Tocircle compressors enable waste heat recovery

More than 50 per cent of the world’s energy is lost as waste heat. This is far more than the combined global production from all renewable energy sources.

The problem of waste heat is particularly pressing in heat-intensive industry.

Many industrial production processes require high temperatures, which are often generated by electricity or gas combustion. To achieve sustainable production, the waste heat from these processes must be upgraded through heat pumping and reintroduced to the process as useable heat.

There is a technology gap for large, industrial heat pumps capable of delivering temperatures between 100 and 200 °C. The compressor is the central component of a heat pump. Because the Tocircle compressor has excellent multiphase capability, it enables heat pumps to reach temperatures above 180 °C, filling a vast, unexploited market gap.

Very high temperature heat pumps featuring Tocircle’s compressors recover industrial waste heat for reuse, thereby increasing efficiency and reducing energy consumption in heat-intensive industrial production processes.

Tocircle’s worldwide patented technology helps companies to cut energy costs by 50 per cent and carbon emissions by 70 per cent.

It also helps companies to reduce the carbon taxes they have to pay, as well as to comply with laws, regulations, and consumers’ and society’s expectations regarding sustainable business conduct.

Very high temperature heat pumps featuring Tocircle’s compressors have potential applications for production processes in a wide range of industries, including food and beverage, pulp and paper, chemicals, metals, and pharmaceuticals.

Tocircle is currently testing a 1.5 MW heat pump for a pilot project with a French fries manufacturer in Belgium. A 5 MW heat pump will also be built in 2019 as part of the Hot Chips project funded under Horizon 2020’s SME instrument phase 2.

Tocircle is planning a facility for assembly and installation of heat pumps for the European market for industrial deep-frying of French fries and potato chips (crisps). These heat pumps have been developed in collaboration with the Duynie Group of the Netherlands.