RaCiA: Use Waste Heat – Increase Efficiency
11.5.2017
The Forschung Burgenland project „RaCiA – Rankine Cycle für industrielle Abwärmen“ (Rankine Cycle for industrial waste heat) is devised to support the industry in finding ways to increase processes-related waste heat recovery.
Recovering waste heat, especially to generate electricity, becomes more and more important for increasing energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gases.
There exists a number of facilities designed to recycle energy that work according to the principle of thermal engines, such as steam power or Organic Rankine Cylce (ORC-Cycle) processes or Stirling engines. Nevertheless, there is no broad-scale move in the industry towards the realization of electricity production from industrial waste heat.
The “RaCiA“- project submitted by Forschung Burgenland aims at increasing energy efficiency by using up to now neglected, ideally renewable, low energy sources. If there are multiple uses of various waste heat sources in a conversion process the profitability increases thanks to an inherent cost degression. Furthermore, the project is expected to lead to an improved competitiveness of the Austrian industrial sector by allowing companies to produce their own energy and reducing CO2 – emissions at the same time.
The basis for the project proposal is a patented process to produce energy out of power and heat from waste heat (European Patent EP1 584 798 B1). For example, the patent finds application in the cement industry. Another patent for a multiple-pressure steam turbine is pending. The first patent belongs to our project partner Dr. Georg Beckmann, who also submitted the second patent.
The innovative process shall be optimized and compared to state of the art processes based on procedural simulation (IpsePro) and ecological evaluation (GaBi). The process design promises advantages in regard to efficiency and ecological compatibility when compared to similar processes (e.g. the ORC-process) in the target temperature/performance range. The methodology of procedural simulation with the “IpsePro“-software is used for the first time in a research setting at Forschung Burgenland. The application of thermodynamic process simulation also yields additional opportunities in energy and process technology.
Fig 1: process diagram flash steam process for the electricity production from industrial waste heat in the cement industry
Fig 2: T-s Diagram flash steam process for the electricity production from industrial waste heat in the cement industry
Further Information please find at following link: http://www.forschung-burgenland.at/en/energy-environment/racia-use-waste-heat/
