Big part of the IMERYS plants’ processes in Milos is Perlite and Bentonite Drying through the evaporation of moisture contained in them.
Drying is implemented through industrial Fluidized Bed Dryers consuming heavy fuel oil. Total consumption of heavy fuel oil in IMERYS Milos plants is approx. 10,000 tons/ year (particularly at the MILOS, Tsigrado perlite process plant, heavy fuel oil consumption reaches 1,500 tons/year).
The idea was to reduce consumption of heavy fuel oil by recovering waste heat from the dryer flue gases and use it to preheat air for the fluidization process (only a 20% fraction of the total stack exhaust is being used). Through the same process, water is also being recovered by condensation of the materials’ moisture evaporated and absorbed in the flue gases through drying. Water in Milos is deficient (like in almost all Greek islands of the Cyclades) and is therefore produced locally at a desalination plant.
Following a time-consuming research for the appropriate way to minimize heavy fuel oil consumption, we ended up with the proprietary FLUE-ACE CONDENSING FLUE GAS ECONOMIZER system, “hitting two birds with one stone”, as far as the resources efficiency principle is concerned!
The system started operating in May 2017.
In order to educate young people regarding Resources Efficiency, we plan to organize in 2018 an educational program aiming at introducing the primary and secondary schools of Milos in the idea of recovering heat from a dryer and recovering water from the moisture contained in various materials.
For a more detailed description of the system’s operation, please consult the accompanying presentation: FLU-ACE Photo Presentation.pdf