Advances in Process Integration research for CO2 emission reduction – A review

Abstract

Carbon dioxide emissions coming from industrial, transport, service and business activities as well as methane and nitrogen oxides from agriculture are major greenhouse gases with high global warming potentials. Modelling tools for the optimal management and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, in particular, carbon dioxide, have received growing attention. Concurrently, complementary graphical and visualisation tools for carbon dioxide targeting, design and planning based on Pinch Analysis have evolved in line with the developments of other Process Integration tools. The application of Pinch Analysis includes the conservation of resources including heat, mass, water, gas, materials, property, solid, and more recently, power. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the development of Process Integration insight-based graphical, algebraic and numerical tools for carbon dioxide emission reduction. The key focus of the review is on methodologies that are capable of making explicit assessment on, and quantify the impact of the use of the PI tool on CO2 reduction, covering works from 2007 (when it was initially introduced) until year 2016. The review has been categorised into supply side energy and emission planning as well as demand side and end-of-pipe energy and emission management. The aim of the review is to provide researchers, industrial planners, policy-makers and energy managers awareness of the appropriate insight-based graphical, algebraic and visualisation Process Integration tools that are available for use for carbon dioxide emissions planning and reduction. Applications of such tools is expected to enhance their conceptual understanding of the problems and ultimately help them make better decisions during the planning and management of greenhouse gas emissions.