Speaker: Michael Baldea, Claire and Peter Buenz Endowed Chair and Kenneth A. Kobe Professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin
Electrification aims to change the way energy is supplied and used in chemical and manufacturing processes. Electrifying process heat is especially important because heating accounts for a large share of industrial energy use and emissions. At the level of individual units, electric technologies can operate more efficiently, start up much faster, and offer better control than conventional fired equipment. These features enable new opportunities for process integration and more flexible plant operation. Beyond the plant, electrification also affects the power grid. As more industrial processes rely on electricity, their operating patterns influence overall electricity demand and its variability. This presentation reviews recent results that probe these effects. We quantify efficiency gains at the unit level, introduce new processing architectures with fast startup /shut down cycles, discuss the impact of electrification on heat integration at the plant level, and study new electricity market mechanisms such as demand bidding at the grid scale. Together, these results provide a clearer picture of how process electrification performs in practice, and what challenges lie ahead for broad adoption.
Michael Baldea is the Claire and Peter Buenz Endowed Chair and Kenneth A. Kobe Professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and the ExxonMobil Visiting Chair Professor at the National University of Singapore. He serves as Chief Technology Officer for EPIXC, a DOE Manufacturing Institute focused on process electrification and is the Editor in Chief of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research. He obtained his Diploma and M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from "Babes-Bolyai" University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and a doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Prior to joining The University of Texas, he led industrial research at the Praxair (now Linde) Technology Center in Tonawanda, NY. His research interests include the dynamics, optimization and control of process and energy systems, areas in which he has published three books and over 200 peer-reviewed journal and conference articles. He is the recipient, among others, of the AIChE Institute Award for Excellence in Industrial Gases Technology, the NSF CAREER award, and the Model-Based Innovation Prize from Siemens Process Systems Enterprise.