Assessment of the thermoelectric conversion potential of low-temperature waste heat from textile dry-cleaning processes

Even though textile industry is not considered an energy intensive sector, it comprises a large number of plants consuming and wasting a significant amount of energy that could be, at least partially, conveniently recovered. The objective of this work is to assess the possibilities and convenience of energy recovery from waste heat of different processes of a dry industrial textile laundry. The various thermal wastes from the processes were identified and characterised, in order to estimate their potential recovery and conversion into electricity. A suitable system layout was conceived, in order to exploit the heat deriving from thermal waste of different machinery in the factory, having distinct temperature levels, to an ORC powerplant, which converts the recovered heat into electricity. The ORC cycle was optimized to maximize the thermoelectric efficiency, comparing different possible working fluids. The best fluid was RC318, from which 92.5 kW power output was achieved, at 9.2% efficiency. The economic analysis revealed, conservatively, a payback period of 7 years for the whole system, which is potentially very interesting. The amount of electricity produced by the waste heat recovery equipment is well matched to the company's electrical needs, resulting in a significant reduction of electricity consumption, greatly reducing the electrical withdrawal from the grid and the related costs. The case study, the proposed solutions and the methodology have general aspects and may be extended to a wide range of cases in the sector of industrial textile laundry.