CHAPTER 8
WASTE-HEAT RECOVERY
WESLEY M. ROHRER, JR.  installations unless the associated primary energy con-
Emeritus Associate Professor of
Mechanical Engineering
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
8. 1 INTRODUCTION  recovery from the incinerator ex- haust gases.
8.1.1 Definitions  
Waste heat, in the most general sense, is the energy
associated with the waste streams of air, exhaust gases,
and/or liquids that leave the boundaries of a plant or
building and enter the environment. It is implicit that these
streams eventually mix with the atmospheric air or the
groundwater and that the energy, in these streams, becomes
unavailable as useful energy. The absorption of waste energy
by the environment is often termed thermal pollution.
In a more restricted definition, and one that will be
used in this chapter, waste heat is that energy which is
rejected from a process at a temperature high enough above
the ambient temperature to permit the economic recovery of
some fraction of that energy for useful pur- poses.
8.1.2 Benefits  waste-heat recovery could have saved our country 7% of the
The principal reason for attempting to recover waste
heat is economic. All waste heat that is success- fully
recovered directly substitutes for purchased energy and
therefore reduces the consumption of and the cost of that
energy. A second potential benefit is realized when waste-
heat substitution results in smaller capacity requirements for
energy conversion equipment. Thus the use of waste-heat
recovery can reduce capital costs in new installations. A good
example is when waste heat is recovered from ventilation
exhaust air to preheat the outside air entering a building. The
waste-heat recovery reduces the requirement for space-
heating energy. This permits a reduction in the capacity of
the furnaces or boilers used for heating the plant. The initial
cost of the heating equipment will be less and the overhead
costs will be reduced. Savings in capital expenditures for the
primary conversion devices can be great enough to
completely offset the cost of the heat-recovery system.
Reduction in capital costs cannot be realized in retrofit
193
version device has reached the end of their useful lives and
are due for replacement.
A third benefit may accrue in a very special case. As
an example, when an incinerator is installed to decompose
solid, liquid, gaseous or vaporous pollut- ants, the cost of
operation may be significantly reduced through waste-heat
Finally, in every case of waste-heat recovery, a
gratuitous benefit is derived: that of reducing thermal
pollution of the environment by an amount exactly equal to
the energy recovered, at no direct cost to the recoverer.
8.1.3 Potential for Waste‐Heat Recovery in Industry 
It had been estimated1 that of the total energy
consumed by all sectors of the U.S. economy in 1973, that
fully 50% was discharged as waste heat to the environment.
Some of this waste is unavoidable. The second law of
thermodynamics prohibits 100% efficiency in energy
conversion except for limiting cases which are practically
and economically unachievable. Ross and Williams,2 in
reporting the results of their second-law analysis of U.S.
energy consumption, estimated that in 1975, economical
energy consumed by industry, or
1.82 ⋅ 1016 Btus (1.82 quads.)
Roger Sant3 estimated that in 1978 industrial heat
recovery could have resulted in a national fuel savings
of 0.3%, or 2.65 ⋅ 1016 Btus (2.65 quads). However, his
study included only industrial furnace recuperators.*
In terms of individual plants in energy-intensive indus- tries,
this percentage can be greater by more than an order of
magnitude.
The Annual Energy Review 19914 presents data to
show that although U.S. manufacturing energy intensity
increased by an average of 26.7% during the period 1980 to
1988, the manufacturing sector's energy use efficiency, for all
manufacturing, increased by an average of 25.1%. In
reviewing the Annual Energy Reviews over the years, it
becomes quite clear that during periods of rising fuel
*Recuperators are heat exchangers that recover waste heat from the stacks of
furnaces to preheat the combustion air. Section 8.4.2 subjects this device to
more detailed scrutiny.
194
prices energy efficiency increases, while in periods of
declining fuel prices energy efficiency gains are eroded.
Although the average gain in energy use efficiency, in the 7-
year period mentioned above, is indeed impres- sive, several
industrial groups accomplished much less than the average or
made no improvements at all dur- ing that time. As economic
conditions change to favor investments in waste-heat
recovery there will be further large gains made in energy use
efficiency throughout industry.
8.1.4 Quantifying Waste Heat  8.1.5 Matching Loads to Source
The technical description of waste heat must nec-
essarily include quantification of the following charac-
teristics: (1) quantity, (2) quality, and (3) temporal avail-
ability.
The quantity of waste heat available is ordinarily
expressed in terms of the enthalpy flow of the waste
stream, or
H = mh   (.1) of the source, indicated by the solid line, is an exhaust
where
H = total enthalpy flow rate of waste stream, Btu ⁄ hr
m = mass flow rate of waste stream, lb ⁄ hr
h = specific enthalpy of waste stream, Btu ⁄ lb
The mass flow rate, m, can be calculated from the ex-
pression
m = ρQ  (8.2) (2) generate the hot water during the second shift and
where ρ = density of material, lb/ft3
Q = volumetric flow rate, ft3/hr
The potential for economic waste-heat recovery, how-
ever, does not depend as much on the quantity available as it
does on whether its quality fits the requirements of the
potential heating load which must be supplied and whether
the waste heat is available at the times when it is required.
The quality of waste heat can be roughly char-
acterized in terms of the temperature of the waste stream.
The higher the temperature, the more available the waste
heat for substitution for purchased energy. The primary
source of energy used in industrial plants are the combustion combustion air for the furnace burner. How- ever, the total
of fossil fuels and nuclear reaction, both occurring at
temperatures approaching 3000°F. Waste heat, of any
quantity, is ordinarily of little use at temperatures
approaching ambient, although the use of a heat pump can
improve the quality of waste heat economically over a
limited range of temperatures near
ENERGY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK
and even below ambient. As an example, a waste-heat stream
at 70°F cannot be used directly to heat a fluid stream whose
temperature is 100°F. However, a heat pump might
conceivably be used to raise the tempera- ture of the waste
heat stream to a temperature above 100°F so that a portion
of the waste-heat could then be transferred to the fluid stream
at 100°F. Whether this is economically feasible depends
upon the final tempera- ture required of the fluid to be
heated and the cost of owning and operating the heat pump.
 
