The electrification of the production processes poses a main challenge for the modern process industry. The high volatility of the energy price provides a strong economic incentive for adapting to the electricity price level, which reflects the availability of power from renewable sources. In this work, the dynamic generation-aware operation of a zeolite production plant with a tubular COBR reactor is considered. The process and a rigorous model are introduced and a moving horizon approach for the dynamic optimization problem is presented. The performance of the proposed dynamic operation methodology is demonstrated with historic data of the electric energy price from the day ahead market. The results show a reduction of the electric energy cost by 17% and furthermore a reduction of the CO2 emission associated with the resulting mix of sources of electric power. The necessary investments to enable the flexible operation are taken into account and the payback period is estimated. Generation-aware production is profitable and promises even increasing benefits in the future.
