Investigation of Energy Partnering Between Industry and District Heating by Improved Process Integration with Pinch Approach

Industry and district heating systems are the biggest pollutants and consumers of fossil fuels, despite a huge effort in renewable energy implementation. The European Union keeps circularity and efficiency principles, with a main focus on energy security and diversity. This paper considers the energy partnering possibilities between industrial facilities and district heating systems reducing the waste of heat and primary energy consumption. The systematic graphical approach based on pinch point analysis is used for energy targeting and finding the thermodynamically available maximum heat for utilisation in district heating networks. The case study analysed the specific processes of the fertiliser and polymer industries. The integration of the gas fractioning plant and nitric acid plant with low and high-temperature district heating resulted in energy savings of 25.23 GWh/y, 72.01 GWh/y, and emission savings of 5,071 tCO2/y and 14,473 tCO2/y respectively.