Gas Technology Institute completed demonstration of the Boilerroom Equipment Inc. Heatsponge-Rainmaker technology integrated with an industrial steam boiler for generation of hot process water rather than its usual hydronic heating application. The configured system proved to be advantageous to the host-site and verified the potential performance, energy savings, and the emissions reduction benefits of the technology. This technology can provide reliable operation with simple controls for a wide-ranging product for energy recovery of waste heat from natural gas combustion equipment such as industrial and commercial boilers.
The modular design approach used in the Heatsponge-Rainmaker allows tailoring the equipment for each application without the added cost for custom product engineering and fabrication. The Boilerroom Equipment Inc. Heatsponge-Rainmaker offers an option that, depending on the application offers an increase in boiler efficiency typically in the four to eight percent range with a proportional reduction in carbon dioxide and nitric oxide emissions. The expected savings and payback period will vary based upon specific equipment configuration, installation requirements, and operating conditions. Based on the results of this project, the technology applied in an industrial water heating application performs as expected and is well suited to integration into process heating, and the technology is ready for further deployment at industrial facilities in an integrated process heating application.