TY - JOUR TI - A synergy model of material and energy flow analysis for the calcination process of green petroleum coke in rotary kiln AU - Li Peng AU - Li Baokuan AU - Liu Zhongqiu AU - Yu Yang JN - Thermal Science PY - 2022 VL - 26 IS - 2 SP - 1809 EP - 1823 PT - Article AB - The main objective of this paper is to establish a mathematical framework to analyze the complex material and energy performance of the calcinations process based on the fundamental mass and energy conservations. The synergy degree of vital order parameters was defined and evaluated to assess the status and order of the calcination process. Furthermore, the synergy model for resource utilization and energy saving has also been developed. The results show that the energy efficiencies of the drying kiln, rotary kiln, incinerator, and the cooler are 63.574%, 37.709%, 76.782%, and 74.758%, respectively. Meanwhile, the synergy degree of the whole calcination system is determined as 0.507. Based on the result, several suggestions were proposed to improve the resource utilization, energy-saving and synergy performance. Assessing the performance of suggested improvements, the synergy degree was re-evaluated and recorded a substantial enhancement up to 0.809. The present work provides valuable insights and comprehensive analysis tool for assessing the performance and potential optimization of the calcination process.