Development of diesel engine waste energy recovery (DEWER) technology for stationary power generators
Funded by: Leartek Pty. Ltd
During diesel engine combustion processes, a large proportion of energy is wasted in the form of heat with the exhaust gases. The proposed concept of Diesel Engine Waste Energy Recovery (DEWER) technology is to capture this thermal energy from the hot exhaust gases and utilize this energy to produce additional electricity through vapor-powered auxiliary drive. The combined electricity produced by the conventional diesel engine and the waste heat vapor-powered auxiliary drive will result in reduced fuel consumption per kWh of electricity produced. Current research at the University of South Australia on heat exchangers and steam-powered auxiliary drive showed that an additional 15-20% power can be produced with the exhaust gases from diesel engines. Therefore, this technology will reduce the fuel consumption and thereby will also reduce green house gas (GHG) and toxic emissions per kWh of electricity produced by at least 15-20%. The concept of heat recovery from exhausts can also be found in large power stations called co-generation. However, these generators are mainly driven by gas turbines and their capacities are in mega watts. Waste heat recovery from small and medium diesel generators (< 100 kW) are not common due to technical complexity and high cost. The overall efficiencies of these generators hardly ever exceed 25% demonstrating a great potential to improve the efficiency applying similar concept to co-generation. However, the appropriate technology for diesel-generators using DEWER technology will be quite different from co-generation technology as these generators are run by diesel engines and not by gas turbines.
