Use Cases

░ Copper

▨ Ceramics

◈ Silicon

◉ Plastics

▩ Oil and Gas

░ Copper

Up to 53% of heat waste to be recovered and upgraded

Up to 20% reduced peak energy demand

Reduced payback period of 20 months

The HALCOR copper processing facility has significant energy demands and, due to temperature variations in the manufacturing process, high waste heat recovery potential.
The purpose of this demonstration site is to integrate a HPCE prototype of significant scale, supported by a HTHP to maximise the heat recovered from challenging the exhaust stream and upgrading the heat to usable temperature level by end users.
Predictive maintenance will also be implemented as part of the StreamSTEP system, to optimise heat exchanger performance with regards to maintenance and repair cycles, focused on early identification of degradation and avoidance of pressure drop.

▨ Ceramics

Over 80% of heat waste to be recovered

510t of CO2 emissions averted annually

Reduced payback period of 21 months

The TCID ceramic melting facility in Spain is a continuous furnace operating continuously at extremely high temperatures, with high volume hot gases and no heat recovery solution for some of its smelters.
The StreamSTEP demonstration aims to recover high temperature heat from the heat recovery system currently implemented at the facility, with the heat extracted by the advanced heat exchanger safely and reliably transferred to a thermal oil loop, with monitoring systems integrated in the system to anticipate clogging and degrading performance.
An AI-based control strategy will optimize heat usage, alongside thermal energy storage, an energy management system, and predictive maintenance capacities.

◈ Silicon

Over 90% of heat waste to be recovered

Over 10% increase in productivity

125M € annually in added profit

SINTEF is a large research organization working with many industry actors, including ELKEM for a silicon processing facility.
This demonstration is challenging due to the high temperature of the product, the space available and the necessary risk management that need to be accounted for in the design of the heat recovery unit.
A Radiative Heat Pipe Basket (RHPB) will be designed and deployed in this installation, capable of recovering radiative heat from the product as well as convective heat from the furnace at a reduced security risk. In parallel, heat will be recovered from the furnace chamber cooling system.
The extracted heat will then be sent to the heat pumps and other processes, using a machine learning control strategy for maximum heat recovery.

◉ Plastics

Over 88% of heat waste to be recovered

Increased flexibility

Reduced payback period of less than 36 months

ELBI manufactures plastics-based products for a wide range of uses, and the facility for this demonstration case features a unique configuration of multiple heating sources, for a total of three different processes across twelve total assets.
A new heat exchange system, the Advanced Heat Pipe Scrubber (AHPS) will be implemented by the StreamSTEP consortium.
The AHPS will recover the heat and condense the volatiles, including corrosive acids, safely storing them for disposal, simplifying their treatment and reducing associated costs, while also heating a flow of water.
The clean air will be discharged to the environment at a normal temperature, while the hot water will be used in the pretreatment stage of the enamelling oven in the facility. The goal of the system is to prove the capacity to reduce treatment costs by 90 % with a corresponding reduction to the process water footprint.

▩ Oil and Gas

About 200GWh of natural gas savings annually, translating to

35,500t of CO2 emissions averted annually

REPSOL is a global multi-energy provider, and its demonstration case comprises a feasibility and replication case of an innovative waste heat recovery and upgrade system.
Repsol has already fully characterised the heat lost in by stream flows and temperature levels, and has identified a significant amount of waste heat eligible for recovery.
The heat recovered will be used in production, avoiding the need to producing further heat it in natural gas boilers, hence reducing natural gas import requirements.
This innovation has high impact in optimising the thermal energy flows between heat loss and the different steam network levels that can supply later heat to the process.