TITLE:
Assessment of the Energy Conversion on the Thermal Balance and Atmospheric Emissions in Ceramic Tile Product Industry in Tunisia: A Case Study
AUTHORS:
Imed Ben Salah, Moufida Ben M’barek Jemaï, Aycer Ben Saad, Safa Mezza
KEYWORDS:
Ceramic, Energy Conversion, Cogeneration, Energy Balance, Atmospheric Emissions
JOURNAL NAME:
Atmospheric and Climate Sciences,
Vol.10 No.4,
August
17,
2020
ABSTRACT: This work aims to assess the effect of energy conversion (Thermal oil, Natural gas and cogeneration system) on atmospheric emission and energy consumption in ceramic tile product sector in Tunisia. Two tile manufactures were selected. The first plant has two production lines: The first line (FF1) operates with thermal oil with a lower calorific value (LHV) of 9811 cal/g and the second line (FG1) operating with natural gas has a lower calorific value (HHV) of 10,520 cal/g, ensuring a daily output of 300 tons each one. The second manufacture (SC2) operates with natural gas with the same LHV value. The thermal oil energy balance showed a specific consumption of 0.0481 toe/ton tile product for the FF1 manufacture line, 0.0198 toe/ton of tile product for the FG1 manufacture line and 0.0143 toe/ton of tile product for the SC2 manufactory. The electrical energy consumption was 0.0121 toe/ton of tile product for the FF1 line, 0.0108 toe/ton of tile product for the FG1 line and a production of energy (exergy) of 0.014 toe/ton for the SC2 production line. The specific consumption was split into 40% for dryer and 60% for tunnel kilns. The conversion allow to record a dryer reduction rate of 80% for nitrogen oxides (NOx), 56% for sulfur oxides (SOx), 56% for fluorinated compounds, 52% for chlorinated compounds and 52% for volatile organic compound. Whereas, the kiln reduction rate was 36% for nitrogen oxides, 51% for sulfur oxides, 36% for chlorinated compounds and 55% for fluorinated and 50% for volatile organic compounds (VCOs). Compared to natural gas line, the use of cogeneration system in kiln process shows a decrease of 67% for NOx emissions, 80% for SOx emissions, 89% for fluorinated compounds, 58% for chlorinated emissions and 64% for volatiles organic compounds. Compared to thermal oil, the use of cogeneration system reduces the thermal energy consumption by 70% and allowed to save 30% of electric energy by generate 20% of needed electric energy. The specific atmospheric gaseous emission level decrease from 2.066 g/kg of tile product for the thermal oil process to reach 0.43 g/kg of tile product for cogeneration process.