It is necessary that the heating load which will ab- sorb
the waste heat be available at the same time as the waste
heat. Otherwise, the waste heat may be useless, regardless of
its quantity and quality. Some examples of synchrony and
non-synchrony of waste-heat sources and loads are illustrated
in Figure 8.1. Each of the graphs in that figure shows the size
and time availability of a waste- heat source and a potential
load. In Figure 8.1a the size
stream from an oven operating at 425°F during the sec- ond
production shift only. One possible load is a water
heater for supplying a washing and rinsing line at 135°F. As
can be seen by the dashed line, this load is available only
during the first shift. The respective quantities and qualities
seem to fit satisfactorily, but the time availability of the
source could not be worse. If the valuable source is to be
used, it will be necessary to (1) reschedule either of the
operations to bring them into time correspondence,
store it until needed at the beginning of the first shift
the next day, or (3) find another heat load which has an
overall better fit than the one shown.
In Figure 8.1b we see a waste-heat source (solid
line) consisting of the condenser cooling water of an air-
conditioning plant which is poorly matched with its load
(dashed line)—the ventilating air preheater for the building.
The discrepancy in availability is not diurnal as before, but
seasonal.
In Figure 8.1c we see an almost perfect fit for source
and load, but the total availability over a 24 hour period is
small. The good fit occurs because the source, the hot
exhaust gases from a heat-treat furnace, is used to preheat
time of availability over a 24-hour period is so small as to
cast doubt on the ability to pay off the capital costs of this
project.
8.1.6 Classifying Waste‐Heat Quality 
For convenience, the total range of waste-heat
temperatures, 80 to 3000°F, is broken down into three
WASTE-HEAT RECOVERY 195

Low range 80 ≤ T < 400

Waste heat in the high-temperature range is not only

the highest quality but is the most useful, and costs less per
unit to transfer than lower-quality heat. How- ever, the
equipment needed in the highest part of the range requires
special engineering and special materials and thus requires a
higher level of investment. All of the applications listed in
Table 8.1 result from direct-fired processes. The waste heat
in the high range is available to do work through the
utilization of steam turbines or gas turbines and thus is a
good source of energy for
cogeneration plants.*
Table 8.2 gives the temperatures of waste gases
primarily from direct-fired process equipment in the
medium-temperature range. This is still in the tempera- ture
range in which work may be economically extracted using
gas turbines in the range 15 to 30 psig or steam turbines at
almost any desired pressure. It is an eco- nomic range for
direct substitution of process heat since requirements for
equipment are reduced from those in the high-temperature
range.
The use of waste heat in the low-temperature range is
more problematic. It is ordinarily not practical to extract
work directly from the waste-heat source in this temperature
range. Practical applications are generally for preheating
liquids or gases. At the higher tempera- tures in this range air
preheaters or economizers can be

Table 8.1 Waste‐heat sources in the high‐temperature 
range.  
Type of Device Temperature (°F)
Nickel refining furnace 2500-3000
Aluminum refining furnace 1200-1400
Zinc refining furnace 1400-2000
Copper refining furnace 1400-1500
Steel heating furnaces 1700-1900
Copper reverberatory furnace 1650-2000
Figure 8.1 Matching waste‐heat sources and loads.  Open hearth furnace 1200-1300
Cement kiln (dry process) 1150-1350
subranges: high, medium, and low. These classes are Glass melting furnace 1800-2800
designed to match a similar scale which classifies com- Hydrogen plants 1200-1800
mercial waste-heat-recovery devices. The two systems of Solid waste incinerators 1200-1800
classes allow matches to be made between industrial process Fume incinerators 1200-2600
waste heat and commercially available recovery
equipment. Subranges are defined in terms of tempera-
*The waste heat generates high-pressure steam in a waste-heat boiler which is
ture range as: used in a steam turbine generator to generate electricity. The turbine exhaust
steam at a lower pressure provides process heat. Alternatively,
High range 1100 ≤ T ≤ 3000 the high-temperature gases may directly drive a gas turbine generator with
the exhaust generating low-pressure steam in a waste-heat boiler for process
Medium range 400 ≤ T < 1100 heating.
196 ENERGY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK

Table 8.2 Waste‐heat sources in the medium‐temperature  where m = mass of storage material, lbm 

range.  
ρ = density of storage material, lb/ft3
Type of Device Temperature (°F) V = volume of storage material, ft3
Steam boiler exhausts 450-900
C = specific heat of storage material, Btu/lbm °R
Gas turbine exhausts 700-1000
Reciprocating engine exhausts 600-1100 T = temperature in absolute degrees, °R
Reciprocating engine exhausts 450-700
(turbocharged) The specific heat for solids is a function of temperature
Heat treating furnaces which can usually be expressed in the form
800-1200
Drying and baking ovens 450-1100 C0 = C0 [1 + α (T - T0)] (8.4)
Catalytic crackers 800-1200
where C0 = specific heat at temperature T0
Annealing furnace cooling systems 800-1200
Selective catalytic reduction T0 = reference temperature
systems for NOx control 525-750 α = temperature coefficient of specific heat

