Research

Energy integration and electrification opportunities in industrial laundries

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Abstract

The industry and service sectors in Europe rely on fossil fuels to provide process heat, while a lot of low temperature energy is rejected to the environment. Energy efficiency measures reduce energy use and recover some of the excess heat, but a full decarbonisation requires the shift to renewable energy. The share of renewable energy in the electricity mix is steadily increasing. The electrification of industrial processes will thus be important for decarbonisation. Industrial laundries are energy intense sites where large quantities of garment are washed, dried, steamed and ironed. While new detergents allowed for a reduction in temperature in the washing process, other processes still take place at temperatures above 150 °C. In many laundries, the heat to the processes is provided from a central natural gas boiler. The humid air from dryers, steamers and ironers is often emitted to the environment without heat recovery. Utilizing this excess heat and electrifying the whole heating demand of the processes has the potential to reduce both the energy use and environmental impact. In this work an analysis of processes in an industrial laundry was conducted to establish the process heating demands and excess heat sources. Based on this analysis, strategies for electrifying the whole site were developed with heat pumps being a central element for an efficient conversion. These strategies are based on an energy integration analysis considering the time profiles for each heating and cooling demand. The study showed the feasibility of electrifying industrial laundries. The wide implementation of heat pumps in the processes allowed for a reduction in primary energy use by up to 50 % and cost-effective electrification in some scenarios.