In the current global climate of declining fossil fuel reserves and due to the impact of industry on the natural environment, industrial sustainability is becoming ever more important. However, sustainability is quite a vague concept for many, and there are a range of interpretations of the word. If the resource efficiency of a factory is taken as a measure of its sustainability, then the concept becomes better defined and quantifiable. In order to analyse the resource efficiency of a factory and suggest improvements, all flows through the manufacturing system need to be modelled. However the factory is a complex environment, there is a wide variation in the quality levels of energy as well as the composition of material flows in the system. The research presented in this thesis shows how the thermodynamics-based concept of ‘exergy’ can be used to quantify the resource efficiency of a factory. The factory is considered an ‘integrated system’, meaning it is composed of the building and the production processes, both interacting with each other. This is supported by three case studies in different industries that demonstrate the practical application of the approach. A review of literature identified that it was appropriate to develop a novel approach that combined exergy analysis with the integrated view of the factory. Such an approach would allow a ‘holistic’ assessment of resource efficiency for different technology options possibly employable. The development of the approach and its illustration through practical case studies is the main contribution of the work presented. Three case studies, when viewed together, illustrate all aspects of the novel exergy based resource accounting approach. The first case study is that of an engine production line, in which the resource efficiency of this part of the factory is analysed for different energy system options relating to heating ventilation and air conditioning. Firstly, the baseline is compared with the use of a solar photovoltaic array to generate electricity, and then a heat recovery unit is considered. Finally, both of these options were used together, and here it is found that the non-renewable exergy supply and exergy destruction are reduced by 51.6% and 49.2% respectively. The second case study is that of a jaggery (a sugar substitute) production line. The exergy efficiency of the process is calculated based on varying the operating temperature of the jaggery furnace. The case study describes the modelling of al flows through the jaggery process in terms of exergy. Since this is the first example of an exergy analysis of a jaggery process, it can be considered a minor contribution of the work. An imaginary secondary process that could utilize the waste heat from the jaggery process is considered in order to illustrate the application of the approach to industrial symbiosis. The non-renewable exergy supply and exergy destruction are determined for the baseline and the alternative option. The goal of this case study is not to present a thermally optimized design; rather it illustrates how the exergy concept can be used to assess the impact of changes to individual process operations on the overall efficiency in industrial symbiosis. When considering natural resource consumption in manufacturing, accounting for clean water consumption is increasingly important. Therefore, a holistic methodology for resource accounting in factories must be able to account for water efficiency as well. The third case study is that of a food production facility where the water supply and effluent are modelled in terms of exergy. A review of relevant literature shows that previously, the exergy content of only natural water bodies and urban wastewater had been quantified. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first example of applying this methodology of modelling water flows in a manufacturing context. The results show that due to a high amount of organic content in food process effluent, there is significant recoverable exergy in it. Therefore, a hypothetical water treatment process was assumed to estimate the possible savings in exergy consumption. The results show that at least a net 4.1% savings in terms of exergy could be possible if anaerobic digestion water treatment was employed. This result can be significant for the UK since the food sector forms a significant portion of the industry in the country. Towards the end of the thesis, a qualitative study is also presented that aims to evaluate the practical utility of the approach for the industry. A mixed method approach was used to acquire data from experts in the field and analyse their responses. The exergy based resource accounting method developed in this thesis was first presented to them before acquiring the responses. A unanimous view emerged that the developed exergy based factory resource accounting methodology has good potential to benefit industrial sustainability. However, they also agreed that exergy was too complex a concept to be currently widely applied in practice. To this effect, measures that could help overcome this barrier to its practical application were presented which form part of future work.