The recovery of industrial waste heat is a promising solution to improve the energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of industrial processes. To tackle this challenge, the company Eco-Tech Ceram is developing a thermocline thermal energy storage unit called Eco-Stock® for recovering waste heat from exhaust fumes. However, it is limited to clean flue gases representing 20% of the deposit. The remaining 80% may include acids, bases or dusts that can expose the system materials (refractory ceramics for thermal energy storage and stainless steel for the tank shell and the associated sheaths) to corrosion issues. Besides, the advancing heat front involves contact between the hot flue gases and the still cold storage materials, which can lead to condensation of the species contained in the flue gases, including acid gases, and thus create wet corrosion. To overcome this issue, the joint laboratory SOLUTEC has been proposed between Eco-Tech Ceram and the RAPSODEE Centre.
Three approaches will be adopted: a thermodynamic, a kinetic and a numerical. The first one will determine the condensation conditions (temperature, pressure) according to the fume composition defined from industrial measurements. The kinetic corrosion study will analyse the influence of parameters such as exposure time, temperature and cycling. The numerical study aims at predicting condensation risks using a 3D thermal model coupled with the thermodynamic model. This communication is focused on the industrial measurements protocol, the condensation conditions identified by the thermodynamic study, and the laboratory test bench design and associated forecasted experimental campaign.