PINCH ANALYSIS AND SOLAR THERMAL HEAT INTEGRATION IN A SUGER INDUSTRY USING HINT SOFTWARE

Abstract

The rising cost of energy and environmental concerns have led the Sugar industry to search for techniques of reducing energy consumption in operations. In this paper, pinch analysis was applied to a typical Sugar Industry process to target for the energy requirements of the process. Hint software was used for the analysis. At the chosen ΔTmin of 10˚C, the minimum cooling and heating utility requirements of the industry is studied and were determined as being 46594 kW and 3258 kW respectively, with a pinch temperature at 113˚C. The hot utility requirements for the company before (traditional) and after pinch analysis approach were found to be 45574 KW and 3258 kW respectively, while the cold utility requirements were 102393 kW and 46594 kW, respectively, which presented an energy saving potential of 62,9 %. Further the study tackles the integration of the thermo-solar technology in a heating requirement of stream sited in a climatic zone where diffuse irradiation is substantial. The Area requirement of solar collector, saving of oil equivalent and reduction of carbon in environment is studied.