Optimizing energy efficiency in production plants has its limits. Waste heat is unavoidable when products or hot air needs to cool down – especially in industries requiring high temperatures. The good news: the high amount of excessive heat offers industries great potential for increasing efficiency, reducing their energy input and saving costs.
When it comes to thermal energy recovery, heat exchangers play a critical role. With their help, waste heat can be channelled to other processes within the same facility. Waste air flow can be recovered to preheat combustion air, for example.
To address the specific challenges of different industries, ETEKINA will develop three new heat exchangers to be installed at an aluminium automotive parts production facility in Spain, a ceramic tile production unit in Italy and a steel foundry in Slovenia. All three prototypes will take advantage of the innovative ETEKINA Heat Pipe Heat Exchanger (HPHE) technology. The system will collect waste heat from waste streams of the industrial processes and this heat will then be used for other industrial processes, such as automotive parts heat treatment or tiles drying.
