What is pinch analysis?
More than half of the energy consumption in Swiss industry is required in the form of thermal energy. In order to ensure the availability of heat, a lot of CO2 is generated throughout Switzerland. The pinch analysis method is an important part of the Swiss energy strategy in the industrial sector.
Pinch analysis is a systematic and holistic approach in which thermal energy consumption (for heating and cooling) is questioned and reduced. It is not applied to individual equipment, production facilities or infrastructure systems, but to the entire system. The aim is to determine all of a company's energy flows and to intelligently link them together so that the heat from material flows that need to be cooled, e.g. wastewater, exhaust air, products to be cooled, is used to heat other material flows, e.g. E.g. hot water, building heating, product streams, etc. Experience shows that optimization by linking energy flows in the overall system usually brings a greater increase in efficiency than the often costly improvement in the efficiency of individual components and devices.
The pinch analysis answers many other questions. Several are listed below as examples:
- Are the measures already implemented to increase efficiency correctly integrated into the overall system? If this is not the case, these measures will not generate the hoped-for benefits. In the worst case, they may even increase energy requirements.
- Does the use of thermal energy storage systems make sense, how should they be dimensioned and how should they be optimally integrated into the overall system?
- How can the heating and cooling supply be ensured sustainably, e.g. through the use of heat pump technology and renewable energy sources? How should these energy supply systems be optimally designed, e.g. in combination with storage technology?
- What waste heat can be used internally in the process through heat recovery? Which systems have unavoidable waste heat and how could this waste heat be used by an external consumer? Could entire areas be optimized through heat transfer between companies?
- What are the investment costs for the implementation of each measure and what financial benefits can be expected from the operation of the measures?
- How should the implementation of all the measures be strategically planned? Since all the measures developed on the basis of a pinch analysis are coordinated with each other, a strategic plan for the implementation of the measures can be derived from this.
- Pinch analysis can typically reduce the energy requirements of industrial processes by between 10% and 40%. From an economic point of view, the amortization periods for the implementation of measures, which are two to three years, are particularly worthwhile.