Regenerative thermal oxidizers have the highest efficiency and cost-effectiveness in reducing hazardous air pollutants and VOC, volatile organic compounds, and odorous industrial emissions. They essentially consume organic compounds found in production exhaust by means of combustion.
What is an RTO?
An RTO or regenerative thermal oxidizer uses thermal oxidation at high temperatures, approximately 815 to 980 degrees Celsius or 1,500 to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit, to convert pollutants and contaminants to water vapor and carbon dioxide.
The process also reduces operating costs by recovering the generated thermal energy, making it suitable for high flow-rate waste streams with a low percentage of contaminants.
How an RTO System Works
The RTO or regenerative thermal oxidizer process works by heating the contaminant-laden gas in ceramic beds before oxidizing and purifying it in the combustion chamber. Once cleaned, the gas goes through an outlet bed in alternating airflow directions to maximize energy recovery.
At as much as 95 percent, the high recovery of energy reduces operating costs by lowering the need for auxiliary fuel. The highly efficient destruction of VOC contaminants at a three-percent concentration of the lower flammability limit can become self-sustaining without the use of auxiliary fuel.
Additional RTO System Options
Some systems can also make a further energy recovery from the hot exhaust in a secondary process that increases energy savings. Another potential option is a hot bypass valve that routes purified and still-hot exhaust around the media bed to the stack in cases of elevated solvent loads.
Programmable logic controllers with various access levels are also available that can quickly output specific diagnostics and make data acquisition easy.
To learn more about how an RTO or regenerative thermal oxidizer system can manage air pollution control while reducing costs, contact Air Clear, LLC at (443) 245-3400 or online at https://www.airclear.net/ today.
