Pollution? Think Again
An unknown fact: heat seen billowing out of industrial smokestacks and from gas processing flares all across our nation can, in fact, be captured to generate enough emission free electricity to power over 10 million American homes (that’s more than all of the electricity developed over the last 30 years from photovoltaics!). Waste heat, as it is called, is a byproduct of industrial and oil and gas processing. When our country makes paper, steel, chemicals, food, among others, immense temperatures and quantities of heat is used in its processing. However, not all of this heat energy is used. Just as the natural byproduct of boiling water to make spaghetti is steam, industrial processes have left over heat after the processing of their product. In fact, more than 50.0 quads of energy is used by industrial manufacturers and processes. Of this, 50 percent or more is lost in the form of Waste Heat. Instead of simply wasting this left over heat, technology exists today to capture it to generate electricity with no additional emissions. Electricity with no additional emissions from a free resource is the same product offered by traditional renewables. Additionally, because these industrial facilities operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, electricity generated from its waste heat would too. Unlike many renewables, waste heat is baseload and can be used onsite or sold to the grid.
A Hidden Resource
Our country has a hidden resource of base load, emission free electricity to be captured and developed from the same industrial companies struggling to stay in America. Capturing waste heat for electricity with no additional emissions will give our country more clean power, and provide industrials a new source of profit, keeping American jobs in America. Heat is Power, let’s capture it.
Heat to Power Technology Overview
Rankine and Organic Rankine Cycles
The traditional approach to generate electricity from heat is to use steam turbines (the steam rankine cycle). Although effective, steam turbines require high quality heat; high temperatures. Over 90% of the United States waste heat opportunities are from heat of low to moderate temperatures below what steam turbines require. Technology currently developed that has been deployed in the geothermal industry for over 100 years based on the organic rankine cycle is capable of capturing low temperature, low quality heat. The organic rankine cycle differs from the steam rankine cycle because it uses an organic carbon based working fluid. Whereas the steam rankine cycle’s working fluid is water, the organic rankine cycle’s fluid is often a refrigerant with a lower boiling point temperature capable of capturing lower temperature heat.
Science Not Magic
To develop renewable generated electricity from geothermal resources, wells are drilled into a geothermal reservoir (the heat in the geothermal reservoir is the fuel that drives us). The wells allow a conduit to bring the geothermal fluid to the surface, where the heat energy is converted into electricity efficiently with TAS Energy’s Geothermal-to-Power (G2P)plant systems. TAS has forged many patented and exciting advancements in geothermal energy conversion technology that now make it possible to economically produce electricity from geothermal fluids from 90°C (200°F) to greater than 200°C (400°F). The TAS closed loop systems make it possible to reduce geothermal energy’s already low emission rate to zero… zero output, emission free producers. The TAS G2P is also safe and environmentally benign.
Innovating Advanced Solutions
Power Generation, Meet Refrigeration
Interestingly, the organic rankine cycle as over-viewed above shares similarities with the refrigeration cycle, in fact the cycle is nearly the same, only running in reverse. This is important because TAS Energy is the recognized global leader in highly efficient refrigeration and cooling solutions for power generation, data centers and commercial comfort cooling. With TAS Energy’s market leading and patented designs, and experience around the world, TAS Energy engineers were a natural fit for taking on the challenge of designing the market’s most advanced, heat to power organic rankine cycle unit optimized for efficiency and life-cycle cost.
TAS Energy’s Heat -to-Power (H2P) unit is an advanced and patented innovative approach to the organic rankine cycle, capable of capturing and efficiently generating emission free electricity from extremely low temperatures and quantities of heat. In fact, TAS Energy’s H2P unit can capture liquid waste heat at temperatures starting at 200 degrees Fahrenheit and from 400 degrees Fahrenheit and above for flue gasses, and was recognized by the Department of Energy for its innovative and advanced design.
They Operate. We Optimize.
System Optimization = Lowest Life-cycle Cost
The waste heat market is still relatively small in the United States with few competitors offering megawatt sized modular organic rankine cycle units, none of which can compete against TAS Energy’s experience through an unparalleled knowledge of the power generation, refrigeration and packaging industries; all of which merge to form the most optimized, highly efficient, lowest life-cycle cost, guaranteed performing units in the market.
At TAS Energy we focus on product optimization, and have spent thousands of engineering hours testing the best combination of all components on the market to design our H2P unit that doesn’t simply operate, but are optimized for ultra-efficient performance; this includes our design of highly efficient controls that continually optimize the unit’s performance in real time. While our competitors design their unit to function without interruption, we’ve invested a significant amount of time to make sure we deliver the most value for the least life-cycle cost, saving our customers money, and our country valuable energy resources.
With low temperature heat recovery our customers are already making a profit out of what was once wasted. It’s our job to ensure we support our customer’s clean green energy initiatives, get the very best bang for their buck, create long term renewable jobs, and reduce emissions to the maximum extent possible… we take their business seriously.
Turnkey, Tested & Ready to Go
TAS Energy’s optimized H2P designs are made even better through applying our expertise in modular packaging by standardizing our products for easy rapid deployment, and repeatable and scalable application to the business. Our designs allow for flexibility according to unique customer requirements, while ensuring we don’t reinvent an already perfect wheel.
In addition to guaranteeing product performance, packaging and standardization of our designs allows us to manufacture, assemble and pretest them at our environmentally controlled 250,000 sq foot headquarters in Houston, Texas. After a thorough testing regimen, our H2P unit is disassembled into easily reassembled ‘blocks’ and transported by truck, train or ship anywhere in the world for rapid deployment for maximum early revenue or energy savings.
The TAS Energy optimized design and packaged standard approach of modular manufacturing eliminates a number of key risks faced by the traditional approach of thousands of parts being shipped to the site and having to be field erected by the lowest bidder. These risks include inclement weather risks and delays, component shipments, unreliable and inexperienced labor, and risk of actual performance. By designing TAS Energy H2P units as modular, turnkey solutions, manufacturing them in a ISO Certified quality controlled environment, TAS Energy systems are guaranteed to be delivered on time, on budget and ready to begin work – immediately, with guaranteed performance.
Key Features
- TAS has made a considerable investment over the last 5 years in advanced ORC systems for geothermal power and waste heat applications.
- TAS has approximately 200 megawatts (“MW”) generation capacity either installed or under construction. TAS’s supercritical design delivers 5 to 10% more net power for the equivalent geothermal resource relative than competing sub-critical ORC systems.
- TAS has four current or pending patents, proprietary turbine technology, and valuable industry knowledge in system design, modular construction methods, tools and techniques.
- TAS applies its ORC technology to capture waste heat from flue gasses or liquids generated by industrial processes at temperatures from at 90°C (194°F) to greater than 200°C (400°F) for conversion into electric power
- TAS has successfully designed and operated its proprietary axial expander and is one of only a few companies that can deliver a megawatt‐sized modular ORC unit for waste heat recovery
- Similar to TAS’s geothermal systems, for waste heat recovery applications, TAS designs and manufactures modular systems for easy transport, delivery with factory testing and guaranteed performance
- As a market leader for third‐party supply of ORC solutions with considerable intellectual property and operating expertise, it is our intent to work in exclusive, negotiated arrangements