Effect of recovering the industrial waste heat in Oman on energy and environment

Waste heat recovery nowadays is considered to be an economic method to increase the overall efficiency of plants and, thus, to lower fuel consumption. In this study energy saving and environmental impact for recovering waste heat has been evaluated for industrial companies in Oman using the concept of Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) technology. The evaluating of energy saving showed that an amount of 205.02 liter of diesel fuel and 68.56 m³ of natural gas can be saved per day at Al Ghubra Power and Desalination Station. This could be reflected in a reduction of fuel cost by $119.940 (diesel fuel) and $4.134 (natural gas). In addition, the economic profit for selling energy produced by ORC reached to a value of 18.657 $/day. The least saving that can be made were at industries having the lowest ORC net power output. The CO₂ emission is also reduced as a result of the reduction in fuel consumption either natural gas or diesel fuel. It could reach to a value of 548.715 kg CO₂/day (diesel fuel) and 129.232 kg CO₂/day (natural gas), while 466.44 kg CO₂/day could be prevented from emission due to the electricity provided by the ORC plant. The results of this study indicate the possibility of using the ORC technology as a practical solution to save energy and minimize CO₂ emission in Oman in industries producing vast quantities of waste heat.