Heatcatcher Ltd completes ‘waste heat to power’ system for Steetley Dolomite

The first Heatcatcher System is now fully operational at the Thrislington lime plant near Durham. The system, which cost £1.3 million to design, build and deliver, is on course to deliver return on investment within five years. Early data indicates that it can be expected to generate net power of around 3000 MWh annually, equivalent to 7500 hours of carbon-free electricity. In total, CO₂ output will be reduced by 1600 tpa.

Steetley Dolomite is keen to make further investments across its two plants after securing a £4 million funding package from HSBC’s Nottinghamshire Commercial team. John Carlill, Managing Director of Steetley Dolomite, said: “The project offers an attractive return on investment, when you consider the £1.3 million investment against purchasing 3000 MWh per year of electricity from the grid over the next 10 to 15 years.”

The Heatcatcher System works by using the waste heat to vaporise a refrigerant, which in turn drives a rotary generator. The variable frequency and voltage output of the generator are converted to match the grid, and this electrical output is fed back into the plant’s power supply. Every stage of the process has been calibrated to minimise energy losses within the system. In total, each plant fitted with the system recovers 4 MWh of thermal power, and converts it to 0.5 MW of cheap, low-carbon electrical power.

Darren Bryant, CEO of Heatcatcher Ltd, said: “We believe that this technology will be a step change reduction in the energy intensive production costs of European lime and cement manufacturers, through the design, integration, funding and operation of waste heat to power plants.”

Michael Harman, Plant Manager at the Thrislington lime plant, added: “It’s a real point of pride for everybody at the plant that we’ve become the first site to innovate in this way – it’s been great for morale. The system was installed with very little disruption to our day-to-day output, and is surprisingly autonomous. It has already begun to pay dividends, in terms of significantly reducing our energy costs, and has drastically reduced our greenhouse gas emissions. We can see this technology becoming commonplace throughout the industry in the future, but we’ll always be able to say that we were the first plant to have a Heatcatcher.”

Adapted from Heatcatcher press release by Louise Fordham

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcement.com/europe-cis/28022014/heatcatcher_completes_waste_heat_to_power_system_at_thrislington_lime_plant_806/