In the September/October 2023 issue of Fertilizer Focus magazine, Econotherm joined Solex Thermal Science in a discussion about heat exchangers and their role in providing a wider suite of waste heat recovery solutions
Authors Mark Boocock, Managing Director at Econotherm, and Igor Makarenko, Chief Sales Officer at Solex Thermal Science, note heat pipe heat exchangers are well suited to recover waste heat at various stages of the fertilizer-making process. Specifically, they point to how the technology is able to extract heat from particle-laden ‘one-pass air’ that is exhausted from the drying process to then pre-heat ambient air that goes back into the dryer.
In doing so, fertilizer producers can reduce the natural gas consumption needed for drying fertilizer, while also reducing the temperature of the air that is being sent to the scrubbers to reduce scrubbing capacity.
In addition, both Boocock and Makarenko say the ammonia and nitrate-making steps of fertilizer production represent other areas where heat pipe heat exchangers can be used to capture otherwise-wasted heat.
Exhaust streams coming out of the front-end turbines represent as an ideal opportunity to recover waste heat. Operators can (also) recover heat from the exhaust gas coming out gas-fed heaters using a heat pipe heat exchanger and insert it back into the heater.
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