Functioning and experiences with state of the art channel heat exchanger systems

Over 60 projects with channel heat exchanger systems have been realised throughout Europe to date. Waste water as an energy source for heating and cooling of buildings is increasingly recognised as a renewable source of energy and is gaining, even though hesitantly, political support. However, the technology is not new. By the mid-1980s, the first installations have already been realised with heat exchanger systems in the waste water flow. Due to the high investment costs in relation to the price level of fossil fuels at that time such installations were rather uneconomical. According to a study by Stuttgart University the produced and unused exhaust heat potential of power plants, industries and households is sufficient to meet the needs of the energy required for space and water heating. The exhaust heat only has to be distributed - so, why not via the existing “channel” network? For such a channel network Uhrig Kanaltechnik GmbH has developed reliable heat exchanger systems which have prevailed as the most economical technique for the use of waste water as an energy source over the last years.