Decarbonization via electrification

An important aspect of decarbonization and net zero exercises is electrification of manufacturing processes. We are interested in systematically addressing the challenges (due to variability in availability of renewable electricity) and opportunities (faster dynamics, location specificity) accompanied by replacing conventional thermal energy sources by electricity. For example, effective electrification of distillation via implementation of a heat pump is pursued to address the corresponding design and operational challenges. Our short-term focus is on electrification of specific systems (like distillation) and explore opportunities for optimal design and control. In the long-term, our focus is to develop a generic approaches (equivalent to pinch analysis) to pursue electrification and energy integration in the context of decarbonization.