Poland, Lower Silesia
Market: Light industry, Food industry, Farming, Pharmacology, Power Engineering
Stage of the project: Prototype or product is ready
The proposed method of thermal energy regeneration in technologies with a reversible change of the aggregate state of a liquid technological product (evaporation-condensation) ,can be used in technologies such as, for example, oil distillation, alcohol distillation, water distillation, energetics, different tipes of DRYERS etc
Current Status
We heawe the working prototipe of the heat recuperation mashine.
Problem or Opportunity
There are numerous technologies belonging to various industries which are based on the processes of evaporation/distillation in other words they use heating liquid mixtures in order to separate one (or several) liquid(s) from other(s). In these technologies energy is consumed for increasing the mixture temperature from room to boiling temperature and then for evaporation of the liquid. The hot vapor is normally the product which is further cooled and condensed. All the energy spent on the heating and evaporation is dispersed in the environment. Huge amounts of energy are lost worldwide heating the atmosphere. In addition, burning a fossil fuel to deliver the energy for the heating of the mixture is accompanied by emission of carbon oxide gas thus enhancing the greenhouse effect and deteriorating the global climate.
Instead, it is possible to recuperate the energy contained in the vapor and to direct it to the head of the process using it for evaporation of the next portion of the liquid mixture. Unfortunately, it cannot be done directly. The reason is that the vapor has the temperature close to the boiling one. You can use this vapor to heat the mixture to about the boiling temperature however you cannot evaporate it. To evaporate the mixture, you need a heating agent having the temperature significantly higher than the boiling temperature. Therefore, the objective of this project is development the method for thermal-mechanical treatment of the heated vapor resulting in significant increase of its temperature. After that this high temperature vapor can be used for heating and evaporation of a new liquid mixture portion. For example, a conventional dryer requires approximately 20 cubic meters of natural gas to dry 1 MT of grain. Due to the efficient thermal energy recuperation the hot air carrying the water vapor is exposed to a special thermodynamic cycle resulting in its temperature growth and is returned to the beginning of the process for drying the next grain portion. This dryer consumes 1.2 cubic meters of gas per 1 MT of grain ONLY. Accordingly, a conventional dryer emits 31 kg of CO2 into the atmosphere per 1 MT of grain while our dryer emits 1.4 kg of CO2 per 1 MT ton of grain ONLY. It means that gas consumption is reduced by ~95%.
To estimate the economic consequences of the new technology, let us consider how much gas, energy, and money savings can bring using this technology if applied to the drying only wheat only by Germany. Germany produces about 21 million tons of wheat annually.
With the present gas price ~USD 310 per 1,000 cubic meters it saves ~USD 122 million countrywide, annually.
The reduction in the amount of CO2 emitted into the atmosphere will be 621,000 tons per year. It also has some a monetary value. To estimate we have selected typical cost normally used in U.S.A. (USD 19/MT although in UK it is £50/MT). It gives ~USD 7.5 million. The monetary
equivalent of CO2 emissions involves assigning a price to carbon emissions to account for the environmental damage they cause. It reveals the social and environmental effects contributed by the new technology. The worldwide wheat production is over 800 million MT which indicates the huge potential market size for the technology while corn, soybeans, and other grains multiple this figure.
The profitability of this business is almost obvious due to enormous cost reduction and extremely short investment return period (normally about one year). It will make purchasing the new equipment and technology attractive for potential customers.
The examples of this type of technology comprise (but not limited to):
Grain dryers, Pasta dryers, Alcohol manufacturing (both beverages and technical ones) Extraction of vegetable oils Oil refining Water distillation Wastewater treatment Rectification in various industries, etc.
Solution (product or service)
the objective of this project is development the method for thermal-mechanical treatment of the heated vapor resulting in significant increase of its temperature. After that this high temperature vapor can be used for heating and evaporation of a new liquid mixture portion.
Competitors
There are numerous technologies belonging to various industries which are based on the processes of evaporation/distillation in other words they use heating liquid mixtures in order to separate one (or several) liquid(s) from other(s). In these technologies energy is consumed for increasing the mixture temperature from room to boiling temperature and then for evaporation of the liquid. The hot vapor is normally the product which is further cooled and condensed. All the energy spent on the heating and evaporation is dispersed in the environment. Huge amounts of energy are lost worldwide heating the atmosphere. In addition, burning a fossil fuel to deliver the energy for the heating of the mixture is accompanied by emission of carbon oxide gas thus enhancing the greenhouse effect and deteriorating the global climate.
Advantages or differentiators
The same features which are indicated above as innovative:
1. Saving money due to reducing the gas consumption.
2. Reduction of the carbon dioxide emission.
3. Low equipment cost and fast investment return.
Money will be spent on
The same features which are indicated above as innovative:
1. Saving money due to reducing the gas consumption.