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-12-17T14:08:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 SandroRAFpdf.pdf: 3399052 bytes, checksum: df66802bf0108d40809857894310d319 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-07-31 / The thermoelectric energy conversion can be performed directly on generators without moving parts, using the principle of SEEBECK effect, obtained in junctions of drivers' thermocouples and most recently in semiconductor junctions type p-n which have increased efficiency of conversion. When termogenerators are exposed to the temperature difference (thermal gradient) eletromotriz a force is generated inducing the appearance of an electric current in the circuit. Thus, it is possible to convert the heat of combustion of a gas through a burner in power, being a thermoelectric generator. The development of infrared burners, using porous ceramic plate, is possible to improve the efficiency of heating, and reduce harmful emissions such as CO, CO2, NOx, etc.. In recent years the meliorate of thermoelectric modules semiconductor (TEG's) has stimulated the development of devices generating and recovery of thermal irreversibility of thermal machines and processes, improving energy efficiency and exergy these systems, especially processes that enable the cogeneration of energy. This work is based on the construction and evaluation of a prototype in a pilot scale, for energy generation to specific applications. The unit uses a fuel gas (LPG) as a primary energy source. The prototype consists of a porous plate burner infrared, an adapter to the module generator, a set of semiconductor modules purchased from Hi-Z Inc. and a heat exchanger to be used as cold source. The prototype was mounted on a test bench, using a system of acquisition of temperature, a system of application of load and instrumentation to assess its functioning and performance. The prototype had an efficiency of chemical conversion of 0.31% for electrical and heat recovery for cogeneration of about 33.2%, resulting in an overall efficiency of 33.51%. The efficiency of energy exergy next shows that the use of primary energy to useful fuel was satisfactory, although the proposed mechanism has also has a low performance due to underuse of the area heated by the small number of modules, as well as a thermal gradient below the ideal informed by the manufacturer, and other factors. The test methodology adopted proved to be suitable for evaluating the prototype / A convers?o termoel?trica da energia pode ser realizada diretamente em geradores sem partes m?veis, que utilizam o princ?pio do efeito SEEBECK, obtido em jun??es de condutores termopares e mais recentemente nas jun??es semicondutoras tipo p-n que apresentam maior efici?ncia de convers?o. Quando os termogeradores s?o expostos a uma diferen?a de temperatura (gradiente t?rmico), uma for?a eletromotriz ? gerada induzindo o surgimento de uma corrente el?trica no circuito. Desta forma, ? poss?vel converter em energia t?rmica a energia t?rmica da combust?o de um g?s atrav?s de um queimador, constituindo-se em um Gerador Termoel?trico. O desenvolvimento de queimadores infravermelhos, utilizando placa cer?mica porosa, tem possibilitado melhorar a efici?ncia dos processos de aquecimento, al?m de reduzir as emiss?es nocivas como CO, NOx, etc. Nos ?ltimos anos, o aperfei?oamento de m?dulos semicondutivos termoel?tricos (TEG?s) tem estimulado o desenvolvimento de dispositivos geradores e de aproveitamento de irreversibilidades t?rmicas de m?quinas t?rmicas e processos, melhorando a efici?ncia energ?tica e exerg?tica desses sistemas, principalmente de processos que permitem a cogera??o de energia. O presente trabalho est? baseado na constru??o e avalia??o de um prot?tipo, em escala piloto, para gera??o de energia visando aplica??es espec?ficas. A unidade utiliza g?s combust?vel (GLP) como fonte prim?ria de energia. O prot?tipo ? composto de um queimador infravermelho de placas porosas, um adaptador para o m?dulo gerador, um conjunto de m?dulos semicondutores adquiridos da Hi-Z Inc. e um trocador de calor para ser utilizado como fonte fria. O prot?tipo foi montado em uma bancada de testes, utilizando um sistema de aquisi??o de temperatura, um sistema de aplica??o de carga e instrumenta??o para avaliar o seu funcionamento e desempenho. O prot?tipo apresentou uma efici?ncia de convers?o qu?mica para el?trica de 0,31% e aproveitamento t?rmico de cogera??o da ordem de 33,2%, resultando numa efici?ncia global de 33,51%. A efici?ncia exerg?tica pr?xima da energ?tica mostra que o aproveitamento ?til da energia prim?ria do combust?vel foi satisfat?rio, embora o dispositivo proposto tenha apresentado, ainda, um baixo desempenho devido a subutiliza??o da ?rea aquecida pelo n?mero reduzido de m?dulos, como tamb?m, um gradiente t?rmico abaixo do ideal informado pelo fabricante, al?m de outros fatores. A metodologia de ensaio adotada mostrou-se adequada para avalia??o do prot?tipo