Technology Roadmap for Energy Loss Reduction and Recovery: Top Twenty Opportunities

A workshop was held in April 2004 to bring together industry representatives interested in reducing and/or recovering energy lost in manufacturing processes. The objective of the workshop was to gain industry consensus on critical needs for new energy systems, and to identify and prioritize the greatest areas of opportunity for reducing energy losses. Participants from chemicals, petroleum refining, pulp and paper, iron and steel, aluminum, and cement industries, along with representatives from equipment manufacturers and national laboratories, met and discussed priorities for advanced technologies. The primary focus was on energy systems technology used in steam systems (advanced boilers, burners), fired systems (furnaces, heaters, calciners, reboilers), onsite power generation, and related systems (e.g., controls, automation). The results of the meeting have been summarized in the Technology Roadmap for Energy Loss Reduction and Recovery (Technology Roadmap). This paper presents the main points of this Technology Roadmap, describes the process used for the preceding workshop, and outlines the top twenty energy savings opportunities that were identified. In the aggregate, these opportunities are substantial, totaling over 5 quads (quadrillion Btus) of energy and $19 billion in potentially avoided energy costs. While many of the opportunity areas contain R&D components, some are more near-term opportunities that involve best practices or optimization of equipment.