Professor Jean-Marc Frayret and his research team have developed a decision-support tool to optimize synergies in the Bécancour industrial park. Read a summary of their work.
Summary
The main objective of this project is to propose a decision-support tool based on a mathematical programming model to optimize energy exchange flows (synergy) (e.g. hydrogen, steam, electricity) between players in an industrial park. An important aspect of this project is to ensure the long-term profitability of the proposed exchange solutions. To this end, the tool considers the technical and financial constraints of converting industrial processes from one type of energy to another (e.g. natural gas to hydrogen), as well as the conversion of energy flows (e.g. heat to electricity).
This tool also considers the possibilities of pooling (i.e. sharing) infrastructures (e.g. hydrogen gas pipeline network) and exchanging and upgrading energy by-products (e.g. low-pressure steam), as well as the possibilities of treating energy by-product flows (e.g. heat pump for upgrading low-pressure steam). In addition, based on lists of typical company profiles, this tool considers the addition of complementary companies (e.g., pooling and valorization of industrial process steam) to extend the sharing possibilities beyond the park’s existing players. The second objective of this project is to optimize a set of industrial synergy scenarios in order to study technical feasibility, profitability thresholds for industrial players in the Bécancour park, and the impact of the scenarios on the decarbonization of energy consumption.
