Simple Solutions That Work! Issue 17

44 DAVID WHITE Co-Owner D and S Consulting LLC ARTICLE TAKEAWAYS: • Understanding waste heat recovery • Regenerative burners and molten metal circulation for reducing carbon footprint • Producing your own electricity Reducing the Carbon Footprint in a Metalcasting Facility T he new buzz word for 2022 (besides Covid -19) is Carbon Footprint . Everywhere you look, companies are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. This presentation will discuss many ways to reduce that footprint, incentive to help and efficiency increases when you do. Since 2013, all public utility companies (with the exception of municipal owned power companies) have been mandated to spend 25% of their profits on renewable or recoverable energy. This means, if you generate your own electricity then the power companies must buy the excess electricity back from you. Your carbon footprint comes in many forms, from transportation to get your product to the customer to the electricity you use daily. Carbon footprint is typically generated from these sources: Natural Gas 121.31#CO2/thousand cubic foot Propane 12.6#CO2/gal Fuel Oil 22.46#/gal Gasoline 18.74#/gal Diesel fuel 22.46#/gal Coal 4,027.93#/ton Electricity and natural gas are the top foundry energy sources, and where to focus your carbon footprint reduction. Your facility is charged with 2.23#/kwh of CO2 provided by a coal fired power plant and .91#/KWH provided by a natural gas fired power plant. Melting and holding furnaces using natural gas produce 121.31#CO2/cubic foot of gas burned. For this article, we will stick with those two carbon producing elements. The process of recovering dirty high suspended particulate matter and CO² exhaust from the furnace exhaust to pre-heat burner combustion air or make up air or another process in the plant, is eligible for rebates from most electric and gas power companies. It takes some time and effort, but the ROI is well worth it. The Federal Business Energy Investment Tax Credit (ITC) has been amended several times, most recently in December 2020. The table details the value of the investment tax credit for each technology by year. The dates are based on when construction begins. In some parts of the country solar power is just not practical. But waste heat recovery can be used anywhere. The investment tax credit of 26% along with the energy you save recovering the waste heat and reusing it makes this a logical choice with today’s inflated energy prices. The cost of these systems depends on how large your exhaust stream is that you are trying to capture