THERMAL OXIDISER (VOC)

The generic combustor is an abatement system designed to eliminate volatile organic compounds (VOC) and odours from production lines through the thermal oxidation of polluting molecules.
Any type of volatile organic substance in gaseous form can be treated and, with pollutant concentrations above 1.5 g/Nm3, it is usually possible to go into self-support mode, by reducing fuel consumption to almost zero.

A thermal oxidiser is a device designed to expose effluents that contain pollutants to high temperatures up to 650°C by thermally oxidising the compounds and releasing only inert substances into the atmosphere.
The simplest type is that of the pure combustor, where fumes are burned and then released into the atmosphere. This process has a very high energy cost.

Recovering combustors are used to recover heat and avoid waste, where part of the heat produced can be reused by a heat exchanger.

A further improvement is obtained with the regenerative thermal combustor (RTO) in which the heat from the combustion chamber is transferred and retained in a specific ceramic-type filler at its outlet. This heat is used to preheat inlet polluted fumes in order to reduce the required energy.

The regenerative thermal oxidiser allows for the oxidation of VOC by increasing the temperature of the polluted air to over 750°C; when the system is running at full speed, the heat produced by the exothermic oxidation reaction is sufficient to maintain the temperature of the combustion chamber at the desired value without the addition of auxiliary fuel (e.g. methane gas), thus reducing system management and operating costs to a minimum.