Work

Co-Planning of Electrolytic Aluminum Industrial Parks with Renewables, Waste Heat Recovery, and Wind Power Subscription

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Electrolytic aluminum is one of the most energy-intensive industrial processes and offers strong potential for demand-side flexibility and renewable energy integration. However, existing studies mainly focus on operational scheduling, while comprehensive planning frameworks at the industrial-park scale remain limited. This study proposes an optimal planning framework for electrolytic aluminum that co-optimizes renewable energy investments, waste heat recovery, and green power trading while capturing the temperature safety constraints of electrolytic cells. The electrolytic aluminum process is explicitly modeled with heat exchangers to enable combined cooling–heating–power supply for nearby users. A wind power priority subscription mechanism and green certificate compliance are incorporated to enhance practical applicability and support future decarbonization requirements. Moreover, a two-stage particle swarm-deterministic optimization scheme is developed to provide a tractable solution to the inherently nonconvex mixed-integer nonlinear model. Case studies based on a real plant in Xinjiang, China, demonstrate that the proposed framework can raise the green electricity aluminum share to 60.4%, reduce annual carbon emissions by 52.0%, and significantly increase total system profit compared with the benchmark configuration, highlighting its economic and sustainability benefits for industrial park development.

Source: Sustainability

DOI: 10.3390/su18010297

Authors: Yulong Yang, Weiyang Liu, Zihang Zhang, Zhongwen Yan, Ruiming Zhang

Institutions: Northeast Electric Power University, Xinjiang Institute of Engineering

Language: English

Topic: Integrated Energy Systems Optimization

Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Field: Engineering

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Affordable and clean energy, Industry, innovation and infrastructure, Responsible consumption and production, Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,896