Regenerative Heat Recovery/Burner System as a replacement for Conventional Recuperators

Cycling regenerator/burner systems are well proven as Best Practice for energy efficiency and CO2 reduction in a number of high temperature industrial heating applications. The cost-effectiveness of these systems becomes more difficult to justify in processes with waste gas temperatures below about 1000oC. A simplified regenerative heat recovery system has been developed which can provide the extremely high heat recovery of the cycling regenerators while reducing the overall system cost. Burners are de-coupled from the cycling regenerators via a hot-side valving system suitable for the process conditions. Essentially the regenerator system can take the place of a conventional recuperator. The compact and cost-effective system design make it ideal for retrofit/upgrade projects for energy efficiency, productivity and/or CO2 emission control in a variety of industrial heating applications. A case study of an operational LTRTM ‘Low Temperature Regenerative System' will be presented including operational results and a discussion of the process impacts.