Boosting heat recovery: Tranter heat exchangers at European potash site

Cleaning and optimization recommendations

A major European potassium chloride (potash) mining company is using twenty one Tranter plate heat exchangers to recover heat at a combined heat and power (CHP) plant. With the facility located on the edge of a national park, the company is fully committed to run a successful business in sensitive surroundings with due regard for environmental concerns as well as operating efficiency.

The plant has seven engine sets each with three heat exchangers. Each engine generates more than 200 tones of steam per hour. The first heat exchanger recovers heat from the engine gas generators which pre-heat the feed water used to make steam. The second recovers heat for use in the main potash plant to raise the temperature of the process fluids used in the refining process to a temperature of about 80 degrees. Finally, the third exchanger recovers heat for use in heating the main building and workshops. In total around 5.5 MW of low grade heat are recovered. The site produces over a million tones of potash for fertilizers and more than half a million tones of salt each year, for agricultural and industrial uses. The dedicated power station is owned by the company although it was built and is operated by a third party. The successful installation of Tranter International AB plate heat exchangers means that the CHP plant more than doubles the efficiency of fuel use at the site which reduces costs as well as playing a small but important part in conserving fossil fuel reserves.