Introduction

As global sustainability becomes a pressing priority, investors and consumers are increasingly drawn to technologies that promote energy conservation. From homeowners exploring air recovery systems to industrial leaders maximise heat recovery from flue gases and streamlining steam usage, the momentum towards energy efficiency is gaining across various sectors.

 

Kelvion Thermal Solutions (KTS), with its nearly century-long expertise in thermal management, is at the forefront of this shift. Offering a suite of services from site surveys and design to manufacturing and after-sales support, KTS’s solutions span across metallurgy, energy, chemical, and automotive industries, showcasing that intelligent energy use is not only viable but also financially advantageous.

 

The Pivotal Role of Economisers in Energy Recovery

Central to KTS’s technology are the economisers, designed to capture and recycle waste heat from diverse processes. By converting residual heat from air or boiler flue gases into usable heated air or water, these devices significantly cut energy consumption and operational costs.

Each economiser is specifically tailored to industry requirements, taking into account boiler types, fuel characteristics, and flue gas properties. This customisation ensures optimal heat recovery while maintaining efficiency and durability, even under corrosive conditions. For example, economisers designed for clean natural gas differ markedly from those required for biomass or biogas, which necessitate corrosion-resistant materials to handle moisture and chlorides.

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Well established method

 

The absorption of CO2 is a well established method. It was applied for many decades in the oil & gas industry for large-scale industrial plants. Natural gas coming from the well can contain CO2, but also other impurities such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and mercaptans. These impurities must be removed to get the gas at the right specification for the natural gas grid. Because of the acidity of H2S and CO2 these absorption systems are normally called acid gas removal unit (AGRU) and the method called gas sweetening. The carbon dioxide was in the past either released to atmosphere, or it was used for enhanced oil recovery (EOR).

 

Today there exist many licensors for CO2 absorption processes. These companies have different variations of solvents and variations in process line-up, all tuned for the specifics of a project in terms of exact gas composition, CO2 concentration, operating pressure etc.

 

A big challenge in CO2 capture from power plants is the energy which is required for the capture process. Amine systems have an energy penalty which can easily be 10% for coal power plants [2]. A lot of research is therefore aimed at reducing the energy consumption of amine systems. In their sales literature licensors express the energy consumption in GJ per ton of captured CO2 [3]. 

 

Innovation Meets Customisation

In response to market demand for adaptable and deployable solutions, KTS introduced the EcoMi series—a lineup of standardised economisers available in ten different sizes, easily integrated with various boiler configurations, whether vertical, horizontal, or mixed.