Currently, nonferrous metals is one of my country’s seven largest industrial energy consumers and a key sector for promoting energy conservation and consumption reduction. Energy consumption in my country’s nonferrous metals industry is primarily concentrated in mining, smelting, and processing, and overall energy consumption continues to grow from a relatively high base.
The nonferrous metals industry is typically energy-intensive, high-emission, and asset-heavy, with energy consumption accounting for 20%-40% of production costs. Energy management involves multiple processes, multiple equipment, and multiple energy sources, resulting in significant shortcomings in refined management and control. In this context, establishing an energy management platform and improving metering and monitoring systems are essential.
Analysis of Pain Points in Energy Management in the Nonferrous Metals Industry
Lack of Direction for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction
Enterprises want to save energy and reduce carbon emissions, but lack professional tools and systems to help them identify energy-saving improvements.
Outdated inspection methods
Equipment maintenance procedures remain paper-based, resulting in equipment maintenance levels not matching production and operational needs. A professional inspection and maintenance system is lacking.
Product unit consumption levels cannot be calculated.
Monitoring of energy types and collection points is incomplete. Unable to accurately calculate unit product energy consumption and overall energy consumption for each plant or process.
Incomplete equipment monitoring
Many nonferrous metals enterprises fail to monitor production equipment for energy consumption, or monitoring is incomplete, making it difficult to understand the energy loss of key energy-consuming equipment.
Poor data visibility
The company’s lack of comprehensive data collection and monitoring of various energy media makes it difficult to conduct energy system analysis, loss analysis, and energy balance optimization and scheduling.
High labor costs
Many secondary plants still rely on manual meter reading for steam, water, and electricity, rather than automated centralized meter reading, resulting in high labor costs.
Extensive energy management methods
The plant lacks a comprehensive energy management platform integrating monitoring, management, and scheduling functions to integrate and analyze data from various systems.
High pressure from the dual carbon emissions era
As an energy-intensive and high-emissions industry, the government may require the closure of some enterprises that seriously fail to meet energy consumption standards at any time to achieve the dual carbon emissions goals.
Benefits of energy management systems in the nonferrous metals industry
Identifying equipment energy-saving opportunities
Monitoring points include key process equipment such as copper smelting and electrolytic aluminum, as well as large energy-consuming equipment over 100 kW. By monitoring key energy-consuming equipment throughout the plant, we identify inefficient equipment and implement improvements to improve energy efficiency. We promptly eliminate idle equipment and situations like “big horses pulling small carts.”
Improving Equipment Efficiency and Lifespan
Through equipment monitoring and predictive analysis, we ensure safe, stable, long-term, full, and optimal operation of large, critical units. This prevents safety hazards, reduces accident losses, improves equipment utilization efficiency, reduces maintenance costs, and effectively extends equipment lifespan.
Energy Planning Management and Balance Scheduling
Comprehensively collects and monitors data on all energy media (water, electricity, gas/steam, etc.) throughout the production process of nonferrous metallurgical enterprises. Energy system analysis, energy planning management, energy balance scheduling, and centralized energy system management and dispatch control are conducted. This allows for comprehensive management of the enterprise’s entire energy supply system, ensuring rational allocation and optimized energy use.
Energy Supervision and Energy Efficiency Analysis
Remote meter reading is implemented, enabling unmanned distribution room operation and reducing manual inspections. Utilizing a specialized operation and maintenance system, we improve the enterprise’s operation and maintenance capabilities and achieve comprehensive, full-process energy supervision. Benchmarking process unit consumption: Benchmarking actual process unit consumption against national standard limits to understand the company’s actual unit consumption level.
Energy Network Loss Analysis
Using tools such as energy balance diagrams and energy flow diagrams, analyze energy utilization and network losses across all processes, from supply to consumption. This identifies key areas of energy waste in transportation and consumption, guiding managers to quickly resolve issues and identify energy-saving opportunities.
Reducing Operating Costs
Utilizing information integration and apps, timely monitor equipment status, simplify the process of collecting equipment operating data, reduce equipment management workload, improve human resource utilization, and lower operating costs.
