In this lesson created by the University for Business and Technology, you can learn about the role that air recuperators can play in driving energy efficiencies and limiting greenhouse gas emissions.
Natural gas-fired process furnaces are widely used in industry, particularly in applications involving metallurgy, heat-treating, glass and ceramics. Even at today’s attractive rates for natural gas as an industrial fuel, it makes complete sense to recover as much of the waste heat from the furnace as possible to improve energy efficiencies. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the recuperator is the most widely used heat recovery device.
In any furnace operation, heat is lost from the furnace skin, from heated product leaving the treatment area, from conveyer or pusher equipment, from excessive draft and from open doors or other access points. But easily the largest and most concentrated type of heat loss is from the furnace exhaust, some with temperatures of 1000° F or higher. Fortunately, this is usually also the most practical heat to recover and reuse.
Learn about the structure and functions of the air recuperator and how you can install one in our hands on immersive lesson today.