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Energy Performance, Environmental Impacts and Costs of a Drying System: Life Cycle Analysis of Conventional and Heat Recovery Scenarios

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  • Dario Giuseppe Urbano

    (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy)

  • Andrea Aquino

    (Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Brescia, 25123 Brescia, Italy)

  • Flavio Scrucca

    (Department of Sustainability, Circular Economy Section, Italian National Agency for New Technologies Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), 00059 Rome, Italy)

Abstract

High energy consumption is one of the main problems of drying, a critical process for many industrial sectors. The optimization of drying energy use results in significant energy saving and has become a topic of interest in recent decades. We investigate benefits of heat recovery in a convective drying system by comparing two different scenarios. The Baseline Scenario is a conventional industrial dryer, and Scenario 1 includes the preheating of drying air by exhausts from the drying chamber. We show that the energy efficiency of the drying cycle is strictly related to the properties of the dried material and operative conditions, and performance improves significantly (by 59% to 87%) when installing a heat recovery unit (Scenario 1). Additionally, the temperature of drying air affects performance. We assess both scenarios by LCA analysis, measuring the environmental impacts and externalities of four different fuels (natural gas, light fuel oil, biomethane, and hardwood chips). Our findings indicate that heat recovery reduces environmental impacts, both when fossil and renewable fuels feed the system, but unexpected impact arises for some categories when renewable fuels are used.

Suggested Citation

  • Dario Giuseppe Urbano & Andrea Aquino & Flavio Scrucca, 2023. "Energy Performance, Environmental Impacts and Costs of a Drying System: Life Cycle Analysis of Conventional and Heat Recovery Scenarios," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-12, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:3:p:1523-:d:1056953
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    4. Andrea Aquino & Pietro Poesio, 2021. "Off-Design Exergy Analysis of Convective Drying Using a Two-Phase Multispecies Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-36, January.
    5. Tugrul Ogulata, R., 2004. "Utilization of waste-heat recovery in textile drying," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 41-49, September.
    6. Stern,Nicholas, 2007. "The Economics of Climate Change," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521700801, November.
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