Heat recovery from a cement plant with a Marnoch Heat Engine

This paper examines the performance of a new Marnoch Heat Engine (MHE) that recovers waste heat from within a typical cement plant. Two MHE units with compressed air as the working fluid are installed to recover the waste heat. The first unit on the main stack has four pairs of shell and tube heat exchangers. The second heat recovery unit is installed on a clinker quenching system. This unit operates with three pairs of shell and tube heat exchangers. The recovered heat is converted to electricity through the MHE system and used internally within the cement plant. A predictive model and results are presented and discussed. The results show the promising performance of the MHE’s capabilities for efficient generation of electricity from waste heat sources in a cement plant. The new heat recovery system increases the efficiency of the cement plant and lowers the CO2 emissions from the clinker production process. Moreover, it reduces the amount of waste heat to the environment and lowers the temperature of the exhaust gases.

► This paper examines the thermodynamic performance of a new Marnoch Heat Engine (MHE) that recovers waste heat to produce electricity and improve the operating efficiency of a typical cement plant.
► The first unit of the MHE on the main stack has four pairs of shell and tube heat exchangers and the second heat recovery unit is installed on a clinker quenching system.
► Both predicted and experimental results demonstrate the promising performance of the MHE’s capabilities for efficient generation of electricity from waste heat sources in a cement plant.