Intelligent simulation tool to develop viable business case for waste heat recovery from energy intensive industries

The Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) project can significantly improve site energy efficiency which has been identified as the most costeffective measure for CO2 mitigation especially in short and mid-terms. Yet, widespread adoption of WHR is hindered by several factors e.g. lack of justification of investment, long payback period, limited access to funds. Since there is no user-friendly simulation tool, WHR solutions are usually evaluated by combination of multiple expensive simulation tools and highly expertise knowledge is required to run those tools. To increase the uptake of WHR, we will develop user-friendly IntRec tool that will, irrespective of the industrial sector and geographic location, holistically characterise waste heat source(s) through systematic approach and will select optimised WHR technology options based on operating conditions, supply and demand dynamics. WHR technology solution will be evaluated against different performance metrics to meet users’ diversified need such as cost benefit for waste heat generators; emission & primary energy savings for policy makers; levelised cost of recovered energy for offsite end users ( DHCoperators, large private facilities), policy makers, etc. Knowledge base engineering approach will allow IntRec to assess cost benefit of WHR project, limiting the error within ±2%. In addition, servitisation framework will encourage to implement WHR projects even with longer payback period (>3 years) and will also encourage smaller enterprises who have limited access to finances. In order to identify feasible heat option for DH, IntRec can be applied to identify all possible heat saving options from industries or any waste heat generating sites and to get the levelised cost of recovered heat which can be combined with overall energy system analysis and by doing so, it can be possible to redesign the EU heating sector.