Consulting service for
energy saving / decarbonization "HERO"

HERO (Hybrid Energy system Re-Optimization) is a consulting service for new energy-saving opportunities across an entire plant—process units and the utilities together—using TOYO’s proprietary mathematical optimization technology.
Even in plants considered already highly optimized in terms of energy efficiency, HERO can identify additional improvement potential. By reducing energy consumption, HERO also helps lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In most process plants, the heat and power required by the process system are supplied by the utility system, particularly steam. Therefore, enhancing the efficiency of heat and power utilization in the process system must be closely linked to minimizing boiler load. Through integrated optimization of both the process and utility systems, HERO delivers energy-savings beyond what conventional approaches can typically achieve.

HERO applies mathematical optimization—a core technique used in a rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI)—to plant energy efficiency studies.
Machine learning, one of the key underlying technologies of AI, excels at “data driven prediction” and is widely used for applications such as image recognition and demand forecasting.
Mathematical optimization, on the other hand, is a methodology that derives “theory driven solutions,” and has long been applied in areas requiring optimal decision making, such as transportation planning and production scheduling. A key advantage is that it can generate solutions even without large training datasets.
HERO formulates mathematical models based on core chemical engineering principles—such as material and heat balances and unit operations including distillation. It then solves an optimization problem to identify plant modifications that deliver the highest energy saving performance.

TOYO’s process engineers subsequently conduct a detailed verification of the optimization results to deliver practical, interpretable, and effective modification plans.

HERO delivers optimized energy saving solutions based on data supplied by the clients. Specifically, mathematical optimization calculations are performed using equipment design data and operating data, constraints on potential modifications, unit cost for utilities, and economic criteria.
After verifying results, TOYO delivers detailed study outcomes, including the process configuration after modifications and the expected reductions in utility consumption.
As a scope of work, HERO focuses on development of solution and does not include Front End Engineering Design (FEED) or EPC execution. This allows clients to retain flexibility in project planning and contractor selection.
The study workflow and commercial terms are structured flexibly to match the specific needs of each client. As a pre contract step, TOYO can provide a complimentary assessment of energy saving potential. This allows clients to understand the energy-saving potential in advance and proceed to the full study with confidence.

Key Advantages of HERO over Conventional Methods

HERO’s advantage lies in its ability to comprehensively explore operating and design conditions that are technically difficult to evaluate using conventional methods. The technical strengths can be summarized in the following two points:

(1) Exploration of heat recovery options beyond the limits of pinch analysis

Conventional pinch analysis, which has been widely used for many years, typically assumes fixed process conditions such as pressure, temperature levels and heat duties. HERO, by contrast, can treat changes in process conditions such as adjustments in operating pressure and adding new heat exchangers—as variables. This enables HERO to identify more effective heat recovery options than those typically found through conventional approaches.

(2) Simultaneous optimization of the process system and the utility system

Traditional methods—such as pinch analysis or steam balance optimization— usually evaluate the process system and steam system separately and sequentially, which often leads to only locally optimal solutions. HERO, however, formulates a single integrated optimization problem covering both the process system and the steam system, enabling the derivation of theoretically globally optimal energy-saving solutions.

How HERO’s technical features lead to superior results – a concrete example

In a plant with three steam pressure levels - high pressure steam (HPS), medium pressure steam (MPS), and low pressure steam (LPS) - HERO can simultaneously evaluate process heat integration (shown in green) and changes to distillation column operating conditions (blue ① and red ②), while satisfying the overall steam balance.

In conventional workflows, the process system and the steam system are often evaluated separately and sequentially, making it difficult to perform integrated design that fully account for interdependencies. Moreover, changing distillation column operating conditions is, in principle, outside the standard analytical framework of pinch analysis and therefore is rarely explored systematically with traditional approaches.

Since launching HERO in 2019, TOYO has built a solid track record by conducting studies for plants across multiple regions, primarily for clients in Japan and Thailand. HERO has delivered particularly strong results across multiple projects in aromatic plants, consistently generating high value energy saving solutions.

In addition to the projects listed in the table, TOYO has also carried out potential assessments of energy savings for a number of clients in Japan and overseas.

Related links

• TOYO Awarded Energy Efficiency Study Using HERO-First HERO Projects in Thailand-
• GC and TOYO Singed MOU Regarding Energy Efficiency and Cut Emissions