Air-to-Water Heat Exchanger Reduces Operating Costs by $120,000 per Year

Problem

A pharmaceutical company had a 5,000 SCFM oxidizer that they were looking to relocate to another facility across the United States.  The destruction efficiency rate and heat recovery expectation at the new location differed from the original design conditions at the current facility.

  Action

 An Anguil field service engineer went to site to inspect the unit.  A report detailing the current condition of the oxidizer at its current location was generated as well as a written procedure for the proper disassembly and reassembly of the equipment.  The service engineer evaluated the unit and made recommendations outlining the modifications necessary to make the unit run at the new facility's desired destruction efficiency rate and the energy requirements. 

  Solution

Anguil worked closely with the customer to modify and upgrade the system based on the detailed site inspection report.  The work included a control package upgrade and a new hot gas bypass damper. 

 To address the energy recovery requirements at the new facility, a new economizer was installed between the oxidizer and exhaust stack to transfer heat to water.  The exhaust heat from the stack was transferred to the Anguil economizer which in turn created hot water.  This otherwise lost energy is captured and can be used in various applications such as boiler feedwater, cold makeup water, process water, glycol, and thermal fluids.

 The stainless steel system is a tube and fin style heat exchanger with access doors for inspecting and cleaning of the tubes.  The exhaust flow from the catalytic oxidizer is 5,400 SCFM and the temperature is 450°F.  Roughly 160 GPM of water is heated to 140°F with the economizer.  The total energy recovered is 1.43 MM BTU/hr or an estimated total savings of $120,512 per year. 

REPORTED VALUES

PROJECTED VALUES WITH ENERGY RECOVERY SYSTEM

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