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Show INDUSTRY-IDENTIFIED COMBUSTION RESEARCH NEEDS 1.0 INTRODUCTION American industry relies heavily on energy and machines to drive industrial processes. U.S. industry consumes about 13-15 quadrillion Btu (quads) offuel each year (excluding electrical imports). Industry 's appetite for energy translates to costs of about $100 billion/year. Since this sum amounts to only about 3% of industry's total cost of doing business, many companies do not pay sufficient attention to controlling energy use. Despite the drive for energy efficiency in the late 1970s, the potential for implementing additional energy efficiency in U.S. industries is still significant. For example, a typical integrated steel plant in the United States consumes 390/0 more energy than a best practice plant that uses state-of-the-art processing and technology. Industry's research staff and research funding has decreased since the 80s owing to smaller profit margins. The Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Industrial Technology (OIT) has been a major contributor to improved energy efficiency over the past two decades. Energy saving and environmentally benign technologies such as oxy-fuel combustion, electrochemical dezincing of steel scrap, and direct steel making were considered too risky by industry for development and were championed by OIT. They are considered factors that contributed to renewed U.S. competitiveness. OIT-sponsored technologies helped reduce industrial energy costs by about $400 million in 1993 (DOE/GO 1995 a). For future programs, OIT is seeking methods that streamline the technology selection process and pursue those technologies that have significant economic and energy payback but are beyond the resources of anyone company to develop. By combining interests and resources of industry and DOE, future leading edge technologies can be pursued through a cooperative approach that would otherwise be considered as too high risk. Using this development strategy, scarce research and development (R&D) resources can be shared among cooperative members while benefiting U.S. industry as a whole. The objective of this report is to present industry-identified combustion needs of the major energy consuming industries and to defme the type of research needed to satisfy these needs. DOE's two OIT combustion activities are aimed at improving energy, environmental, and economic efficiency and providing cost-effective attainment of envirorunental goals: the Industrial Combustion Technology Program and the Industrial Combustion Equipment Program. Historically the OIT combustion programs have focused on fundamental and end-use activities. The orientation of the projects funded have followed the needs of industry as recommended by industry and by independent assessment studies. 2.0 APPROACH To enhance DOE's responsiveness to long range R&D needs of U.S. industry, OIT launched an important initiative known as the Industries of the Future. This initiative strengthens the collaborative efforts between industry and government and leverages scarce R&D resources to the greatest extent possible. Industries of the Future purposefully concentrates on seven energy intensive industries, because these industries consume the greatest quantities of energy and are likely to possess the greatest opportunities for saving large quantities of energy and energy costs. Vision studies are being developed by each industry to define potential research that is necessary to maintain them in competitive positions in the international marketplace. The seven major industries are surveyed in this report: the glass, refineries, steel making, chemicals, pulp and paper, aluminum, and metal casting industries. These industries consume approximately 78% of all energy used by industry and produce more than 900/0 of the waste generated in manufacturing. The information contained in the vision documents served as a basis upon which specific combustion-related needs could be defmed. Contacts within each industry and appropriate trade organizations were developed to define the industrial combustion needs. Consultants were also used to sunlll1arize the needs in their area of expertise and to provide a recommended list of research areas. Input from key industrial contacts, DOE-OIT Vision Statement docwnents, existing combustion programs, and resources available at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) were used to identify the combustion research and development needs presented. Three subcontractors provided initial research inputs for the glass, steel, refineries, and alwninum industries (attached as appendices). This study also used the results of a workshop, Fundamental Combustion Research in Support of Industrial Applications, conducted October 10, 1994 (Penner and 3 |