WASTE NOT, WANT NOT

Main Menu | News By Date | News By Supplier | News By Category | About Us

WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
07 May 2007 - CSIRO

Recovering low- and medium-grade waste heat from industrial processes potentially offers substantial energy savings, according to a recent review by the Energy Transformed Flagship, which also recommends using satellite technology to map the nation’s hot spots.

The high-temperature processes used in producing commodities such as alumina, base metals, iron, steel and cement generate waste heats in various forms.

According to CSIRO Minerals research scientist Dr John Sanderson (who led the review), little is being done to recover low- to medium-grade waste heat (less than 500oC), which accounts for more than half of the total heat generated in industry.

“It’s a reasonable assumption that thermal imaging data could be used to identify large waste-heat emissions from all industry sectors, not just minerals processing,”
Dr Sanderson says.“Capturing this energy could help the industry improve its environmental performance and realise substantial energy savings,” he says.

The review identified practical opportunities for additional recovery within key mineral processing industries, as well as the need for mapping key waste-heat emission hot spots in Australia.

“We’ve been working with CSIRO Land and Water to investigate the potential of their thermal imaging data processing in this area,” Dr Sanderson says.

Derived from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer satellite data, the technology was originally developed to assist with bushfire monitoring.

“It’s a reasonable assumption that thermal imaging data could be used to identify large waste-heat emissions from all industry sectors, not just minerals processing,” Dr Sanderson says.

The review recommends a pilot study of the MODIS technology and its application to the minerals processing industry, as well as further R&D to improve existing heat exchangers and heat cycles.

Other stories in Process include:

The heat is on: researchers are using dry slag granulation to recover waste heat from molten slag.
Turning up the heat on energy savings: a new on-line analysis technique has the potential to create significant energy savings for the coal industry.
Energy savings ahead: drained cathode cell technology could help the aluminium industry achieve energy savings of at least 10 per cent.
Directness: innovative direct solvent extraction technology simplifies the purification of nickel and cobalt.
Tailoring a golden solution: a new cyanide leach circuit is helping Newcrest Mining Ltd increase gold recovery at its Telfer operation.

http://www.csiro.au

About: CSIRO
CSIRO is Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.

As one of the world's largest and most diverse scientific global research organisations, work touches every aspect of Australian life: from the molecules that build life to the molecules in space.

Working from sites across the nation and around the globe, our 6500 staff are focussed on providing new ways to improve quality of life, as well as the economic and social performance of a number of industry sectors, through research and development.

These sectors are:

Agribusiness
Energy and Transport
Environment and Natural Resources
Health
Information, Communication and Services
Manufacturing
Mineral Resources

More News:
  • For May 2007
  • From CSIRO
  • For Contract Research Organisation