Assessment of energy utilization in Iran’s industrial sector using energy and exergy analysis method

The purpose of this study is to assess the use of quality of energy in Iran’s industrial sector. The exergy analysis has been performed along with energy analysis, in order to gain deeper and more realistic understanding of the sector’s condition. Primary energy utilization from seventeen different industries has been considered for calculation of the exergy and energy efficiencies for each industry, and later for Iran’s industrial sector. The exergy efficiency is much lower than energy efficiency in all industries and also in the industrial sector. It is shown that based on the results from exergy analysis the priorities for efficiency improvement are different from that of energy analysis; this in turn suggests that exergy analysis as a proper tool for policy makers. The sources of energy degradation and the mechanisms which cause degradation of quality of energy have been identified. Moreover remedial actions for better utilization of quality of energy are proposed. The energy and exergy efficiencies for the entire industrial sector of Iran were approximated as 63% and 42%, respectively. The oil, iron and steel, plastic and cement industries are found to have the highest share in destruction of quality of total input energy to the industrial sector. The aluminum industry has the highest exergy efficiency of 52.5%. Mean entropic temperature is also proposed as a tool for understanding the degree of quality of energy required in each industry and consequently better quality matching which leads to better energy quality utilization.