Corrugated sheets manufacturer saves €20 000 per year by recovering compressor heat
A fiber cement profiled sheets manufacturer wanted to reduce the environmental impact and costs of their gas consumption. The customer contacted Atlas Copco to investigate if the waste heat from the screw compressor could be recovered and reused for baking the corrugated sheets in the oven.
The Challenge
The customer has a compressor room with a single screw compressor that supplies the factory's entire compressed air requirement at 7.0 bar. One of the steps in the production process involves baking the corrugated sheets in an oven. The current oven uses a central heating boiler with gas combustion.
The Solution
The Atlas Copco team installed an integrated Energy Recovery system consisting of a complete Thermo Kit with an 800-liter buffer vessel, a circulation pump, a control box, and all required connector parts to efficiently distribute the heat generated by the oil cooler throughout the production site.
This kit is a simple, all-in-one solution for recovering and storing energy. It converts the screw compressor's waste heat into hot water and stores it in the vessel until it is needed in the production process.
The Outcome
By recovering the compressor's heat, the customer saves 285 000 kWh per year on boiler fossil fuel, equal to EUR 20 000 annually. This way, the return on investment is approximately two years. In addition, the customer reduces the facility's CO2 emissions by 52 tons per year.
