Semester
Summer
Date of Graduation
2025
Document Type
Problem/Project Report (Campus Access)
Degree Type
MS
College
Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
Department
Industrial and Managements Systems Engineering
Committee Chair
Bhaskaran Gopalakrishnan
Committee Co-Chair
Hailin Li
Committee Member
Zhichao Liu
Abstract
Sustainability has become a significant focus for industries due to customer demand and environmental regulations. Energy efficiency and emissions reduction play a significant role in improving the environmental performance in the industries. However, facility managers often lack effective tools to determine the right projects to achieve the environmental improvement targets. Boiler systems were studied to evaluate their impact on energy and carbon emissions reduction. A simulation tool using Excel VBA to evaluate the impacts of energy efficiency measures on boiler energy consumption was developed. The user can simulate baseline consumption and emissions using the current boiler operating parameters and the changes based on modifications to the boiler operating parameters and implementation of energy-saving measures.
The model was validated with 12 months of utility bills from a manufacturing plant. The maximum absolute error percentage between the monthly simulated data and utility bills was observed to be 12.09% and the minimum absolute error percentage was observed to be 1.49%. The error between the model and real data was attributed to differences in load factors, weather impacts, simplification of the model, and real-world performance. A total of nine improvement scenarios were evaluated under the specified boiler operating conditions. Among the individual measures assessed, the recovery of heat from condensate demonstrated the greatest reduction in energy consumption. This was followed in descending order of effectiveness by burner replacement, optimization of the air-fuel ratio, reduction of steam pressure, recovery of blowdown heat, reduction of blowdown rates, flue gas heat recovery, and the application of insulation to exposed hot surfaces. Additionally, a combined scenario incorporating condensate heat recovery, air-fuel ratio optimization, and steam pressure reduction was analyzed.
Recommended Citation
Prajapati, Bibek, "Temporal Simulation of Boiler Efficiency Projects for Environmental Performance in Industrial Facilities" (2025). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 13030.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/13030