A comprehensive life cycle cost model for high-temperature pipe insulation: balancing heat dissipation, temperature resistance and economic benefits

Efficient insulation technologies are essential for enhancing energy utilization and maximizing economic benefits. High-temperature pipelines typically use composite insulation, which combine high-temperature resistant materials with conventional insulation materials. Traditional design approaches often focus solely on economic factors, neglecting the temperature resistance requirements. This study applies the life cycle cost method to evaluate the optimal thickness, life cycle cost, energy saving cost, payback period, annual heat dissipation, and other performance indicators for single insulation using aluminum silicate wool (ASW) or aerogel blanket (AB), and composite insulation comprising ASW or AB as the inner layer and glass wool (GW) as the outer layer. Additionally, the study investigates how material temperature resistance, steam temperature, and pipe diameter affect these indicators. The results indicate that composite insulation offers better performance in terms of life cycle cost, energy saving cost, payback period, and heat dissipation compared to single insulation. However, composite insulation requires a greater thickness than of single insulation. Ignoring material temperature resistance leads to underestimation of life cycle costs. Among composite insulation, AB + GW performs better than ASW + GW across all indicators. Furthermore, increasing the temperature resistance of GW results in a higher proportion of GW in the composite insulation, reducing life cycle costs but increasing total thickness. As pipe diameter and steam temperature increase, the proportion of ASW in the ASW + GW increases. The optimal thickness of the AB + GW is influenced by the temperature resistance of GW and the distribution of life cycle cost.