How Heat Recovery Works
Did you know that compressed air systems account for around 10% of all electricity used in industry? What’s even more surprising is that over 90% of the energy used to power an air compressor is converted into heat during the compression process.
Without a heat recovery system, most of this energy is simply lost to the surrounding environment.
A heat recovery system captures this excess heat and repurposes it for other applications across your site, allowing you to reduce energy waste and lower operating costs.
In an oil-injected rotary screw compressor, the oil absorbs much of the heat created during compression. This hot oil can then be directed through a heat exchanger within the heat recovery unit, where the heat is transferred to a water circuit before the oil continues through the normal cooling process.
The heated water can then be reused elsewhere in your facility for heating or industrial processes.
The amount of energy recovered depends on factors such as compressor size, system load and operating hours. However, energy recovery rates of up to 80% are commonly achievable, and in some hot water applications up to 90% of the energy can be recovered.