It is seen from equation 8.3 that storage materials should have

utilized to preheat combustion air or boiler make-up water, the properties of high density and high specific heat in order
respectively. At the lower end of the range heat pumps may to gain maximum heat storage for a given temperature rise in
be required to raise the source temperature to one that is a given space. The rate at which heat can be absorbed or
above the load temperature. An example of an application given up by the storage mate- rial depends upon its thermal
which need not involve heat pump assistance would be the conductivity, k, which is
use of 95°F cooling water from an air compressor to preheat defined by the equation
domestic hot water from
its ground temperature of 50°F to some intermediate δ Q = - kA dT   =Q  
temperature less than 95°F. Electric, gas-fired, or steam δt   dx   x=0 (8.5)
heaters could then be utilized to heat the water to the
temperature desired. Another application could be the use of
90°F cooling water from a battery of spot welders
to preheat the ventilating air for winter space heating. Table 8.3 Waste‐heat sources in the low‐temperature 
Since machinery cooling can't be interrupted or dimin- range. 
ished, the waste-heat recovery system, in this latter case,
must be designed to be bypassed or supplemented when Source Temperature (°F)
seasonal load requirements disappear. Table 8.3 lists some Process steam condensate 130-190
waste-heat sources in the low-temperature range. Cooling water from:
Furnace doors 90-130
8.1.7 Storage of Waste Heat  Bearings 90-190
Waste heat can be utilized to adapt otherwise Welding machines 90-190
mismatched loads to waste-heat sources. This is pos- sible Injection molding machines 90-190
because of the inherent ability of all materials to absorb Annealing furnaces 150-450
energy while undergoing a temperature increase. The Forming dies 80-190
absorbed energy is termed stored heat. The quantity that can Air compressors 80-120
be stored is dependent upon the temperature rise that can be Pumps 80- 190
achieved in the storage material as well as the intrinsic Internal combustion engines 150-250
thermal qualities of the material, and can Air conditioning and 90-110
be estimated from the equation refrigeration condensers
Liquid still condensers 90-190
Q= T2
mC dT = T2
ρ VC dT   Drying, baking, and curing ovens 200-450
T1 T1 Hot-processed liquids 90-450
Hot-processed solids 200-450
= ρ VC (T - T0) for constant specific heat (8.3)
Figure 8.9 and the temperature relationship
This equation can be solved with the help of data from
8.3 WASTE‐HEAT EXCHANGERS 
8.3.1  Stora Devices  e earliest
Transient  ge  Th
waste -heat-recovery devices were "re-
generators." These consisted of extensive brick work, called
"checkerwork," located in the exhaust flues and inlet air flues
of high-temperature furnaces in the steel industry.
Regenerators are still used to a limited extent in open hearth
furnaces and other high-temperature
208 ENERGY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK

furnaces burning low-grade fuels. It is impossible to achieve Insulation

Stable thermal wall
steel melt temperature unless regenerators are used to boost
Section of glass
the inlet air temperature. In the process vast amounts of ceramic wheel
waste heat are recovered which would otherwise be supplied
by expensive high-Btu fuels. Pairs of regenerators are used
alternately to store waste heat from the furnace exhaust gases
and then give back that heat to the inlet combustion air. The
transfer of exhaust- gas and combustion-air streams from one
regenerator to the other is accomplished by using a four-way Incinerated air
Grid burner
flapper valve. The design of and estimates of the
Preheated vapor-laden air
performance of recuperators follows the principles presented
Ceramic wheel
in Sec- tion 8.1.7. One disadvantage of this mode of
operation is that heat-exchanger effectiveness is maximum
only at the beginning of each heating and cooling cycle and
falls to almost zero at the end of the cycle. A second disad-
vantage is that the tremendous mass of the checkerwork and Vapor-laden air
the volume required for its installation raises capital costs
Fan
above that for the continuous-type air preheaters.
An alternative to the checkerwork regenerator is the Figure 8.14 Heat wheel. 
heat wheel. This device consists of a permeable flat disk
which is placed with its axis parallel to a pair of split ducts latter effect most often dictates the choice of flow
and is slowly rotated on an axis parallel to the ducts. The arrangement. Figure 8.15 indicates the temperature
wheel is slowly rotated as it intercepts the gas streams profiles for the heating and heated streams, re-
flowing concurrently through the split ducts. Figure 8.14 spectively. If the waste-heat stream is to be cooled
illustrates those operational features. below the cold stream exit, a counterflow heat
As the exhaust-gas stream in the exhaust duct pass- es exchanger must be used.
through one-half of the disk it gives up some of its heat
which is temporarily stored in the disc material. As the disc is 2. Character of the Exchange Fluids. It is neces-
turned, the cold incoming air passes through the heated sary to specify the heated and cooled fluids as
surfaces of the disk and absorbs the energy. The materials to:
used for the disks include metal alloys, ceramics and fiber,
depending upon the temperature of the exhaust gases. Heat- Chemical composition
exchanger efficiency for the heat wheel has been measured Physical phase (i.e., gaseous, liquid, solid, or
as high as 90% based upon the exhaust stream energy. multiphase)
Further details concerning the heat wheel and its applications Change of phase, if any, such as evaporating
are given in Section 8.4.3. or condensing
These specifications may affect the optimum flow
8.3.2 Steady‐State Heat Exchangers   arrangement and/or the materials of construc- tion.

