Waste heat recovery from Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers and Incinerators
Cold spot corrosion problems and mechanical failures limit heat recovery on Regenerative Thermal Oxydisers (RTO) and Incinerators. Polymer economisers and air preheaters are corrosion resistant and designed for leak proof thermal expansion.
Your Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers (RTO) and Incinerator have waste heat recovery potential

Improve thermal efficiency
The thermal efficiency can be improved by using a polymer air preheater or economiser.

Lower CO2 emissions
Decrease fuel costs
By recovering additional waste heat, less fuel is needed to achieve the required conditions in your RTO or Incinerator.
Heat recovery on RTOs and Incinerators can be limited by corrosion and mechanical failures
Energy is lost via the stack
RTO’s and Incinerators are used to oxidize pollutants that can be present in off-gas streams. Many RTO’s or Incinerators have a high fuel demand. Even though heat recovery is already applied, substantial energy losses still exist.
Cold Spot corrosion problems
Depending on the flue gas composition, heat exchangers may suffer from cold spot corrosion due to relatively cold tube skin temperatures. This limits heat recovery. Enhancing further thermal efficiency is possible by installing a corrosion resistant air preheater or economiser which recovers additional heat from the flue gas. This results in extra energy savings.
Mechanical failure
Conventional heat exchangers suffer from mechanical failure due to stresses that are developed by thermal expansion. This results in leaking equipment and loss of heat recovery.
How to recover more waste heat from your RTO or Incinerator
Use flue gas heat to warm up boiler feed water or process water
The simplest and most economical way to improve the efficiency of your RTO or Incinerator is by applying an economiser to preheat boiler feed water or process water. In case of flue gases with high acid dew points the stainless steel or polymer economiser of HeatMatrix is applied. This economiser is insensitive to acid dew point corrosion and can recover energy from your flue gas under harsh conditions.
Use flue gas heat to warm up the off-gas that needs treatment
Preheating the off-gas entering the RTO or incinerator could be an alternative usage of the flue gas heat. The HeatMatrix air preheater is used for this purpose.
Waste heat recovery systems for RTO's and Incinerators
Polymer Air PreHeater
Heat up off-gas before treatment by extracting heat from flue gas. The air preheater is corrosion resistant & anti-fouling and is easy to maintain and clean.
Stainless steel or Polymer Economiser
Warm up boiler feed water, make-up water or process water with waste heat from flue gas. The economiser is corrosion resistant & anti-fouling and is easy to maintain and clean.
Carlsberg
4% boiler efficiency increase
Within the Together Towards ZERO program, Carlsberg strives to make their breweries more sustainable. One of the steps taken in their Ukraine brewery is using a biogas fired steam boiler.
Due to the usage of biogas, high concentrations of sulphur elements can be found in the flue gas. If the flue gas is cooled down, these sulphur components condense and form sulphuric acid which is very corrosive. To prevent this from happening, Carlsberg operated their system such that the flue gas was at a high temperature (>140 °C) leaving the stack. Additional heat present in the flue gas was not used.
HeatMatrix installed a Polymer Air PreHeater which allowed Carlsberg to cool to temperatures below the acid dew point and achieve additional heat recovery on their steam boiler. There are no corrosion issues because of the corrosion resistance of the polymer used in the HeatMatrix APH. Based on the success in Ukraine, Carlsberg Serbia introduced the same solutiton on their biogas fired boiler.
Technical Assessment of your RTO or Incinerator
- Analysis of process data of your RTO
- Minimal input data required
- Business case on your savings potential

FAQ's
How does a Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) work?
What are Regenerative Thermal Oxidixers (RTO's) used for?
A regenerative thermal oxidizer is used to remove air pollutants from exhaust gas streams by oxidation at a temperature of around 850ºC. The pollutants can be hazardous chemicals but also odor releasing components.