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.

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Improve thermal efficiency

Avoid mechanical problems

Prevent corrosion & fouling

Your Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers (RTO) and Incinerator have waste heat recovery potential

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.

See Air Preheater

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.

See Economiser

Industries with RTO's and Incinerators

Industries

Oil refineries
Chemicals
Paper & Pulp
Ceramics

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.

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Technical Assessment of your RTO or Incinerator

Our process engineers assess the technical feasibility of additional heat recovery on your RTO or Incinerator. The potential reduction in CO2 emissions, energy consumption and costs is determined.
  • Analysis of process data of your RTO
  • Minimal input data required
  • Business case on your savings potential
HeatMatrix technical assessment of heat recovery on a Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) or Incinerator
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FAQ's

A Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer is divided in multiple segments (typically 3) with ceramic beds that are in swing operation. In this way the heat from a previous oxidation cycle is released by the ceramic bed to preheat the entering polluted flue gas or exhaust air stream for thermal oxidation. The regeneration of the heat from the ceramic beds lead to a high energy efficiency.

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.
An incinerator is a direct fired thermal oxidizer. The working principle is to keep the gas stream that needs treatment at an elevated temperature of around 850ºC for approximately 1 second to achieve complete oxidation of the hazardous components.
An Incinerator is used to remove air pollutants from exhaust gas streams by oxidation at a typical temperature of 850ºC. The pollutants can be hazardous chemicals but also odor releasing components.
The flue gas released by an incinerator or RTO can have a temperature in the range of 120-160ºC. Heat can be recovered from this flue gas and used for preheating cold make-up, process or boiler feed water.