Recent trends in pinch analysis for carbon emissions and energy footprint problems

• Main Authors: Tan, Raymond Girard R., Foo, Dominic Chwan Yee
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2009
• Subjects: Carbon dioxide mitigation; Chemical Engineering
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/295
• Institution: De La Salle University

Climate change has recently become a major focus of industry and government agencies. Pinch analysis techniques have now been extended to various carbon and environmental-constrained problems. The first applications were meant to determine the minimum amount of zero- or low-carbon energy sources needed to meet regional or sectoral emission limits. The concept was later extended to segregated targeting with regions using unique sets of energy sources, and for targeting retrofits for carbon sequestration in the electricity sector. Furthermore, the pinch analogy was used for energy planning in scenarios involving land and water footprints. Graphical, algebraic and automated targeting variants have been developed for these problems. This paper discusses the historical evolution of recently developed pinch analysis techniques for the various emission- and footprint-related problems, along with their contributions and limitations. Some recent applications in Ireland and New Zealand are also reviewed. Finally, a new application of the use of composite curves for company-level analysis of carbon footprint improvement options is described Copyright © 2009, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.