Energy Efficiency Optimization in Polyisoprene Footwear Production

Alka Mihelić-Bogdanić and Ivana Špelić ()
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Alka Mihelić-Bogdanić: Department of Fundamental Natural and Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Textile Technology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Ivana Špelić: Department of Fundamental Natural and Engineering Sciences, Faculty of Textile Technology, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-26

Abstract: The evaluation of energy efficiency improvements in polyisoprene footwear production is shown. By installing air preheater, combustion air natural gas consumption is reduced by 7%. Simultaneously, the boiler outlet flue gases’ temperature is decreased from 204 °C to 66.93 °C, providing a sound basis for both economical savings and energy efficiency improvements, as well as ecological benefits to the environment. The application of condensate heat recovery resulted in flue gases’ volume decreasing by 11.85% and a thermal pollution decrease of 91.34%. Combining air preheating by exhaust flue gases and condensate heat recovery resulted in a decrease in the flue gases’ volume by 17.97%, and in the temperature lowering to 66.93 °C. The energy consumption for a combined system on location φ = 45 ° 49 ′ ) with a collector field of 12.936 × 10 3 m 2 was investigated. The hybrid system was calculated for four variants: (1) solarized process without flue gases’ heat recovery, (2) solarized processes with heat contend in flue gases using an air preheater, (3) solarized processes with condensate heat recovery, and (4) solarized processes with heat contend in flue gases using air preheater and condensate heat recovery. The highest fuel savings were shown in solarized processes with heat contend in flue gases using air preheater and condensate heat recovery, resulting in savings of up to 78.92%, while the flue gases’ volume decreased from 5390.95 m 3 FG / h to 932.12 m 3 FG / h .

Keywords: polyisoprene; footwear production; energy efficiency improvements; flue gases’ heat recovery; air preheater (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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