Waste Heat Conversion to Launch

We see here a new range of waste heat energy converters coming on to the market to fill the market for smaller applications.  It always was a tech fix but never attracted a major player to satisfy the very real market. 

I was involved in a serious effort to tap flare gas in the Alberta oil industry and that was shut out at the time by the power company.  Today it would fly easily and with this tech package it will swiftly be made to happen.

A huge amount of heat energy is wasted and the Rankin Engine is efficient at producing power.  Now we have a suitable system for smaller applications.

Waste heat engine that can use any fuel receives patent and will launch commercially later in 2011

MAY 04, 2011

http://nextbigfuture.com/2011/05/waste-heat-engine-that-can-use-any-fuel.html

Cyclone Power Technologies, developer of the external combustion Cyclone Engine, announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has allowed the company a patent on its scalable waste energy recycling engine known as the WHE (Waste Heat Engine).

It is designed to run on waste heat from the exhaust of small industrial furnaces, diesel engines and gas turbines, Cyclone's WHE has also been adapted for other recovered energy applications. One such extended use is the Phoenix 10, an environmentally-friendly electric power generator that runs on used motor oil. Earlier this year Cyclone announced that Topline Energy Systems, an affiliated company of global automotive parts manufacturer Topline Automotive Engineering, signed-on to help commercialize and manufacture the WHE for the Phoenix 10 and other products.

The Cyclone Engine needs:

* No catalytic converter or muffler

* No oil pump or motor oil

* No transmission or transmission fluid

Overall, the Cyclone Engine has fewer parts to manufacture, assemble and, ultimately, break-down or wear-out. Its components are made of inexpensive, non-exotic materials. As a result, we expect the cost of manufacturing and maintaining the Cyclone Engine will be less expensive than conventional gasoline or diesel engines of comparable power output.

Phoenix-10 Waste Oil Electrical Generator, designed to produce 10 kw of power

Size (with cover): 23"wide x 28"deep x 56"tall

Weight: Approximately 400 lbs

Phoenix-40 diagram

Size (with cover): 36"wide x 36"deep x 48"tall

Weight: 500 lbs

Power Source: Mark V external combustion engine by Cyclone Power Technologies

Fuel Consumption: Approximately 3.5gal/hr at full output

Electrical Output: Up to 60kW

Sound Emission: Similar to a residential air conditioner

Exhaust Temperature: Approximately 600°F (at engine top)

Emission Data: NOx and CO2 particulates essential eliminated

The Phoenix-40 is the next generation of technology that is capable of utilizing waste oil products, such as used motor/equipment oil, to produce electricity for transfer to the power grid. Utilizing the award-wining, clean burning Cyclone Mark V External Combustion Engine, preliminary designs rate the P-40 generator system as producing upwards of 60kW of electrical power.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency indicates that waste oil from one oil change can contaminate 1 million gallons of fresh water. The US produces 1.4 billion gallons of waste oil on an annual basis.

The exhaust from the Waste Heat generators are multiples cleaner than typical gas or diesel engines. The reason is simple.. gensets burn the fuel more thoroughly since it stays in the combustion chamber far longer than internal combustion engines. Internal combustion engines are powered by fuel exploding in the cylinders.

Mass production for the Phoenix-10 to commence in the second quarter of 2011. The Phoenix-40 beta testing and pilot program is projected to commence toward the end of 2011.

Based on U.S. Department of Energy statistics, Cyclone estimates that there are well over $250 million of potential small-scale waste heat recovery installations in the United States alone that would benefit from the patented WHE system. Other uses include increasing operating efficiencies of long-haul trucks, busses and trains. Phoenix Power Group, manufacturer of the Phoenix 10, has estimated over $30 million in sales for that clean-tech product following its launch, currently slated for later this year.

The following are a few of the many possible heat sources for the Cyclone WHE systems:

• Glass melting furnace

• Cement kiln

• Fume incinerator

• Aluminum reverberatory furnace

• Industrial boiler

• Commercial food processing ovens

• Steel electric arc furnace

• Turbine or reciprocating engine exhaust

One of the primary reasons for the vast amount of unused waste heat is that the economies of scale required to utilize current waste to power technologies – typically massive steam or Organic Rankine cycle (ORC) turbines – are too large for many heat producing sources. Thus, waste heat recovery is both technologically and economically impractical. Cyclone’s WHE systems are meant to address these concerns of system scaling, allowing a major, underserved market of industrial heat producers to put to work their wasted heat.

The market which Cyclone’s WHE systems could serve, and the impact that such installations could have, are enormous. For instance:

Average WHE installation size:                       250kW

Average energy savings per year:                  1.35 Million kWh (1)

Average CO2 avoided per year:                        794 metric tons

Potential number of industrial installation (US):  10,000 (2)

Potential total energy savings per year:               13.5 billion kWh

Potential total CO2 avoided per year:                   7.94 Million metric tons

(1) Assuming full load, 18 hrs/day, 300 days/yr.

(2) These projected figures are based upon the assumptions from the DOE Energy Information Administration that there are approximately 50,000 industrial heat sources that produce a minimum of 500ºF of waste heat; as well as other figures taken from the DEO web site. Any projections by the company are for demonstration purposes only, and actual operating results may vary.