Overview of the of issue of Wasted Heat in Industry:
Waste heat is a problem common to high temperature processing industries as a significantly underused resource, often due
to challenges in economic heat valorisation. Secondary aluminium recycling and ceramic processing were identified as key
examples with economically recoverable waste heat. Several challenges are inherent; these processes are batch-based, therefore the
heat source can be cyclic rather than continuous with corrosive particulate-laden flue gas over a wide temperature range. Smartrec can cover these issues.
The Smartrec system meets these challenges by development of a standard, modular solution for integration of heat recovery with
thermal storage that valorises medium to high grade waste heat, adaptable to different temperatures and industries. Following end-user
analysis and characterisation of exhaust streams and waste products, full life cycle costing and assessment will be carried out for the design of a storage system for the waste heat to be utilised by the End User.
A pilot Smartrec system will be constructed and deployed in a secondary aluminium recycler and/or ceramic processor valorising
high grade heat for continuous energy within the aluminium recycling industry. Smartrec will be validated by integration with existing systems with >6 months operation
including a fully developed instrumentation framework. A knowledge-based tool will be developed containing all relevant
Smartrec parameters and information to model the system fully and allow users to determine their requirements, potential
benefits and integrate Smartrec into their own systems via an open access workshop hosted by the consortium.
Importance of Recovery Waste Heat Energy:
Today’s process industries have to cope with an enormous amount of waste heat. Experts believe that the annual unused industrial waste heat potential amounts to 140TWh in Europe alone, implying a CO2 reduction potential of about 14M tonne of CO2 per annum1. Recovering industrial waste heat and on-site reusing can significantly reduce primary energy consumption, as well as reduce associated operating costs and pollutant emissions. In previous years, the high prices of energy and the EU requirements of reducing CO2 emissions increased the importance of heat recovery applications for industrial processes. Industries can exploit several benefits from the WHR; immediate or short term benefits will include but are not limited to: Increased energy efficiency; Decarbonisation and sustainable growth; Reduction in Pollution, the equipment sizes and auxiliary energy consumption. Associated long term benefits are job creation and enhancement of industrial leadership, productivity, competitiveness and R&D activities.
Smartrec Concept/Overall Objectives:
Throughout the project, we will develop a modularised standard heat recovery solution integrated with thermal energy storage (TES) and a knowledge based software tool. After receiving end user input, the tool will provide the initial design parameters of Smartrec for the consortium and the cost and environmental impact that might be achieved for the adoption of Smartrec in the relevant process. Smartrec will be best suited for secondary aluminium (furnace), ceramic (kiln), cement (kiln), flat glass (furnace) industries etc. Especially in the secondary aluminium sector, Smartrec will create a ground-breaking impact not only at the EU level but also at global level. From full deployment over this sector at the EU level, Smartrec is capable to create an opportunity
to save natural gas
to reduce CO2 emissions
to save oil
Smartrec is able to recover higher percentages of waste heat from the exhaust stream, and from other multiple deployments (sec 2.1) it will be even higher. Thus Smartrec will enable the process to save primary energy consumption, to be sustainable and competitive against increasing energy price.
