Flexible Operation of Cooling System for Reducing Energy Consumption

A Process Integration has made possible to reduce operation and input costs in the industrial field. Generally, processes are subject to modifications that lead to further modifications throughout the operation of the industrial process itself. Such is the case we study in this paper: once the operation of a cooling system is modified by changing the heat exchange network and managing to reduce the heat exchange area and water consumption, the pumping system is also modified, achieving lower energy consumption. That is to say, by altering a system (the heat exchange network in this case) the possibility to modify other systems arises as well (in this case, the pumping system), and that way the costs of operation for the cooling process are further reduced. Throughout this paper, a series of steps are provided to reduce the energy consumption once modifications have been made to the heat exchange network for a cooling system in a particular given case study. The results shown in the case study serve as guidelines to continue developing heuristic technologies for the integration of processes wherein different study disciplines can be involved in order to achieve global savings in the cost of inputs for industrial processes.