Give waste heat a more useful temperature.
A chemical heat-transformer cycle upgrades part of a low-grade waste-heat stream into useful process heat.
BE BelgiumIn practice. A Belgian chemical heat-transformer technology with documented industrial application and EU demonstration work.
What to keep in view
Only part of the input heat is upgraded; some is rejected, and the system requires operating power. Useful results depend on temperature levels, integration and demand.
Recover quality, not just quantity
Qpinch's chemical heat transformer uses a reversible process to upgrade part of a lower-temperature heat stream into heat at a more useful temperature. Some heat is rejected at a lower temperature and the system still requires operating power. Borealis and the EU-supported PUSH2HEAT programme document industrial application and demonstration work. The process changes heat quality, which is a different job from storing heat for another time.
The system changes the quality of the heat, not just where warm water is sent.
Match the heat to the process
Our reading: a factory can reject substantial heat while buying energy for a process that needs a higher temperature. The mismatch is about usefulness, not simply quantity. A heat transformer makes the relationship between the rejected source and the receiving demand a practical design question.
Read next.
Recover the heat before the water leaves.
Both recover useful heat, but at different scales and temperatures. Compare direct exchange at a shower with upgrading industrial waste heat.
Baking heat, used twice.
Both give industrial heat another use. Compare upgrading its temperature with finding a suitable nearby demand.