Advances in Energy Research

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Low-grade waste heat recovery and repurposing to reduce the load on cooling towers

  • McLean, Shannon H. (School of Engineering, Laurentian University) ;
  • Chenier, Jeff (Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations (a Glencore Company)) ;
  • Muinonen, Sari (Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations (a Glencore Company)) ;
  • Laamanen, Corey A. (School of Engineering, Laurentian University) ;
  • Scott, John A. (School of Engineering, Laurentian University)
  • Received : 2020.04.13
  • Accepted : 2020.08.19
  • Published : 2020.06.25
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Abstract

Industrial cooling towers are often ageing infrastructure that is expensive to maintain and operate. A novel approach is introduced in which a heat pump circuit is incorporated to reduce the load upon the towers by extracting low-grade energy from the stream sent to the towers and repurposing in on-site processing operations. To demonstrate the concept, a model was constructed, which uses industrial data on cooling towers linked to a smelter's sulphuric acid plant, to allow direct economic and environmental impact comparison between different heat recovery and repurposing scenarios. The model's results showed that implementing a heat pump system would significantly decrease annual operating costs and achieve a payback period of 3 years. In addition, overall CO2 emissions could be reduced by 42% (430,000 kg/year) and a 5% heat load reduction on the cooling towers achieved. The concept is significant as the outcomes introduce a new way for energy intensive industrial sectors, such as mineral processing, to reduce energy consumption and improve long-term sustainable performance.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by the Mitacs Accelerate program and the National Science and Research Council (NSERC).

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