Exhaust Gas-Thermic Fluid Heat Recovery Unit for Diesel Generator Set

Energy conservation is equivalent to energy generation and transmission at 100% efficiency. Combined heat and power (CHP) is an important concept as fuel is used to generate two different forms of energy simultaneously. This book reports a project done at a bottle-cap manufacturing company, where a diesel generating set is employed as backup source of electrical energy. The possibility of using heat from exhaust gases to heat thermic fluid is explored. The design process for the heat recovery heat exchanger and other components is presented. The hot thermic fluid can be used for process heating for making the bottle-caps. It is estimated that around 50 kW heat can be recovered using a shell and tube heat exchanger for the 125 KVA diesel generator set. The payback period is around 480 days. This work thus demonstrates feasibility of such CHP system for process industries. It would also help people in the trade to design such system and also evaluate them.