Abstract
One of useful means to mitigate global warming is the energy conservation. The amount of energy consumption in industrial sectors is above 50% of total energy consumption in Japan. One of the ways of energy conservation in industrial sectors is the recovery of waste heat, of which the amount depends on the energy demand within and between connected factories.
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the energy conservation potential of so-called heat cascading of various energy consumption secotors. We have developed a heat combinat model of optimization type which integrates energy flows among processes of energy intensive industries so as to maximize the total energy-economic efficiency. We have treated mainly iron & steel, cement, paper & pulp and ethylene industries as core industries in combinats. Simulation results demonstrate effectiveness of heat cascading as one of useful means for future energy conservation.
