Recovery of Waste Heat Biggest US Renewable

The US government has estimated that waste heat recovery could easily become the largest source of renewable energy in the country. Combustion generators are rarely more than 30% efficient in doing work or generating electricity. Most fuel used in combustion goes to waste heat and emissions--entropy. Although the US Congress is asleep at the wheel, savvy entrepreneurs and engineers are busy designing ways to tap into that huge potential resource of waste heat recovery.

"ElectraTherm has unlocked the power of recycling the largest source of renewable energy in the U.S. - waste heat," said ElectraTherm CEO Richard Langson. "This technology has the power to increase electrical output at every fossil fuel burning power plant without burning oil, gas or coal, and without further pollution or damage to the environment."

...ElectraTherm estimates that its units have a subsidy-free payback period of three years or less, and company officials claim "the implications on the world stage of a modular, scalable (50-500kW output) unit making electricity from unused, accessible heat are huge."


The company's patented Twin Screw Expander enables the ElectraTherm Green Machine to do its work. The expander is one-tenth the cost of a turbine as the energy block, according to ElectraTherm. Since the energy block generally constitutes 30 to 40 percent of the cost of an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) system, the ElectraTherm Green Machine will cost approximately 30 percent less than turbine ORC systems.


The unit operates without gearboxes or the high end electronics required to synchronize a turbine to a generator. Inline process lubrication eliminates oil pumps, filters, separator tanks, parasitic loads and maintenance issues usually associated with lubrication. ElectraTherm officials say the technology reduces maintenance and extends the life of the ElectraTherm Green Machine compared to turbine-based energy solutions. __EC__via__NEN

In other energy news, a Kentucky inventor claims to have devised a way to make gasoline from coal for a cost of US $1.15 a gallon.

"We can make this the equivalent of 25 dollars per barrel of oil, which will come out about $1.10 gasoline at the pump,".

If companies buy it, the idea could take 20 years to become reality at pumps. The U.S. Department of Energy wants to make sure it won't pollute the atmosphere. __NEN