Integration of steam distribution network with storage and power recovery

past

Master project

Context

An industrial utility supplier, in France, produces and transfers utilities, especially steam, to the nearby industrial plants. Due to the current site configuration, sometimes steam is in excess, and so it is vented into environment.

In order to improve the energy efficiency of utility supplier, there is a strong need of heat/steam storage. Further, any extra heat has to be valorized into mechanical power / electricity. The steam is supplied to the industrial partners at different pressure levels, with varying daily demands. This project aims to develop heat/steam storage models, and integrate them with steam distributions network and steam cycle, to improve the overall performance of the utility system.

The project

This project will be organised in the following steps.

  • Analysis and understanding of the research problem.
  • Development of steam distribution network for industrial site.
  • Development of energy storage models.
  • Integration of steam distribution network, energy storage, and steam cycle.

Skills

  • Experience with flowsheeting software.
  • Understanding of thermodynamic cycles, energy integration and process optimization.
  • Results interpretation and report writing.
  • Coding skills: R, AMPL.
  • Lectures: Modelling and Optimisation of Energy systems, Energy Conversion and/or Renewable Energy.

Administrative

This project is a part of collaborative research work between IPESE/EPFL and Terega (France). The project will be supervised by Shivom (IPESE/EPFL) and Myriam (TEREGA, France). If interested, please send your CV, with short motivation letter, to Shivom/Myriam.

Location

This research work will be conducted at IPESE/EPFL, Sion. Student will discuss his/her work with collaborators in Terega, in bi-weekly video meetings.

Supervisors

Dr. Shivom Sharma, shivom.sharma@epfl.ch
Dr. Myriam Etancelin, myriam.etancelin@terega.fr