Optimization of Material and Energy Integration in Eco-Industrial Networks

246 Pages·2014·2.87 MB·English

Optimization of Material and Energy
Integration in Eco-Industrial
Networks
by
Ivan Kantor
A thesis
presented to the University of Waterloo
in fulfillment of the
thesis requirement for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
in
Chemical Engineering
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2014
(cid:13)c Ivan Kantor 2014
This thesis consists of material all of which I authored or co-authored: see Statement
of Contributions included in the thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any
required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners.
I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public.
ii
Chapter 3 is based on the previously published work “Air quality and environmental
impactsofalternativevehicletechnologiesinOntario, Canada”byKantoretal. [41]asseen
in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 35(10):5145-5153 and is reproduced with
permission from the International Association of Hydrogen Energy. The thesis author’s
specific contributions to this paper were to develop the model of emission reduction poten-
tials, conduct the simulations, prepare the graphics and results, write the final manuscript
and respond to the comments of reviewers. This work was conducted with direction from
the project supervisors, Dr. M. Fowler and Dr. A Elkamel, who are co-authors on the pub-
lication. Amirhossein Hajimiragha contributed with primary modeling of the electricity
grid in the province of Ontario to determine the supportable penetration of alternative-fuel
vehicles. This effort is reflected in the Appendix.
Chapter 4 is based on previously published work “Optimized production of hydrogen
in an eco-park network accounting for life-cycle emissions and profit” by Kantor et al.
[69] as seen in the International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 37(6):5347-5359 and is re-
produced with permission from the International Association of Hydrogen Energy. The
thesis author’s specific contributions to this paper were to develop the model, conduct
the simulations, prepare the graphics and results, write the final manuscript and respond
to the comments of reviewers. This work was conducted with direction from the project
supervisors, Dr. M.W. Fowler and Dr. A. Elkamel, who are co-authors on the publication.
Chapter 5 is based on the forthcoming work “Optimization of Material and Energy
Exchange in an Eco-park Network Considering Three Fuel Sources” by Kantor et al. [108],
in press with the International Journal of Advanced Operations Management and is repro-
duced with permission from the International Journal of Advanced Operations Manage-
ment. The thesis author’s specific contributions to this paper were to develop the model,
conduct the simulations, prepare the graphics and results, write the final manuscript and
iii
respond to the comments of reviewers. This work was conducted with direction from the
project supervisors, Dr. M.W. Fowler and Dr. A. Elkamel, who are co-authors on the
publication.
Chapter 6 is based on work submitted to the Journal of Cleaner Production entitled
“Generalized MINLP Modeling of Eco-Industrial Networks”. The thesis author’s specific
contributions to this paper were to develop the model, conduct the simulations, prepare
the graphics and results, write the final manuscript and submit to the journal with an
expectation of also responding to the comments of reviewers. Alberto Betancourt assisted
with the implementation of the model in GAMS and also assisted with the modeling doc-
umentation. This work was conducted with direction from the project supervisors, Dr.
M.W. Fowler and Dr. A. Elkamel, who are co-authors on the publication. An additional
co-author on this publication is Dr. Ali Almansoori who assisted in the direction of the
paper and provided feedback prior to journal submission.
iv
Abstract
This work develops a generalized modeling framework using several techniques for as-
sessing the feasibility of an eco-industrial network or ‘eco-park’ in order to demonstrate
the environmental and economic benefits of industrial facilities with cooperative goals to
conserve energy and materials. The work takes advantage of three distinct types of model-
ing techniques (linear programming, mixed-integer linear programming and mixed-integer
non-linear programming) to incorporate increasingly complex circumstances for designing
eco-industrial networks. The purpose of this research is to provide policy-makers and facil-
ity designers with an approach to optimize construction of facilities based upon economic
and environmental incentives. This framework allows for optimizing the material and en-
ergy efficiency of a network of facilities to reduce emissions, waste, and input of materials
and energy while maintaining production levels.
Major contributions from this thesis are to examine the potential for alternative-fuel
vehicles within the concept of a hydrogen economy and exploration of eco-industrial net-
works, utilizing the tools of life cycle analysis and system optimization. Life-cycle assess-
ment is utilized as a tool for decision-making throughout this thesis and is an invaluable
asset in making environmentally-conscious decisions. This type of assessment evaluates
the emissions of a product from virgin material extraction through to final disposition in
the aquatic, terrestrial or atmospheric domain. The use of life-cycle assessment techniques
shows clear impacts on society over the entire lifecycle of the products and processes con-
sidered herein. Development of a dual-objective function to account for economics and
environmental performance of industrial facilities is developed and utilized to aid in the
decision process for policy-makers and facility designers.
