Optimal energy concept for decarbonisation of sea-buckthorn processing plants

Abstract

The decarbonisation of the industrial sector is required to achieve the objectives defined within the European Climate and Energy framework, since industry accounts for 37% of the total global energy consumption and for a quarter of global energy system CO2 emissions [1]. In this context, this work aims the decarbonisation of a sea-buckthorn processing plant using structural and operational optimisation for the analysis of proposed energy supply concepts based on the integration of renewable energy sources, energy conversion components and storage systems. Different configurations are evaluated to select the concept that leads to a minimisation of the operating costs and a CO2 emissions reduction of the industrial site with installation costs within the investment range defined and the minimum payback period. Thus, the selected decarbonisation concept is able to achieve a reduction of 25% in operation costs (OPEX) and 31% in CO2 with an investment (CAPEX) of 288.7 T€ and a payback time of 5.8 years. Additionally, the developed methodology can be used for the analysis of decarbonisation concepts for other industrial processes by the integration of an adapted techno- economic definition of the components for each energy concept proposed.