive industries, a regression analysis of heating
degree days, data analysis for energy consumption from sub-meters as well as the
participation during Energy Mapping of two of the sites. The analysis investigated
the three production facilities’ building structures, lighting solutions, district heating
systems, ventilation systems and heat recovery possibilities.

The work developed presented an indicative assessment of the overall potential
for certain energy measures to contribute to minimizing each production site’s
energy consumption. The greatest potential in terms of saving energy for reusing
waste heat from major energy users was found to be recovery at low temperatures
(< 50 C) by utilizing heat pumps and heat exchangers. Current ventilation systems
at all sites are outdated in regards to how the majority of ventilation units
not having been upgraded since the initial builds and the incompatibility with
new control systems. The modernization of ventilation units to enable recovery
at low temperatures was seen as a key area and highly profitable for optimal energy
consumption. Implementing a building management system for controlling
and monitoring the HVAC-system was also regarded as vital for maximizing regulating
capabilities, allowing for energy savings during off-peak hours as well as
removing manual labor. In addition to common measures for all three production
facilities, a variation of alternative energy measures were discussed for each site
separately.

Popular Abstract

Energy can be defined as the capacity for doing work and exists in many forms. To measure and monitor energy consumption, its sources can be divided into three sectors: residential and service, transportation and industrial. The industrial sector is expected to undergo an upcoming increase in electrification due to major changes in the industry i.e., electric vehicles and HYBRIT (Hydrogen Breakthrough Ironmaking Technology). A project was conducted at Alfa Laval to evaluate energy savings solutions when it comes to their production facilities; more specifically, their heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and heat recovery solutions. Focusing on three production sites (Lund, Sweden; Ronneby, Sweden; Kolding, Denmark), it was possible to give proposals in all three areas for energy efficiency solutions.

In energy-intensive industries, it's simplest to separate the energy consumption into two parts: consumption for manufacturing processes and consumption for the building's operation. Energy efficiency within manufacturing processes has increased the past few decades. It's even become easier to be more aware of how efficient equipment (just like those energy stickers on every new refrigerator).

On the other side, the operational energy consumption includes that which helps the building do what's needed day-to-day (space and water heating, lighting, etc.). This is where efficiency and awareness lacks behind because of unsustainable and unimproved buildings.

By focusing on Alfa Laval's buildings, their HVAC-systems and possible heat recovery solutions, the biggest area of improvement was to reuse waste heat from the manufacturing processes. This would help to "recycle" the energy that is already used for production purposes. Another key area was to implement a digital monitoring system that can help regulate the HVAC-systems. With such a system, the need for manual labor to optimize the HVAC-system would be removed and open the door for more energy savings. Specific energy-savings solutions for each production site were also proposed, giving a variety of alternatives for implementation.

• author: Naumburg, Christina
• supervisor: Martin Andersson
• organization: Department of Energy Sciences
• course: MVKM01 20212
• year: 2022
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Technology and Engineering
• keywords: HVAC, energy, consumption, electricity, industry, heat recovery
• report number: LUTMDN/TMHP-22/5492-SE
• ISSN: 0282-1990
• language: English
• id: 9078823
• date added to LUP: 2022-05-05 09:47:17
• date last changed: 2022-05-05 09:47:17