Energy-Saving Technology Opportunities and Investments of the Italian Foundry Industry

Energies

Marcello Salvio¹  Claudia Toro¹  Chiara Martini¹  Fabrizio Martini¹  Leonardo Leoni²  Filippo De Carlo²  Alessandra Cantini² 

[1] DUEE-SPS-ESE Laboratory, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Lungotevere Thaon di Revel, 76, 00196 Rome, Italy;Department of Industrial Engineering (DIEF), University of Florence, Viale Morgagni, 40, 50134 Florence, Italy;

关键词: energy-saving technologies;    foundry manufacturing plant;    Italian overview;    energy efficiency improvements;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en14248470

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The foundry industry is regarded as one of the most energy-intensive industrial sector due to its energy consumption up to 9 MWh/ton of produced metal. As a result, many companies are trying to increase the energy efficiency of their foundry plants. Since many energy-saving technologies are proposed by manufacturers and the literature, choosing the most appropriate one is a difficult task. Moreover, being updated with the available energy-saving solutions is complicated because of the quick technology advances. Consequently, this paper aims at investigating the recent and future opportunities and investments for reducing the energy consumptions of the technologies of Italian foundry companies. Additionally, it aims at presenting a list of available technological solutions validated by Italian experts. To this end, the Energy Audits developed by 231 plants were analyzed to extract the implemented and planned interventions. Furthermore, the economic data available within the Energy Audits were studied to determine the advantages of a given technological solutions compared to the others. It emerged that the companies are strongly investing in increasing the efficiency of the auxiliary systems such as compressors and motors. The outcomes of this study can assist both researchers and energy managers in choosing the most appropriate energy-saving solutions.

【 授权许可】

Unknown