Large amounts of waste heat are released unexploited to the environment by industry. In Germany, this sector is responsible for almost one fourth of the total country carbon dioxide emissions. A valuable alternative to recover the waste heat and convert it into electricity is the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology. In this work, the potential of electricity generation from the waste heat with ORC is assessed for three main industrial sectors: steel manufacturing (basic oxygen furnace, electric arc furnace and reheating furnace for hot rolling mills); cement manufacturing and both hollow and container glass manufacturing. The theoretical, technical and economic potentials are assessed. The estimations are based on the actual production of the industrial sites in Germany and on specific waste heat factors available in literature. The theoretical potential referred to 15 °C amounts to 21–29 TWh/a of waste heat. Because of the limited heat source utilization, efficiency of the ORC and availability, the technical potential of the producible electricity (2.2–4.1 TWhe/a) lies only between 10 and 15% of the theoretical potential. The economic potential, referred to the minimum electricity price in Germany, results in electricity savings of 2.0–3.8 TWhe/a and an ORC cumulative installed capacity of 227–435 MWe. The small difference between the technical and the economical potential confirms the economic viability of the ORC solution, especially in the steel industry. In addition, the ORC plants can contribute to a reduction of 0.9–2.7 Mt CO2 per year.

Techno-economic potential of waste heat recovery from German energy-intensive industry with Organic Rankine Cycle technology

Storage of electricity from fluctuating renewable energy sources has become one of the predominant challenges in future energy systems. A novel system comprises the combination of a heat pump and an Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) with a simple hot water storage tank. The heat pump upgrades low temperature heat with excess power. The upgraded heat can drive an Organic Rankine Process using the heat pump in reverse operation mode. This approach allows a comparably efficient storage of excess electricity. Waste heat sources usually do not qualify for electricity production even with ORC processes due to low temperatures. Upgrading the temperature of the waste heat by means of excess electricity makes the use of an ORC feasible in order to recover the electricity input. Thermodynamic cycle simulations with IPSEpro software outline that the process provides power-to-power efficiencies in a range of 50% for small-scale applications based on commercially available heat pump components. The isentropic efficiency of compressors/expanders plays a crucial role on the system performance. Applications of the proposed cycle in the megawatt range with more efficient turbines and dynamic compressors will therefore increase the power-to-power efficiency to above 70%.

Reversible Heat Pump–Organic Rankine Cycle Systems for the Storage of Renewable Electricity

Organic flash cycles in Rankine-based Carnot batteries with large storage temperature spreads

Energy-intensive industries across the EU-28 release unused heat into the environment. This excess heat can be utilized for district heating systems. However, this is the exception today, and the potential contribution to the decarbonization of district heating is not well quantified. An estimation of excess heat, based on industrial processes, and spatial matching to district heating areas is necessary. We present a georeferenced industrial database with annual production and excess heat potentials at different temperature levels matched with current and possible district heating areas. Our results show a total potential of 960 PJ/a (267 TWh/a) of excess heat when the exhaust gases are cooled down to 25 °C, with 47% of the 1.608 studied industrial sites inside or within a 10 km distance of district heating areas. The calculated potentials reveal that currently 230 PJ/a (64 TWh/a) of excess heat is available for district heating areas, about 17% of today’s demand of buildings for district heating. In the future, widespread and low-temperature district heating areas increase the available excess heat to 258 PJ/a (72 TWh/a) at 55 °C or 679 PJ/a (189 TWh/a) at 25 °C. We show that industrial excess heat can substantially contribute to decarbonize district heating, however, the major share of heat will need to be supplied by renewables.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/3/1439/pdf

Decarbonizing District Heating in EU-27 + UK: How Much Excess Heat Is Available from Industrial Sites?

Methodologies to estimate industrial waste heat potential by transferring key figures: A case study for Spain

Industrial waste heat may be one of the answers to future energy demands. Depending on the temperature, industrial waste heat may be used to produce electricity or meet cooling or heating demands at different temperature levels. However, in order to estimate the influence the waste heat may have in future energy systems, the magnitude of the industrial waste heat in the different countries need to be estimated. For Germany, so far, only top-down analyses of the waste heat potential exist, using key figures derived from other studies in other countries. In this paper, the first bottom-up approach for estimating the industrial waste heat potential in Germany is presented. For this approach, an algorithm to evaluate and test the mandatory emission report data from German production companies was developed. In a second step, round about 81,000 data sets have been evaluated to calculate a conservative and lower boundary value for the industrial waste heat. As this conservative, lower boundary based on the collected data from the German industry, the waste heat volume was evaluated as 127 PJ/a or 13 % of the industrial fuel consumption. Results were used to derive key figures with which the missing share of the data was approximated.

Industrial waste heat potential in Germany—a bottom-up analysis

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Industrial waste heat potential in Germany—a bottom-up analysis