Energy consumption hierarchical analysis based on interpretative structural model for ethylene production

Interpretative structural model(ISM) can transform a multivariate problem into several sub-variable problems to analyze a complex industrial structure in a more efficient way by building a multi-level hierarchical structure model. To build an ISM of a production system, the partial correlation coefficient method is proposed to obtain the adjacency matrix, which can be transformed to ISM. According to estimation of correlation coefficient, the result can give actual variable correlations and eliminate effects of intermediate variables. Furthermore, this paper proposes an effective approach using ISM to analyze the main factors and basic mechanisms that affect the energy consumption in an ethylene production system. The case study shows that the proposed energy consumption analysis method is valid and efficient in improvement of energy efficiency in ethylene production.

An input-output model for energy accounting and analysis of industrial production processes： a case study of an integrated steel plant

To promote sustainability, it has become increasingly vital to properly account material and energy flows in industrial production processes. Therefore, a generic process-level input-output （IO） model was developed to provide an integrated energy （material） accounting and analysis approach for industrial production processes. By extending the existing processlevel IO models, the production, usage, export and loss of by-products were explicitly considered in the proposed IO model. Moreover, the by-products allocation procedures were incorporated into the proposed IO model to reflect individual contributions of products to energy consumption. Finally, the proposed model enabled calculating embodied energy of main products and total energy consumption under hierarchical accounting scope. Plant managers, energy management consultants, governmental officials and academic researchers could use this input-output model to account material and energy flows, thus calculating energy consumption indicators of a production process with their specific system boundary requirements. The accounting results could be further used for energy labeling, identifying bottlenecks of production activities, evaluating industrial symbiosis effects, improving materials and energy utilization efficiency, etc. The model could also be used as a planning tool to determine the effect that a particular change of technology and supply chains may have on the industrial production processes. The proposed model was tested and applied in a real integrated steel mill, which also provided the reference results for related researches. At last, some concepts, computational issues and limi- tations of the proposed model were discussed.

The MIP Technology and Its Commercial Application

This article introduces the specifics of the MIP technology involving respectively the case for production of clean gasoline, the case for producing clean gasoline coupled with production of diesel and the case for producing gasoline with increased output of propylene. The performance of the MIP units that were in operation was wrapped up. Test results have shown that the MIP technology is characterized by improved product distribution as evidenced by the reduced yields of dry gas and slurry and the increased total liquid yield; the upgraded product quality as evidenced by the reduced olefin and sulphur contents in gasoline; and the more ideal techno-economic indicators as evidenced by the reduced unit consumption of catalyst and the reduced energy consumption of the process unit.

A new process to improve short-chain fatty acids and bio-methane generation from waste activated sludge

As an important intermediate product, short-chain fatty acids（SCFAs） can be generated after hydrolysis and acidification from waste activated sludge, and then can be transformed to methane during anaerobic digestion process. In order to obtain more SCFA and methane,most studies in literatures were centered on enhancing the hydrolysis of sludge anaerobic digestion which was proved as un-efficient. Though the alkaline pretreatment in our previous study increased both the hydrolysis and acidification processes, it had a vast chemical cost which was considered uneconomical. In this paper, a low energy consumption pretreatment method, i.e. enhanced the whole three stages of the anaerobic fermentation processes at the same time, was reported, by which hydrolysis and acidification were both enhanced, and the SCFA and methane generation can be significantly improved with a small quantity of chemical input. Firstly, the effect of different pretreated temperatures and pretreatment time on sludge hydrolyzation was compared. It was found that sludge pretreated at 100°C for 60 min can achieve the maximal hydrolyzation. Further, effects of different initial p Hs on acidification of the thermal pretreated sludge were investigated and the highest SCFA was observed at initial p H 9.0with fermentation time of 6 d, the production of which was 348.63 mg COD/g VSS（6.8 times higher than the blank test） and the acetic acid was dominant acid. Then, the mechanisms for this new pretreatment significantly improving SCFA production were discussed. Finally,the effect of this low energy consumption pretreatment on methane generation was investigated.