Industrial tools and needs: Chemicals, stainless steel, pulp and paper

Abstract

The topic of demand-side management has grown within one decade from a "buzzword" to a vast academic research field where the multitude of complexities is acknowledged by a large number of potential methods to tackle the problem (see previous chapter). This is just one example of energy-related aspects which are getting attractive for heavy industries. The role of energy has become more important than ever-both because of environmental and cost reasons. Therefore, the time is right to bring the best theories into practice. The industry is both open toward, as well as, looking for solutions that can improve the energy efficiency, sustainability, and productivity simultaneously while reducing the total costs of production. In parallel, the developments within information technology, highlighting the topic of integration and collaboration, support applications that merge earlier separated tasks and aim to maximize the synergies between various industrial solutions. In this chapter, the main focus is on existing tools and how to meet the needs of energy-intensive processes. These will be discussed along real case studies.