The concept of eco-industrial networks is further extended by including additional com-
v
ponents, such as transportation modes, within the model. To this end, preliminary work
examines the practical possibility of shifting automobile propulsion technologies to alter-
native fuels with emphasis on the criteria air contaminants considered herein of greenhouse
gases, volatile organic compounds, and oxides of sulphur and nitrogen. The scenarios pre-
sented are based on a model of the electricity system in the province of Ontario, Canada
and energy pathway analysis to assess the supportable market penetration of, and emis-
sions from, alternative vehicle technologies. The recommendation of this work is that a
transition to electric vehicles in the near-term followed by a transition to hydrogen fuel-
cell vehicles will yield the largest reduction in criteria air contaminants in both the urban
centre of Toronto, Ontario and in the province as a whole.
The consideration of transportation and transitional technologies feeds directly into
the concept of eco-industrial parks and the benefit to society of their implementation. The
reduction in transportation distance between relatable chemical manufacturers has been
hailed as a major benefit of implementing eco-industrial park topology. This work devel-
ops a generalized modeling framework for eco-industrial parks based on a dual objective
of societal and industrial requirements. The nodes considered in this work include: energy
generation via hydrocarbon gasification or reforming, carbon capture, carbon sequestra-
tion, pressure-swingadsorptioninadditiontothemanufactureofammoniaandureawithin
the context of refueling a fleet of 1000 hydrogen vehicles. Life-cycle assessment is applied
to form the societal benefits of operating facilities within an eco-industrial framework and
the long-term economics of the processes are considered to form the economic portion of
the objective. Modeling is carried out in three distinct types: linear programming, mixed-
integerlinearprogrammingandmixed-integernon-linearprogramming. Eachofthesetypes
represents a different modeling framework developed to assess various complexities in the
eco-industrial network and yet they share common goals, themes and analysis methods.
Using each of these approaches, a case study eco-industrial park is analyzed using the three
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types of modeling methodologies mentioned. The simpler LP model is unable to account
for some of the complexities inherent in an eco-park network and thus the results from this
model are subsequently viewed as an upper boundary on the benefits of eco-industrial in-
tegration for the case study mentioned. The subsequent efforts of mixed-integer linear and
non-linear programming serve to refine the model and provide more realistic investigation
of the benefits of such a network.
In order to achieve a reduction in emissions of harmful substances to the air, water
and land to meet national targets, analysis of the interactions between humans and the
environment must be explored to unlock new avenues of production and consumption to
reduce the impact that society is having on the environment. This work is completed
within the larger context of the potential hydrogen economy with the supposition that
such a scenario will be enabled by increasingly effective technology. The transition of our
current infrastructure to the hydrogen economy shows benefits to air quality from reduced
emissions of vehicles and also from a reduced industrial contribution.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge my supervisors, Dr. Ali Elkamel and Dr. Michael Fowler,
for their patience and guidance in these studies; additionally, I would like to thank the
rest of my committee for taking the time to read my thesis and provide feedback on my
research work.
I would like to thank Bonnie De Baets, my partner, for her patience, understanding
and encouragement. Also, I would like to thank my friends and family for keeping me
grounded and involved in my community and life outside of the university.
I would also like to acknowledge NSERC and the Vanier scholarship program for pro-
viding financial support to pursue this endeavor.
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Contents
List of Tables xiv
List of Figures xvii
Nomenclature xviii
1 Introduction 1
2 Background 8
2.1 Eco-park Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.1 Examples of Eco-parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.1.2 Academic Studies of Eco-parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.1.3 Industrial Examples of Eco-parks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.1.4 Geographical Differences in the Application of Eco-parks . . . . . . 15
2.2 Hydrogen Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3 Analysis Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.1 Life Cycle Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.2 Typical Life Cycle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
ix
2.4 Modeling Programs and Methodologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.4.1 Software Used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.5 Environmental Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.5.1 Climate Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.5.2 Air Pollution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.5.3 Ozone Depletion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.5.4 Acid Rain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.5.5 Resource Conservation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.5.6 Habitat Destruction and Fragmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.5.7 Solid Waste . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.6 Financial Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.7 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3 Air quality and environmental impacts of alternative vehicle technologies
in Ontario, Canada 33
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.1.1 Health Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.2 Modeling and Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.2.1 Data Gathering and usage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.2.2 Methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
3.2.3 Results of Supportable Penetration and Vehicle Growth . . . . . . . 44
3.2.4 Pollution Abatement Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
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