Section 8.4 treats heat exchangers in some detail. 8.3.3 Heat‐Exchanger Effectiveness 

However, several important criteria for selection are The effectiveness of a heat exchanger is defined as listed
below. a ratio of the actual heat transferred to the maximum
possible heat transfer considering the temperatures of
1. Flow Arrangements. These are characterized as: two streams entering the heat exchanger. For a given
Parallel flow Crossflow flow arrangement, the effectiveness of a heat exchanger is
Counterflow Mixed flow directly proportional to the surface area that separates the
heated and cooled fluids. The effectiveness of typical
The flow arrangement helps to determine the heat exchangers is given in Figure 8.16 in terms of the
overall effectiveness, the cost, and the highest parameter AU/Cmin where A is the effective heat-transfer
achievable temperature in the heated stream. The area, U the effective overall heat conductance, and Cmin
WASTE-HEAT RECOVERY 209

the mass flow rate times the specific heat of the fluid with
minimum mc. The conductance is the heat rate per unit area
per unit temperature difference. Note that as
AU/Cmin increases, a linear relation exists with the ef-
fectiveness until the value of AU/Cmin approaches 1.0. At
this point the curve begins to knee over and the increase
in effectiveness with AU is drastically reduced. Thus one
sees a relatively early onset of the law of diminishing returns
for heat-exchanger design. It is implied that one pays heavily
for exchangers with high effectiveness.

8.3.4 Filtering or Fouling 

One of the important heat-exchanger parameters

related to surface conditions is termed the fouling factor. The
fouling of the surfaces can occur because of film deposits,
such as oil films; because of surface scaling due to the
precipitation of solid compounds from solu- tion; because of
corrosion of the surfaces; or because of the deposit of solids
or liquids from two-phase flow streams. The fouling factor
increases with increased foul- ing and causes a drop in heat
exchanger effectiveness. If heavy fouling is anticipated, it
may call for the filtering of contaminated streams, special
materials of construc- tion, or a mechanical design that
permits easy access to surfaces for frequent cleaning.

8.3.5 Materials and Construction 
These topics have been reviewed in previous sec-
tions. In summary:
1. High temperatures may require the use of special materials.
The chemical and physical properties of exchange fluids may
2. require the use of special materials.
Contaminated fluids may require special materials and/or
3. special construction.
The additions of tube fins on the outside, grooved surfaces or
4. swaged fins on the inside, and treated or coated surfaces
inside or outside may be re- quired to achieve compactness
or unusually high effectiveness.

8.3.6 Corrosion Control 
The standard material of construction for heat
exchangers is mild steel. Heat exchangers made of steel are
the cheapest to buy because the material is the least
expensive of all construction materials and because it is so
easy to fabricate. However, when the heat transfer media are
corrosive liquids and/or gases, more exotic materials may
have to be used. Corrosion tables15 give the information
Figure 8.15 Cross‐flow heat exchanger.  
necessary to estimate the life of the heat exchanger and life-
cycle-costing studies allow
210
valid comparisons of the costs of owning the steel heat
exchanger versus one constructed of exotic materials. The
problem is whether it will be cheaper to replace the steel
heat exchanger at more frequent intervals or to buy a unit
made of more expensive materials, but
Figure 8.16 Typical heat‐exchanger effectiveness.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK
requiring less frequent replacement. Mechanical de- signs
which permit easy tube replacement lower the cost of
rebuilding and favor the use of mild steel heat exchangers.
Corrosion-resisting coatings, such as the TFE plas- tics,
are used to withstand extremely aggressive liquids and gases.
However, the high cost of coating and the danger of
damaging the coatings during assembly and during
subsequent operation limit their use. One disad- vantage of
using coatings is that they almost invariably decrease the
overall conductance of the tube walls and thus necessitate an
increase in size of the heat exchanger. The decision to use
coatings depends first upon the availability of alternate
materials to withstand the corro- sion as well as the
comparative life-cycle costs, assuming that alternative
materials can be found.
Among the most corrosive and widely used mate- rials
flowing in heat exchangers are the chlorides such as
hydrochloric acid and saltwater. Steel and most steel alloys
have extremely short lives in such service. One class of steel
alloys that have shown remarkable resis- tance to chlorides
and other corrosive chemicals is called duplex steels16 and
consists of half-and-half ferrite and austenitic
microstructures. Because of their high tensile strength,
thinner tube walls can be used and this offsets some of the
higher cost of the material.
  
WASTE-HEAT RECOVERY 211

8.3.7 Maintainability 
Provisions for gaining access to the inter-
nals may be worth the additional cost so that
surfaces may be easily cleaned, or tubes re-
placed when corroded. A shell and tube heat
exchanger with flanged and bolted end caps
which are easily removed for maintenance is
shown in Figure 8.17. Economizers are avail- able
with removable panels and multiple one-piece
finned, serpentine tube elements, which are
connected to the headers with standard
compression fittings. The tubes can be removed
and replaced on site, in a matter of minutes, using
only a crescent wrench.

