IMPROVING INDUSTRIAL ENERGY EFFICIENCY THROUGH THE IMPLEMENTATION OF WASTE HEAT RECOVERY SYSTEMS

Improving the energy efficiency of industrial processes and the facilities in which they are carried out is often considered to be one of the most promising ways to begin reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. One of the best ways for organizations to reduce their energy consumption without having to carry out extensive equipment and facility overhauls is waste heat recovery or energy recycling. Waste heat recovery involves tapping into previously discarded thermal energy streams and reusing it for various purposes within a facility (space heating or cooling) or within the process itself (pre-heating air and boiler makeup water). Despite the numerous social and economic benefits that are available through waste heat recovery, several economic and technical barriers still exist to its wide-scale implementation. This paper provides an overview of the current state of waste heat recovery systems available in industry, offers a discussion of the major barriers to their wide-spread implementation, and lastly concludes with new data with several new case studies from Canadian manufacturers which have successfully harnessed waste heat within their facilities.