Open AccessWaste Heat Recovery for Reciprocating Compressors
Author(s) -
Konrad Klotsche,
Felix Micus,
Christiane Thomas,
Ullrich Hesse
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iop conference series. materials science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1757-899X
pISSN - 1757-8981
DOI - 10.1088/1757-899x/604/1/012085
Subject(s) - waste heat , waste heat recovery unit , reciprocating compressor , waste management , heat recovery ventilation , reciprocating motion , gas compressor , process engineering , environmental science , stirling engine , usable , nuclear engineering , mechanical engineering , engineering , heat exchanger , computer science , world wide web
In many important industries (oil and gas, process gases, chemical process engineering) multi-stage reciprocating compressors are used, especially for high pressure ratios. The gas is compressed in multiple consecutive stages and cooled after each stage in order to reduce the maximum process temperatures. The rejected heat is often dissipated to the environment and the usable part – the exergy – is lost. The aim of this paper is to show how the waste heat potential of reciprocating compressors can be used. For this purpose, the waste heat available per stage is quantified for different compression scenarios. Based on this, the processes for the waste heat recovery suitable for the temperature range of the discharge gas as heat source are presented – in particular the structure, working principle and characteristics of the waste heat recovery system. It is shown that the waste heat can be used flexibly for different purposes (heating, power generation, cold supply). The potential of the possible methods of waste heat recovery can be estimated with the aid of the given efficiencies of the respective energy conversion processes.