Influence of the Production Planning On the Energy-consumption in the Brewhouses

A detailed simulation model of the brewhouses of an industrial Belgian brewery has been developed within the framework of the simulation package Batches. The use of this model in combination with a custom coded software has made possible an energy integration study focused on a better control of the steam consumption profiles in the brewhouses. These profiles were shown to exhibit a verify irregular behaviour with some demand peaks of very short duration which greatly exceed the mean demand. However, the choice of an adequate production planning can give rise to a considerable reduction (up to 44% in the case studied) of the highest steam consumption peaks. Finally, some economic considerations are presented about the cost benefits that can be expected from a better control of the steam consumption profiles, as well from the point of view of the boiler house investment costs as from that of the operating costs.