Optimization of Energy Flexibility in Cooling Process for Brewery Fermentation with Multi-Agent Simulation

To enable industries’ benefit and transition towards industry 4.0, intelligent solutions addressing and uncovering energy flexibility in the production processes are required. Breweries are one of the industries that have high energy flexibility potentials, and breweries can utilize substantial amounts of energy for cooling fermentation tanks as a result of the heat generated by the yeast. This paper investigates the energy flexibility potentials of fermentation tanks by using refrigeration based on a case study of a Danish brewery. To optimize the energy flexibility, the multi-agent simulation is applied for modeling the brewery fermentation process. Multi-agent simulation allows defining behavioral logic for each fermentation tank and each tank behaves independently based on the input parameters and environmental factors. The tanks are gathered in an agent population and used for implementing a temperature control strategy based on agent characteristics. An energy flexibility potential using temperature adjustment is uncovered by the adaption of the temperature adjustment strategy, and an electricity cost saving of the 0.75 % current operation in a 2-year period is found. With a multi-agent system approach, the finding contributes to the decision making of industries regarding the future optimization of energy flexibility in industrial processes.