8.4 COMMERCIAL OPTIONS IN 
WASTE‐HEAT‐RECOVERY EQUIPMENT  
8.4.1 Introduction  Temperature of heated fluid
It is necessary to completely specify all of the op-
erating parameters as well as the heat exchange capacity for
the proper design of a heat exchanger, or for the selection of
an off-the-shelf item. These specifications will determine the
construction parameters and thus the cost of the heat
exchanger. The final design will be a compromise among
pressure drop (which fixes pump or fan capital and operating
costs), maintainability (which strongly affects maintenance
costs), heat exchanger ef- fectiveness, and life-cycle cost.
Additional features, such as the on-site use of exotic
materials or special designs for enhanced maintainability,
may add to the initial cost. That design will balance the costs
of operation and maintenance with the fixed costs in order to
minimize the life-cycle costs. Advice on selection and design
of heat exchangers is available from manufacturers and from
T.E.M.A.* Industrial Heat Exchangers(17) is an excel- lent
guide to heat exchanger selection and includes a directory of
heat exchanger manufacturers.
The essential parameters that should be known and
specified in order to make an optimum choice of
waste-heat recovery devices are:
Temperature of waste-heat fluid
Flow rate of waste-heat fluid
Chemical composition of waste-heat fluid
Minimum allowable temperature of waste-heat
fluid
Amount and type of contaminants in the waste-
heat fluid
*Tubular Equipment Manufacturers Association, New York, NY
Figure 8.17. Shell and tube heat exchanger.  
Allowable pressure drop for the waste-heat fluid
Chemical composition of heated fluid
Maximum allowable temperature of heated fluid
Allowable pressure drop in the heated fluid
Control temperature, if control required
In the remainder of this section, some common
types of commercially available waste-heat recovery devices
are discussed in detail.
8.4.2 Gas‐to‐Gas Heat Exchangers: Recuperators 
Recuperators are used in recovering waste heat to be
used for heating gases in the medium- to high-tem- perature
range. Some typical applications are soaking ovens,
annealing ovens, melting furnaces, reheat fur- naces,
afterburners, incinerators, and radiant-heat burn- ers. The
simplest configuration for a heat exchanger is the metallic
radiation recuperator, which consists of two concentric
lengths of metal tubing, as shown in Figure 8.18. This is
most often used to extract waste heat from the exhaust gases
of a high-temperature furnace for heating the combustion air
for the same furnace. The as- sembly is often designed to
replace the exhaust stack.
The inner tube carries the hot exhaust gases while the
external annulus carries the combustion air from the
atmosphere to the air inlets of the furnace burners. The hot
gases are cooled by the incoming combustion air, which
then carries additional energy into the combus- tion
chamber. This is energy that does not have to be supplied by
the fuel; consequently, less fuel is burned for a given furnace
loading. The saving in fuel also means a decrease in
combustion air, and therefore stack losses are decreased not
only by lowering the stack exit
212
Figure 8.18 Metallic radiation recuperator.   high-temperature radiation recuperator.
temperatures, but also by discharging smaller quanti-
ties of exhaust gas. This particular recuperator gets its name
from the fact that a substantial portion of the heat transfer
from the hot exhaust gases to the surface of the inner tube
takes place by radiative heat transfer. The cold air in the
annulus, however, is almost transparent to infrared radiation
so that only convection heat transfer takes place to the
incoming combustion air. As shown in the diagram, the two
gas flows are usually parallel, although the configuration
would be simpler and the heat transfer more efficient if
counterflow were used. The reason for the use of parallel
flow is that the cold air often serves the function of cooling
the hottest part of the exhaust duct and consequently extends
its service life.
The inner tube is often fabricated from high-tem-
perature materials such as high-nickel stainless steels. The
large temperature differential at the inlet causes differential
expansion, since the outer shell is usually of a different and
less expensive material. The mechanical design must take
this effect into account. More elaborate designs of radiation
recuperators incorporate two sec- tions; the bottom operating
in parallel flow, and the up- per section using the more
efficient counterflow arrange- ment. Because of the large
axial expansions experienced and the difficult stress
conditions that can occur at the bottom of the recuperator,
the unit is often supported at the top by a freestanding
support frame and the bottom
is joined to the furnace by way of an expansion joint.
ENERGY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK
A second common form for recuperators is called the
tube-type or convective recuperator. As seen in the schematic
diagram of a combined radiation and convective type
recuperator in Figure 8.19, the hot gases are carried through a
number of small-diameter parallel tubes, while the
combustion air enters a shell surrounding the tubes and is
heated as it passes over the outside of the tubes one or more
times in directions normal to the tubes. If the tubes are
baffled as shown so as to allow the air to pass over them
twice, the heat exchanger is termed a two-pass convective
recuperator; if two baffles are used, a three-pass recuperator;
and so on.Although baffling increases the cost of manufacture
and also the pressure drop in the air path, it also increases the
effectiveness of heat exchange. Tube-type recuperators are
generally more compact and have a higher effectiveness than
do radiation recuperators, because of the larger effective heat-
transfer area made possible through the use of multiple tubes
and multiple passes of the air. For maximum effectiveness of
heat transfer, combinations of the two types of recuperators
are used, with the convec- tion type always following the
The principal limitation on the heat recovery possible
with metal recuperators is the reduced life of the liner at inlet
temperatures exceeding 2000°F. This limitation forces the use
of parallel flow to protect the bottom of the liner. The
temperature problem is compounded when furnace
combustion air flow is reduced as the furnace loading is
reduced. Thus the cooling of the inner shell is reduced and the
resulting temperature rise causes rapid surface deterio- ration.
To counteract this effect, it is necessary to provide an
ambient air bypass to reduce the temperature of the exhaust
gases. The destruction of a radiation recuperator by
overheating is a costly accident. Costs for rebuilding one are
about 90% of the cost of a new unit.
To overcome the temperature limitations of metal
recuperators, ceramic-tube recuperators have been devel-
oped whose materials permit operation to temperatures of
2800°F and on the preheated air side to 2200°F, although
practical designs yield air temperatures of 1800°F. Early
ceramic recuperators were built of tile and joined with
furnace cement. Thermal cycling caused cracking of the
joints and early deterioration of the units. Leakage rates as
high as 60% were common after short service periods. Later
developments featured silicon carbide tubes joined by flexible
seals in the air headers. This kind of design, illus- trated in
Figure 8.20, maintains the seals at a relatively low temperature
and the life of seals has been much improved, as evidenced by
leakage rates of only a few percent after two years of service.
An alternative design for the convective recuperator is
one in which the cold combustion air is heated in a
WASTE-HEAT RECOVERY 213

bank of parallel tubes extending into the flue-gas

stream normal to the axis of flow. This arrange-
ment is shown in Figure 8.21. The advantages of
this configuration are compactness and the ease of
replacing individual units. This can be done during
full-load operation and minimizes the cost,
inconvenience, and possible furnace dam- age due
to a forced shutdown from recuperator failure.
Recuperators are relatively inexpensive and
they do reduce fuel consumption. How- ever,
their use may require extensive capital
improvements. Higher combustion air tem-
peratures may require:
• burner replacement
• larger-diameter air lines with flexible ex-
pansion fittings
• cold-air piping for cooling high-tempera-
ture burners
• modified combustion controls
• stack dampers • cold
air bleeds
• recuperator protection systems
• larger combustion air fans to overcome
the additional pressure drops in the
system.

