Alfa Laval’s specially designed heat exchangers will recover waste heat from a sulphuric acid plant for reuse in district heating in Hamburg, Germany. Aurubis Group is a global provider of non-ferrous metals and the largest copper recycler worldwide. The related sulphuric acid process releases significant amounts of heat which was previously cooled with water from the River Elbe and thus left unutilized. Some years ago, Aurubis contacted Alfa Laval with a request to design a heat recovery process based on customized plate heat exchangers, fully adapted to cope with the high demands of corrosion, high pressure and extreme temperatures. This collaboration resulted in a process based on unique Alfa Laval plate heat exchanger technology designed to meet these requirements.
Now Alfa Laval will supply heat exchangers for the next phase, with delivery scheduled for 2023 and 2024. The expanded process installation will enable yearly savings of 100,000 tonnes CO2 emissions.