Waste Heat Recovery

In heat recovery applications, Turboden ORC units can be a valuable way to convert residual, low-grade heat into useful power in:

• PRODUCTION PROCESSES, SUCH AS CEMENT, GLASS, STEEL, OTHER FERROUS AND NON-FERROUS METALS
• COMBINED CYCLES, WHEN COUPLED WITH RECIPROCATING ENGINES AND GAS TURBINES

In combined cycles, Turboden ORC units can be installed at the bottom of:

• Gas turbines, with up to 40% of additional power
• Reciprocating engines, with up to 15% of additional power

In both cases the combined cycle reaches an efficiency greater than 50%.

OUR EXPERIENCE

In 1996, Turboden realized its first heat recovery plant in an iron foundry in Brescia. Since then, Turboden has been involved in ORC projects in different industrial processes, such as cement industry, glass industry, steel industry, waste incineration, and mining. Turboden ORC units can produce electricity also by recovering heat from combined cycles, reciprocating engines, internal combustion engines, gas turbines, and gas compressor stations. In 2010, an innovative project was installed in Russia to recover heat, from the associated gas released from the process of oil extraction, through controlled combustion (instead of flaring). The plant generates both heat and power: the hot water is used to warm up the extracted oil while the electric power is used in the extraction station. The ORC turbogenerator produces 1,800 kW of electric power.

Another project was installed in Russia, in the Moscow region: this heat recovery ORC unit is coupled with five MTU engines, 2 MWe each. The exhaust gas of these engines is conveyed the ORC module by thermal oil.

Turboden was also awarded an order for a 4 MW ORC unit to recover heat in the cement industry in Slovakia. The plant produces 4 MW by recovering waste heat from the exhaust gas of the kiln and clinker cooler. The recovered heat is conveyed to the ORC by two different loops using thermal oil and water. This project represents another step of Turboden’s growth in the cement industry, coming after the successful startup of the 2 MW Ait Baha plant for Italcementi in December 2010. In February 2013, Turboden started-up its first application in the steel industry: a heat recovery system for power generation, in Singapore. The ORC is a 700 kW unit that recovers waste heat from a billet reheating furnace.

Furthermore, one of the latest innovative projects is a new 3 MW ORC unit that uses the heat from a portion of the saturated steam recovered from the exhaust gases of an EAF (Electric Arc Furnace), in Germany. This plant is part of the H-REII DEMO Project (Heat Recovery in Energy Intensive Industries), that the DG Environment of the European Commission decided to co-finance under the LIFE+ program for its technological innovation and environmental value.