Jarvinen T., Holmberg H., Ahtila P., 2013, Theoretical Potential to Convert Excess Heat into Mechanical Work in the Finnish Industry, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 35, 253-258.
The improvement of energy efficiency is seen as one of the most promising measures for reducing global emissions and dependence on fossil fuels. One opportunity for boosting the energy efficiency is to enhance the utilization of excess heat. The excess heat means waste energy which is not exploited in any manner. Most of the excess heat is generated in the industry. One possibility is to convert excess heat into mechanical work (electricity) using different conversion technologies. These technologies are for example Kalina cycle and organic Rankine cycle. The goal of this paper is to evaluate theoretical potential to convert excess heat into electricity in Finnish forest industry, chemical industry and refining of metals using the exergy analysis. According to the results, the total theoretical exergy potential is 6.9 TWh/y, which is 10 % of the electricity produced in Finland in 2011.
