ETEKINA

ETEKINA is an EU funded research project aiming to recover 57-70 % of the waste heat stream in energy intensive industries (steel, aluminum, ceramics). ETEKINA stands for “heat pipE TECHnologies for INdustrial Applications” Ten companies and institutes from across Europe have joined forces to improve the energy performance of energy intensive processes. Their solution is based on heat exchanger technology (HPHE) using heat pipes for thermal recovery. As part of the project, three HPHE prototypes will be built and tested for three different production plants in the aluminium, steel and ceramics sectors. The different industrial environments produce different exhaust streams with different waste heat quantity and quality (chemical composition, different particles coming out along with the gases, temperature and pressure of the flue gases, …), and provide different processes where the recovered heat might be utilized. The challenge: the recovery solution should be adapted increasing the overall efficiency and being cost-effective. Project is coordinated by Ikerlan (Spain) HPHE designy by Brunel University London (UK). Manufacuring and installation of HPHEs by Econotherm (UK) Demo sites: Aluminium Production: Fagor Ederlan (Arrasate, Spain) Steel Production: SIJ Metal Ravne (Ravne na Koroškem, Slovenia) Ceramic Production: Atlas Concorde (Modena, Italy) Ikerlan and Insertec (Spain) will support all activities relating to the practicability and efficiency of the aluminium parts production. Analysis of the practicability and efficiency of the steel production by Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovenia) Analysis of the practicability and efficiency of the ceramics production by University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy) Projects’ media partner is the European Science Communication Institute (ESCI) (Germany)