8.4.3 Heat Wheels 
A rotary regenerator, also called an air
preheater or a heat wheel, is used for low- to
Figure 8.19. Combined radiation and convective recuperator. 
moderately high-temperature waste-heat
recovery. Typical applications are for space
heating, curing, drying ovens and heat-treat
furnaces. Originally developed as an air pre-
heater for utility steam boilers, it was later
adapted, in small sizes, as a regenerator for
automotive turbine applications. It has been used
for temperatures ranging from 68°F to 2500°F.
Figure 8.22 illustrates the operation of a
heat wheel in an air conditioning applica- tion. It
consists of a porous disk, fabricated of material
having a substantial specific heat. The disk is
driven to rotates between two side- by-side ducts.
One is a cold-gas duct and the other is a hot-gas
duct. Although the diagram
Figure 8.20. Silicon‐carbide‐tube ceramic recuperator.  
shows a counterflow configuration, parallel flow can the area of the cold duct, the heat is transferred from also be used. The
axis of the disk is located parallel to the disk to the cold air. The overall efficiency of heat and on the plane of the partition
between the ducts. transfer (including latent heat) can be as high as 90%.
As the disk slowly rotates, sensible heat (and in some Heat wheels have been built as large as 70 ft in
cases, moisture-containing latent heat) is transferred to diameter with air capacities to 40,000 cfm. Multiple the disk by the
hot exhaust gas. As the disk moves into units can be used in parallel. This modular approach
214
Figure 8.21 Parallel‐tube recuperator.  Figure 8.22 Rotary regenerator (heat wheel).
may be used to overcome a mismatch between capacity
requirements and the limited number of sizes available in
commercial units.
The limitations on the high-temperature range for the
heat wheel are primarily due to mechanical diffi- culties
introduced by uneven thermal expansion of the rotating
wheel. Uneven expansion can cause excessive deformations
of the wheel that result in the loss of ad- equate gas seals
between the ducts and the wheel. The deformation can also
result in damage due to the wheel rubbing against its
retaining enclosure.
Heat wheels are available in at least four types: 1) A
metal frame packed with a core of knitted mesh stainless
steel, brass, or aluminum wire, 2) A so-called laminar wheel
fabricated from corrugated materials which form many small
diameter parallel-flow passages, 3) A laminar wheel
constructed from a high-temperature ceramic honeycomb, and
4) A laminar wheel constructed of a fibrous material coated
with a hygroscopic so that latent heat can be recovered.
Most gases contain some water vapor since it is a
natural component of air and it is also a product of
hydrocarbon combustion. Water vapor, as a compo- nent of
a gas mixture, carries with it its latent heat of evaporation.
This latent heat may be a substantial part of the energy
contained within the exit-gas streams from air-conditioned
spaces or from industrial processes. To recover some of the
latent heat in the gas stream, using a heat wheel, the sheet
must be coated with a hygroscopic material such as lithium
chloride (LiCl) which readily absorbs water vapor to form a
hydrate, which in the
case of lithium chloride is the hydrate LiCl•H2O. The
hydrate consists of one mole of lithium chloride chemi-
cally combined with one mole of water vapor. Thus the
weight ratio of water to lithium-chloride is 3:7. In a hy-
groscopic heat wheel, the hot gas stream gives up some
ENERGY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK
 
