Process integration for energy and water saving, increasing efficiency and reducing environmental impact

This article provides an introduction to the current Special Issue of the journal of Applied Thermal Engineering, which contains eight carefully selected articles from the 12th Conference Process Integration, Modelling and Optimisation for Energy Saving and Pollution Reduction – PRES’09. This issue builds upon the multi-year co-operation between the PRES conference planners and the journal. The articles cover important subjects of increased energy and resource efficiency in industrial production and emission reduction. The first paper is based on the conference plenary presentation and is providing an overview of the historical developments in the Process Integration (PI) area and the apparently significant contribution of the PRES series of conferences. This is followed by a second group of two papers dedicated to important PI topics – retrofit of Heat Exchanger Networks and simultaneous minimisation of water and energy consumption. The third group contains three contributions dedicated to energy savings via the application of PI in specific industrial sectors. The final fourth group of two papers is dedicated to the implementation of energy conversion technologies. Those papers are discussing environmental impact of waste-to-energy processes and heat exchanger improvements.