New generic approach for the analysis of energy conversion system models

This paper proposes a new approach in the field of energy conversion systems analysis and synthesis. The method is based on a generic and multi-platform description syntax, that clearly separates the information concerning the physical behavior of the modeled technology (e.g. mass and energy balances and chemical reactions) from the information necessary to apply one or more system analysis methods (e.g. process integration, Life Cycle Impact Assessment, thermo-economic evaluation,. . . ). The description syntax also contains other informations about the model, namely about its history, quality, scope or documentation. The approach encourages the development of reusable models, which can be easily assembled to create large superstructures from which optimal system configurations can be extracted. By dissociating technology models from the analysis and synthesis method, the approach allows the independent development of analysis methods and the consistent data transfer between models of different scales. The study of a fine chemical industry waste incineration system is presented to demonstrate the flexibility of the approach.