part of its water vapor to the lithium-chloride coating; the
gases to be heated are dry and absorb some of the water held
in the hydrate. The latent heat in that water vapor adds
directly to the total quantity of recovered heat. The
efficiency of recovery of the water vapor in the exit stream
may be as high as 50%.
Because the pores or passages of heat wheels carry
small amounts of gas from the exhaust duct to the intake duct,
cross-contamination of the intake gas can occur. If the
contamination is undesirable, the carryover of ex- haust gas
can be partially eliminated by the addition of a purge section
located between the intake and exhaust ducts, as shown in
Figure 8.23. The purge section allows the passages in the
wheel to be cleared of the exhaust gases by introducing
clean air which discharges the contaminant to the
atmosphere. Note that additional gas seals are required to
separate the purge ducts from the intake and exhaust ducts
and consequently add to the cost of the heat wheel.
Common practice is to use six air changes of clean air
for purging. This results in a reduction of cross-con-
tamination to a value as little as 0.04% for the gas and 0.2%
for particulates in laminar wheels, and less than 1.0% total
contaminants in packed wheels.
If the heated gas temperatures are to be held constant,
regardless of heating loads and exhaust gas temperatures,
the heat wheel must be driven at variable speed. This
requires a variable-speed drive with a speed- controller with
an air temperature sensor as the control element. When
operating with outside air in periods of sub-zero
temperatures and high humidity, heat wheels may frost up
requiring the protection of an air-preheat system. When
handling gases containing water-soluble, greasy, or large
concentrations of particulates, air filters may be required in
the exhaust system upstream from the heat wheel. These
features, however, add to the
WASTE-HEAT RECOVERY
complexity and the cost of owning and operating the system.
Contaminant buildup on ceramic heat wheels can often
be removed by raising the temperature of the exhaust
stream to exceed the ignition temperature of the
contaminant. However, heat wheels are inherently self-
cleaning, because materials entering the wheel from the hot-
gas stream tend to be swept out by the reverse flow of the
cold-gas stream.
8.4.4 Passive Air Preheaters  efficient passive gas-to-gas heat exchangers. Figure 8.25
Passive gas-to-gas regenerators are available for
applications where cross-contamination cannot be toler- ated.
One such type of regenerator, the plate-type, is shown in
Figure 8.24. A second type, the heat pipe ar- ray is shown in
Figure 8.25. Passive air preheaters are used in the low- and
medium-temperature applications. Those include drying,
curing, and baking ovens; air pre- heaters in steam boilers; air
dryers; waste heat recovery from exhaust steam; secondary
recovery from refractory kilns and reverbatory furnaces; and
waste heat recovery from conditioned air.
The plate-type regenerator is constructed of alter-
215
Figure 8.23 
Heat wheel with purge section.  
Figure 8.24 Passive gas to gas 
regenerator.  
nate channels which separate adjacent flows of heated and
heating gases by a thin wall of conducting metal. Although
their use eliminates cross-contamination, they are bulkier,
heavier, and more expensive than a heat wheel of similar
heat-recovery and flow capacities. Fur- thermore, it is
difficult to achieve temperature control of the heated gas,
while fouling may be a more serious problem.
The heat pipe is a heat-transfer element that is
assembled into arrays which are used as compact and
shows how the bundle of finned heat pipes extend through
the wall separating the inlet and exhaust ducts in a pattern
that resembles the conventional finned tube heat exchangers.
Each of the separate pipes, however, is a separate sealed
element. Each consists of an an- nular wick on the inside of
the full length of the tube, in which an appropriate heat-
transfer fluid is absorbed. Figure 8.26 shows how the heat
transferred from the hot exhaust gases evaporates the fluid
in the wick. This causes the vapor to expand into the center
core of the heat pipe. The latent heat of evaporation is
carried with the vapor to the cold end of the tube. There it is
216 ENERGY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK

Figure 8.25 Heat pipe.  

Figure 8.26 Heat pipe operation. 

removed by transferral to the cold gas as the vapor is pressure drop is controlled by the spacing of the tubes and
recondensed. The condensate is then carried back in the the number of rows of tubes. Economizers are avail- able
wick to the hot end of the tube. This takes place by capillary both prepackaged in modular sizes and designed and
action and by gravitational forces if the axis of the tube is fabricated to custom specifications from standard
tilted from the horizontal. At the hot end of the tube the fluid components. Materials for the tubes and fins can be selected
is then recycled. to withstand corrosive liquids and/or exhaust gases.
The heat pipe is compact and efficient for two Temperature control of the boiler feedwater is nec-
reasons. The finned-tube bundle is inherently a good essary to prevent boiling in the economizer during low-
configuration for convective heat transfer between the gases
and the outside of the tubes in both ducts. The evaporative- Table 8.6 Temperature Ranges for Heat‐Transfer Fluids 
condensing cycle within the heat tubes is a highly efficient Used in Heat Pipes 
method of transferring heat internally. This design is also
free of cross-contamination. However, the temperature range Temperature
over which waste heat can be re-
covered is severely limited by the thermal and physical Fluid Range (°F) Compatible Metals
properties of the fluids used within the heat pipes. Table 8.6 Nitrogen - 300 to - 110 Stainless steel
lists some of the transfer fluids and the temperature ranges in Ammonia - 95 to + 140 Nickel, aluminum,
which they are applicable. stainless steel
Methanol - 50 to + 240 Nickel, copper,
8.4.5 Gas or Liquid‐to‐Liquid Regenerators:   stainless steel
The Boiler Economizer  Water 40 to 425 Nickel, copper
The economizer is ordinarily constructed as a bun- dle Mercury 375 to 1000 Stainless steel
of finned tubes, installed in the boiler's breeching. Boiler Sodium 950 to 1600 Nickel, stainless steel
feedwater flows through the tubes to be heated by the hot Lithium 1600 to 2700 Alloy of niobium and
exhaust gases. Such an arrangement is shown in zirconium
Figure 8.27. The tubes are usually connected in a series Silver 2700 to 3600 Alloy of tantalum
arrangement, but can also be arranged in series-paral- lel to and tungsten
control the liquid-side pressure drop. The air-side
WASTE-HEAT RECOVERY
Figure 8.27 Boiler economizer. 
steam demand or in case of a feedwater pump failure. This is
usually obtained by controlling the amount of exhaust gases
flowing through the economizer using a damper, which
diverts a portion of the gas flow through a bypass duct.
The extent of heat recovery in the economizer may be
limited by the lowest allowable exhaust gas temperature in
the exhaust stack. The exhaust gases contain water vapor
both from the combustion air and from the combustion of the
hydrogen that is contained in the fuel. If the exhaust gases are
cooled below the dew point of the water vapor, condensation
will occur and cause damage to the structural materials. If the
fuel also contains sulfur, the sulfur-dioxide will be absorbed
by the condensed water to form sulfuric acid. This is very
corrosive and will attack the breeching downstream of the
economizer and the stack lines. The dew point of the
exhaust gases from a natural-gas-fired boiler varies from
approximately 138°F for a stoichiometric fuel/air mixture, to
113°F for 100% excess air. Because heat-trans- mission losses
through the stack cause axial temperature gradients from 0.2
to 2°F/ft, and because the stack liner may exist at a
temperature 50 to 75°F lower than the gas bulk temperature,
it is considered prudent to limit minimum stack temperatures
to 300°F, or no lower than 250°F when burning natural gas.
When using the fuels containing sulfur, even greater caution
is taken. This means that the effectiveness of an economizer
is limited
217
Figure 8.28 Fuel savings from a gas‐fired boiler using 
economizer. 
unless the exhaust gases from the boiler are relatively hot.
Figure 8.28 is a graph of the percent fuel saved plotted
against percent excess air for a number of stack gas
temperatures using natural gas as a boiler fuel. The plots are
based on a 300°F hot-gas temperature leaving the
economizer.
8.4.6 Shell‐and‐Tube or Concentric‐Tube 
Heat Exchangers 
Shell-and-tube and concentric-tube heat exchang- ers
are used to recover heat in the low and medium range from
process liquids, coolants, and condensates of all kinds for
heating liquids.
When the medium containing waste heat is either a
liquid or a vapor that heats a liquid at a different pressure, a
totally exclosed heat exchanger must be used. The two fluid
streams must be separated so as to contain their respective
pressures. In the shell-and-tube heat exchanger, the shell is a
cylinder that contains the tube bundle. Internal baffles may
be used to direct the fluid in the shell over the tubes in
multiple passes. Be- cause the shell is inherently weaker than
the tubes, the higher-pressure fluid is usually circulated in
the tubes while the lower-pressure fluid circulates in the
shell. However, when the heating fluid is a condensing
vapor, it is almost invariably contained within the shell. If
the reverse were attempted, the condensation of the vapor
within the small-diameter parallel tubes would cause flow
instabilities. Shell and tube heat exchangers are produced in
a wide range of standard sizes with many combinations of
materials for the tubes and the shells. The overall
conductance of these heat exchangers range to a maximum of
several hundred Btu/hr ft2 °F.
A concentric-tube exchanger is used when the fluid
pressures are so high that a shell design is uneconomical, or
when ease of dissembly is paramount. The hotter fluid is
almost invariably contained in the inner tube to mini-
218 ENERGY MANAGEMENT HANDBOOK

