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Journal of Polymer & Composites Original Research

Advancements in Waste Heat Recovery from Multistage Air Compressor Operations

  1. Rohit P. Sarode Department of Mechanical Engineering, G. H. Raisoni University, Amravati
  2. Shilpa M. Vinchurkar Department of Mechanical Engineering, G. H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur
  3. Gagan Malik Department of Mechanical Engineering, G. H. Raisoni University, Amravati

Abstract

In industrial production processes, waste heat is an important consequence, especially in sectors that rely significantly on composites and polymers. Frequently, this heat is released into the atmosphere without being captured, which raises operating expenses in addition to wasting potential energy. In these sectors, waste heat recovery, or WHR, has become a key tactic for raising sustainability and energy efficiency. The WHR potential of multistage air compressors—essential parts of industrial manufacturing setups—is examined in this study. Businesses can cut their energy use and carbon footprint by recovering waste heat. The efficiency of two popular heat exchanger technologies—plate heat exchangers and shell-and-tube heat exchangers—in recovering heat from multistage air compressors is assessed in this paper. Important variables including temperature differentials, specific heat capacities, and mass flow rates form the basis of the analysis. The total recoverable heat in the system is determined by these variables, which are crucial. The multistage air compressor systems exhibited an outstanding 4883.65 kJ/min of recoverable energy, indicating a large potential for heat recovery, according to our findings. Comparing the two types of heat exchangers, it can be shown that plate heat exchangers recover 4256.82 kJ/min at a substantially higher efficiency than shell-and-tube heat exchangers, which recover 3156.67 kJ/min. These findings highlight how crucial it is to choose the right WHR technology in order to optimize energy recovery. The study emphasizes how important it is to use cutting-edge WHR technologies to improve industrial sustainability. Industries may significantly cut energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and operating expenses by recycling waste heat in an efficient manner. This will help to create a more sustainable and energy-efficient future.

Keywords

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