Thermal Recovery

Using Capstone Microturbines for thermal recovery not only improves energy efficiency but also reduces the overall energy consumption and carbon footprint of an operation.

Heat Recovery

Thermal energy can be just as valuable as electricity in our applications. When we perform an economic analysis, we examine the gas and electrical consumption at your facility to uncover the utility and energy savings.

The unique design of microturbine technology allows customers to recover thermal energy that would otherwise be wasted in power generation from a single heat source – the exhaust of the turbine.

Waste heat is useful in a variety of applications: Industrial processes can inject exhaust heat for drying processes, healthcare facilities can recover exhaust heat to produce steam, and residential buildings can transform heat into free cooling in the summertime.

Our team will work with you to unlock maximum value from onsite generation for your operations. We’ve found that in some cases, thermal energy generated by microturbines can avoid replacement or extend the life of existing Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) equipment.

Combined Heating and Power

During the process of generating electricity, waste heat from the exhaust is recovered in a CHP plant, generating hot water for process or space heating applications. The simplest thermal load to supply is hot water, especially for retrofit projects where connecting to an existing hot water supply is relatively straightforward. Hot water load tends to be less seasonally dependent than space heating, and therefore, more coincident to the electric load in the building.

Combined Cooling, Heating and Power

Combined Cooling, Heat and Power (CCHP) refers to the process of using waste heat produced by a microturbine system to power an absorption chiller or a direct-fired chiller, to generate chilled water for applications such as air conditioning or refrigeration, in addition to electricity and heat production. Using microturbines for CCHP provides numerous benefits to a facility, saving on utility costs, reducing emissions, and reducing overall energy consumption when compared with a traditional separate heat and power system.

Heat Recovery Steam Generation

In steam applications, thermal energy from a microturbine exhaust can be common-ducted together and then recovered to produce steam. Heat Recovery Steam Generators (HRSGs) can be used to generate either low or high pressure steam and duct burners or steam boilers can be added to the system to build more highly efficient capacity, often offsetting the use of existing gas-fired boilers.

Direct Exhaust

An alternative use for waste heat is direct integration of the exhaust from the microturbine. High temperature, surplus oxygen and low water content from the exhaust gas enables your facility to use the heat at an industrial scale. The oxygen concentration from the microturbine exhaust is high, allowing the waste heat to be used in direct heating or as an air pre-heater for downstream burners. The exhaust is even suitable for a number of applications in food processing and greenhouses because of the oxygen-rich exhaust, low emissions and air bearing technology, which allows the microturbine to operate without oil lubrication.