dramatic upside potential, page-78

➤ Renewable Energy and the Opcon Powerbox
for production of electricity from surplus
industrial heat are the number one focus
area for Opcon, stated Opcon CEO Rolf Hasselström
at the company’s Annual General
Meeting in April.
“There is a significant water flow in all major
industrial processes. It is easy to utilise
high-value energy, it is visible and understandable,
but there is very little awareness
about how energy can be saved in low-value
areas. And here there are extremely large
energy balances that we can get hold of and
exploit. In a large pulp mill for example we
can improve energy efficiency by 3-4 per
cent and that is quite a lot. There are also
many power and heating plants in Sweden
where this technology would be ideal. Then
of course there is the international market,”
says Rolf Hasselström.
Opcon now has a general agreement with
a major Swedish industrial company and
has started production of the first Opcon
Powerbox to be installed for pilot testing this
autumn.
Other markets for Opcon Powerbox are
oil refineries and large ships. By using the
heat content in a cooling water loop around
a ship’s diesel engine, you can improve efficiency
by up to 10 per cent, and with Opcon
technology the electricity needed by the ship
can be produced at a significantly lower cost
than previously, stated Rolf Hasselström.
“There are 20,000 registered vessels with
engines bigger than 15,000 kW, and this is an
interesting potential market.”
“There is also a major potential in
China for Opcon Powerbox. They have
huge environmental problems and are
now focussing on these issues. Opcon
will be reviewing this market,” says Rolf
Hasselström.
Opcon’s system can easily be adapted to
different industrial environments, and as
many plants as needed can be added on a
modular basis.
“With this project we haven’t worked as we
usually do in our engineer-heavy company,
that is design a product specifically to meet
a customer’s needs, but rather we’ve made a
standardised unit that the customer can buy
off-the-shelf. We’re using proven technology
and products that we already have and are
familiar with,” says Rolf Hasselström.
The major challenge for Opcon is to penetrate
a market where it hasn’t previously
been a player, to succeed in expanding the
organisation, and market, produce and develop
new systems. That’s why we’re acquiring
new companies,” says Rolf Hasselström.
“Our problem is time-to-market. There are
long lead times at customers, we’re dealing
with big companies that take time making
decisions. The investments are hardly major
for them but they have their own way of
working.” n

OPCON Energy Systems
OPCON Powerbox
Finding new sources for emission-free
electricity production is more important
than ever. In most activities the use
of energy not only brings the desired
effect of running an engine or heating
a furnace etc, much energy is also lost
as waste heat. Much work has been
done globally and over the years to find ways to minimize and utilise waste
heat. Much work has also been done to find ways to turn that energy into
electricity. For low grade waste heat, i.e below 100°C, few economically
viable alternatives have so far been found. Opcon AB has developed a
system, Opcon Powerbox, based on an Organic Rankine Cycle able to
convert waste heat into electricity already at a low 55°C. The system is
targetting industrial waste heat process industries as well as surplus heat
in power generation and waste heat on larger ships. Accessible waste
heat only in European process industries are estimated at above 300 TWh.
Energy that with Opcon Powerbox has potential to be turned into 30 TWh
of electricity. A full-scale Opcon Powerbox is today operating at the CHPstation
at Eskilstuna, Sweden.
Contact: Henrik Öhman
Tel: 0046 846 645 27
Email: [email protected]
Polysolar