Franz Untersteller, Minister of the Environment of the Federal State of Baden-Württemberg: “Process waste heat, and concepts that allow us to utilize or optimize it, are a key issue for the future. That’s why innovations in this area such as the ORC technology of Dürr Cyplan are so important”.
ORC stands for Organic Rankine Cycle, a thermal cycle process in which an organic fluid is evaporated with the help of waste heat. The steam powers a generator, which provides electricity. The advantage of ORC systems is that, unlike conventional steam processes, they can operate with lower waste heat temperatures.
ORC systems are suitable for use with a variety of waste heat sources, for example in biogas plants, landfills and sewage treatment plants, or in industrial production. Thanks to Dürr’s direct evaporation technology, up to 20% of the waste heat can be converted to electricity. 80% of the energy entering the system is available for downstream heat recovery with temperatures of up to 90°C. Dürr offers combined heat and power (CHP) even for small-scale applications from 40 kW.
One example of a CHP application is the ORC system used by the German municipal utility company Stadtwerke Groß-Gerau. The system increases the energy production of a biogas CHP plant by 560 MWh per year – without the need for additional fuel. The residual heat supplied by the ORC system is used to heat buildings and for drying processes in a neighboring business.
Ralph Heuwing, Dürr AG’s CFO and Board member responsible for the Clean Technology Systems division: “ORC is a technology of the future, combining energy efficiency and decentralized energy generation. Thanks to its compatibility with a number of different waste heat sources, ORC is a highly flexible technology that is suitable for a wide range of applications.”
In addition to ORC, Dürr also offers other technologies for the efficient use of heat and waste heat. These include heat pumps, heat exchangers, latent heat storage systems and the Dürr Compact Power System, which provides electricity and heat at the same time. Dürr’s Clean Technology Systems division, which brings together the company’s energy efficiency and environmental technology business operations, has set itself the target of achieving sales of around € 200 million by 2015.
About the Baden-Württemberg Environmental Technology Award
The Environmental Technology Award is presented every two years by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Environment, Climate and Energy. It recognizes outstanding and innovative products and processes in the field of environmental technology. The award is divided into four categories: “Energy Efficiency”, “Material Efficiency”, “Technologies for Emission Reduction, Treatment and Separation” and “Measuring and Control Systems”.
