Use of waste heat from a steel company (SIJ group d.d.) for a district heating in Ravne
In Ravne na Koroškem, a small town in northern Slovenia, a cluster of stakeholders, including steel manufacturer SIJ Metal Ravne member of SIJ Group, energy company and utility provider Petrol Energetika, research institute Jožef Štefan, and local community of Ravne na Koroškem, collaborated to deliver a waste heat recovery project that currently covers about 1/3 of energy needs of the local district heating system.
The waste heat that is emitted as part of the furnace cooling process, is captured with an innovative, site specific, high-temperature recovery system and used for smart heating, hot water and electricity co-generation for the needs of the industry and for the township of Ravne. Part of this energy is also donated by SIJ Group consortia for the heating of local swimming pools.
It is estimated that if the company could capture 7% of its primary energy input through waste heat recovery the needs for space heating of the entire industry complex and township of Ravne would be met in full.
The steel company, SIJ METAL Ravne, is now further exploring and testing solutions for waste heat recovery in partnership with the national research institute Jožef Štefan and other industry and research partners across Europe, as part of Horizon 2020 ETEKINA project. (www.etekina.eu)
The aim is to develop innovative heat transfer technologies with high efficiency factor. The energy gained would then be reused as process heat and as energy for heating space and water.
