“No energy turnaround without energy efficiency” is the title of dena’s “Topics and Projects” section on its homepage “The best kilowatt hour is the kilowatt hour saved,” says Thomas Kübler, managing partner of KÜBLER GmbH. Both mean the same thing: It’s all about curbing energy consumption in general and especially in companies. After all, this is where enormous leverage lies for achieving climate targets. And not only that: energy efficiency also pays off economically if it is approached in the right way technologically. Modern infrared heating technology plays an important role here, especially when intelligently combined with condensing technology.

Condensing technology converts waste heat into usable energy

The special feature of condensing technology is that it extracts the condensation heat (called calorific value) from the waste heat of heating systems, makes this energy content usable and thus significantly increases the overall efficiency of the systems. Depending on the fuel, this is referred to as oil or gas condensing technology. In short, condensing technology is characterized by the fact that it increases the degree of energy utilization and thus energy efficiency.

How waste heat recovery with condensing technology works

The operating principle of condensing technology is basically quite simple. Explained using the example of infrared heating, the energy contained in the exhaust gas is cooled to the point of condensation and the heat thus obtained is transferred to a storage medium (usually water). The heated water is fed to a buffer storage tank, from where it is fed into an ordinary pumped hot water heating network as required. Water is ideal as a storage medium, but other media such as air can also be used and harnessed in hot air blowers, for example.

Start by identifying and reducing your sources of waste heat

It’s not just heaters that generate waste heat; depending on the mode of operation, waste heat is generated in a wide variety of places. Furnaces, machinery (especially air compressors), cooling systems and or uninsulated pipes are probably the classics. Get to the bottom of the causes of unused waste heat by thoroughly analyzing and evaluating energy consumption throughout the company. Afterwards, it is important to avoid or at least reduce unnecessary waste heat by optimizing processes. The following questions will help:

  • Can you avoid idle times?
  • Are all systems/processes really running efficiently, or is there still a screw that can be turned here and there?
  • Are some processes perhaps oversized?
  • Are there heating or cooling phases that would not be necessary in practice?
  • Do you maintain your machines and systems regularly?
  • Do you insulate sufficiently?

With a comprehensive analysis, you can already save quite a bit of waste heat. And the rest? It’s best to use it wisely, depending on your requirements.

Use the energy gained from condensing boiler technology wisely

The practical thing about condensing boiler technology is that you can use the waste heat in a variety of ways for greater energy efficiency in your company. “Hybrid heating” is an important keyword here. After all, waste heat can play a major role in hot water preparation or heating rooms. While this variant of waste heat utilization has already become established in many private households, it is still far from being used everywhere for heating hall buildings. Yet this segment of buildings has a reputation for consuming a particularly large amount of energy, if only because of the dimensions of the space involved. There is great potential for savings here. In the industrial sector, for example, the recovered energy can be used for service water or for hot water-based (hybrid) heating. This is often useful for office or social rooms, which are typically connected to halls. In the sports sector, hot water is readily used in sanitary areas, especially for shower rooms. Warm air can be used to supplement energy-efficient infrared heating – where appropriate – via warm air blowers.

Bundle your energy flows for more energy efficiency

It is not only the waste heat from heating systems that can be harnessed; numerous other heat flows in the hall building also offer interesting potential for increasing efficiency. Namely, when you intelligently combine condensing boiler technology and heating. One example is the H.Y.B.R.I.D. infrared heating system from the Ludwigshafen-based hall heating specialist KÜBLER. The fully integrated solution offers a great deal of flexibility in integrating different technologies and energy sources. For example, the hybrid system can harness energy flows from the process (machines, compressors, etc.) at the same time as the heating waste heat. At a textile machine manufacturer in North Rhine-Westphalia, the energy flows from heating, hardening furnaces and compressors were combined in this way. Since then, the heat demand of 1,200 m² of office space can be completely covered by the residual heat utilization.

In addition, there are a large number of other possible combinations. Particularly interesting in view of the usually large roof areas of industrial buildings is the fact that the hybrid system, which has won several awards (including “Germany’s Most Sustainable Product”, German Sustainability Award 2012), can also integrate renewable energies such as solar thermal energy (keyword: Helio.B.R.I.D.). Heat pumps can also be integrated. In addition, the hybrid system is the basis for the implementation of digital hall heating (e.g. WÄRME 4.0), which makes it possible, among other things, to continuously drive the system operation to the ideal line through real-time monitoring of current consumption. The combination of condensing boiler technology and energy-saving heating technology therefore allows you to ensure greater energy efficiency in your company in a variety of ways.

Why you should keep your company and climate targets in mind at the same time

Only about half of German companies are aware of their waste heat potential – that’s what dena writes in its publication on waste heat utilization as part of the Initiative EnergieEffizienz . This means that an estimated 226 TWh of usable heat goes unused every year. That is 36 % of the energy share of the entire manufacturing industry. Clearly, this costs companies an immense amount of money, but at the same time the unused waste heat pollutes the environment. Around 60 million tons of the greenhouse gas CO2 evaporate unnecessarily into the atmosphere every year. Companies can and want to afford the nowadays in view of rising energy costs and climate protection targets simply no longer allow.

Make environmental protection your economic efficiency measure

The fact that waste heat recovery with condensing technology takes place with virtually no additional consumption costs should be of great interest to many hall operators. In total, up to 15 percent heat can be recovered and made usable through the integrated KÜBLER residual heat recovery in the hybrid system. Thomas Kübler, founder and managing partner of KÜBLER GmbH Energiesparende Hallenheizungen: “This figure, in addition to our already extremely energy-efficient infrared systems, marks a quantum leap in economical and environmentally friendly hall heating. In the overall system, energy savings of up to 70 percent* can be realized.”
* Compared to conventional technologies

How the combination of condensing boiler technology and IR heating pays off in practice

Practical examples show how these values pay off for hall operators. CO2 emissions were reduced by around 65 % by modernizing the heating system with the KÜBLER H.Y.B.R.I.D. system in a production hall belonging to the AZO group of companies in Osterburken. Specifically, from approx. 226,400 kg p. a. to approx. 79,800 kg annually. Greater energy efficiency was also the focus at Reiners + Fürst. The textile machine manufacturer also achieved energy savings of around 65% by refurbishing its production and storage areas to improve energy efficiency. In concrete terms, the savings here amount to around 46,5000 euros and 299 t of CO2 emissions per year. Incidentally, Reiners + Fürst was awarded first place in the Energy Masters Award in the Buildings category in 2014 for the renovation of the hall heating system and the integration of residual heat utilization for hall heating, compressed air and curing oven in the H.Y.B.R.I.D. system.

The bottom line: Hybrid heating with condensing technology pays off – especially in financial terms!
Those who have to purchase less energy to generate heat save cash. That’s crystal clear. How this translates into concrete figures depends on various factors, such as:

  • The type and size of your business
  • The volume to be heated
  • The number of processes that generate waste heat
  • The heating system you use

Conclusion: Optimization potential can be found in a wide variety of places

Hall modernization, proper insulation, highly efficient heating systems, and even condensing boiler technology and other options for contemporary waste heat utilization: there are many ways to increase your company’s energy efficiency and reduce costs. Feel free to contact us and let us discuss how you can usefully reuse the waste heat from your heating and production processes instead of disposing of it unused through the chimney.