Industrial energy processes

Analysis of industrial energy processes is a new priority area for research which will study central issues underlying the Norwegian government's policy towards sustainable energy development. It is a wide field as industrial energy processes cover all types of power and thermal processes, from the production of power and heat on the one hand, to the processes that use power and heating on the other.

Specific areas of study include:

• Energy conversion processes such as thermal power plants (electricity) and power generation plants (electricity and thermal power)
• Energy intensive production processes such as smelting works and timber refining
• Process industries that refine products such as LNG and methanol
• Various types of energy chains such as the gas transport chain to gas power plants

The analyses will study energy flow, materials flow, cost optimalization and environmental impacts. Examples of such analyses:

• Exergy analyses as a basis for comparing energy processes and solutions
• Pinch analyses for thermal integration
• Optimalization/regulation, estimation/forecasting
• Financial analyses (costs)
• Economic considerations for society compared with corporate profitability
• Life-cycle analyses
• Value chain analyses
• Supply reliability and regularity
• Degradation, maintenance and rehabilitation
• Environmental accounting