GERMANY
Converting a large chamber kiln (12m³ volume) into a hybrid furnace for brick firing.
The semi-industrial tunnel kiln will be retrofitted with heating elements, high temperature internal recirculation fan and hybrid FLOX burner to achieve the hybridisation of brick firing.
IMPLEMENTED TECHNOLOGY
Hybrid furnace for bricks firing
eLITHE will demonstrate the technical, environmental, and economic feasibility of setting up a hybrid up to all-electric heating system for implementation in existing tunnel kilns for brick firing.
Several possible variants of hybridisation of the firing unit will be considered:
- Heating elements installed on the walls of the furnace;
- High tempertature circulation fan;
- Hybrid FLOX burner.
The heat transfer will take place by radiation from the heating elements installed on the furnace walls and also by increased convection by the internal circulation fan. In parallel, three improved lab-scale proto-type burners incorporating different approaches will be designed, manufactured and tested in TNO’s Lab-Scale Combustion Simulator (LCS) with special emphasis on temperature distribution, start/stop characteristics and pollutant formation.
The results will be able to adapt the current process for a higher electrification rate and to determine the limits of substitution with unchanged product quality and no increase in total energy demand. Finally, GHG emissions objectives or economic reasons (e.g. fuel and CO2 prices) will be evaluated.
DIGITAL TWIN
The digital twin at IZF will track the tunnel kiln processes to gather detailed insights and facilitate the scaling up of the technology.