Energy saving options for industrial furnaces – the example of the glass industry

Panel: 4. Technology, products and systems

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Clemens Frassine, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany
Clemens Rohde, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Germany
Simon Hirzel, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, Germany

Abstract

In the industrial sector approximately 30 % of the fuels used are consumed by furnaces. On top of that, 10 % of the industrial electricity demand is used in furnaces. The ecodesign study on industrial furnaces and ovens has concluded that for the different processes improvements are possible. The study states, that the potential lies between 10 and 40 % depending on the sector and the application.

Within our paper we will describe an approach to assess the future energy demand of industrial furnaces In addition the corresponding CO2-emissions and saving potentials will be determined. The timeframe of our analysis is from 2015 to 2030 considering the EU 28 countries and Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. To show the application of our methodology we will present the glass sector as a case study. In our case study we will present the saving options corresponding to the furnaces used in the relevant processes. For the technological options, future market diffusion rates are estimated based on the historical situation.

For the purpose of our study we have built a proprietary bottom up simulation model for the the energy demand. We will present the underlying methodology and data of our modelling approach. The dataset represents a detailed representation of the EUs glass production sites. Therefore, we are able to model the diffusion of the efficiency technologies on a site level. In parallel we will present an approach to derive a dataset from sources like the ETS register.

Finally, we will present the results of our modelling approach and discuss the potential impacts of energy efficiency technologies in the glass sector. Furthermore we will show the transferability of our approach to other sectors.