mize surface heat losses. The concentric-tube exchanger may are no different from those used for the analysis of any other
consist of a single straight length, a spiral coil, or a bundle of industrial capital project. These techniques are thoroughly
concentric tubes with hairpin bends. discussed in Chapter 4 of this volume.18 The economic
Shell-and-tube and concentric-tube heat exchang- ers potential for this class of systems is often limited by factors
are used to recover heat in the low and medium range from that are crucial yet overlooked. Al- though the capital cost of
process liquids, coolants, and condensates of all kinds for these systems is proportional to the peak rate of heat
heating liquids. recovery, the capital recovery depends principally on the
annual fuel savings. These savings depend on a number of
8.4.7 Waste‐Heat Boilers  factors, such as the time distribution of waste-heat source
Waste-heat boilers are water tube boilers in which hot availability, the time distribution of heat-load availability,
exhaust gases are used to generate steam. The ex- haust the availability of waste-heat-recovery equipment that can
gases may be from a gas turbine, an incinerator, a diesel perform at the specified thermal conditions, and the current
engine, or any other source of medium- to high-temperature and future utility rates and prices of fuel. The inability to
waste heat. Figure 8.29 shows a con- ventional, two-pass accurately predict these factors can make the normal
waste-heat boiler. When the heat source is in the medium- investment decision-making process ineffectual.
temperature range, the boiler tends to become bulky. The use There is another important distinction to be made about
of finned tubes extends the heat transfer areas and allows a waste-heat recovery investment. When capital projects
more compact size. If the quantity of waste heat is involve production-related equipment, the rate
insufficient for generat- ing a needed quantity of steam, it is
possible to add auxiliary burners to the boiler or an
afterburner to the ducting upstream of the boiler. The
conventional waste-heat boiler cannot generate super-heated
steam so that an external superheater is required if superheat
is needed.
A more recently designed waste-heat boiler utilizes a
finned-tube bundle for the evaporator, an external drum, and
forced recirculation of the feedwater. The design, which is
modular, makes for a compact unit with high boiler
efficiency. Additional tube bundles can be added for
superheating the steam and for preheating the feedwater. The
degree of superheat which can be achieved is limited by the
waste-heat temperature. The salient features of the boiler are
shown on the schematic diagram in Figure 8.30.
Waste-heat boilers are commercially available in
capacities from less than 1000 up to 1 million cfm of
exhaust gas intake.

8.4.8 Input‐Output Matrix for 
Waste‐Heat‐Recovery Devices 
Table 8.8 presents the significant attributes of the most
common types of industrial heat exchangers. This matrix is
useful in making selections from competing types of heat
exchangers for waste-heat recovery.

8.5 ECONOMICS OF WASTE‐HEAT RECOVERY 

8.5.1 General 
Economic analysis techniques used for analyzing
investment potential for waste-heat-recovery systems
Figure 8.29 Two‐pass waste‐heat boiler.  
220

projects. But because capital projects involve one-time expenditures, which are usually financed by fixed-rate loans, the
worth of a present investment will benefit from the rising costs of energy.

8.5.3 Effect of Load and Use Factors 
The load factor is defined as the ratio of average annual load to rated capacity and the use factor as the fractional part of
a year that the equipment is in use. It is clear that the capital recovery rate is directly propor- tional to these factors.

8.5.4 Effects of Reduced System Life 
Waste-heat recovery equipment is susceptible to damage from natural and human-made environmen- tal conditions.
Damage can result from overheating, freezing, corrosion, collision, erosion, and explosion. Furthermore, capital recovery can
never be completed if the equipment fails to achieve its expected life. One must either factor the risks of equipment damage
into the economic analysis, or insist that sufficient provision for equipment safety be engineered into the systems.

Table 8.8