Recover heat from compressors

Nearly all of the energy that is used to power an air compressor gets converted to heat, so that a lot of energy goes to waste?. This, say industry suppliers, means that there are big opportunities for more heat recovery systems to be used throughout the UK.

Using heat exchangers, the heat generated during compression can be recovered and transferred to a customers’ water supply, said Chris Hall, sales director, Gardner Denver (CompAir).

This hot water can then be used for a variety of factory processes, such as steam generation, washing, boilers, or simply to heat offices or for warm water supply.

“In addition, any heat that isn’t captured in the compressor’s cooling oil will radiate in to the canopy and be wasted as hot air. We can advise customers on how to recover this heat by installing ducting to divert the air to a different part of the factory,” said Hall.

That heat recovery is still not that widely used is, very often, down to system design: the hot water is used across the other side of the factory/plant to where the compressor is sited, said Andy Jones, general manager at Mattei.

“We would suggest that the potential savings, particularly with hot water generation, might mean it is worthwhile relocating the compressor/s. Certainly in new build projects more thought should be given to this. “