The energy transition/industry decarbonation movements that have recently accelerated require a tremendous amount of carbon-free electricity. At the same time, there are public oppositions to further installations of wind or PV farms as well as the development of nuclear and hydro, and geothermal can’t be expanded much. Biogas and syngas will continue to be further developed. Waste heat recovery (WHR) is a “low hanging fruit,” which only has one disadvantage: It presents a longer return on investment (ROI) than is usually acceptable to plants.
WHR associated with a steam cycle or an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) presents many benefits in terms of carbon neutrality, including long run times, since it’s not being interrupted, as well as its ability to produce valuable electricity that will be needed for everything from oxygen plants for oxy-combustion to electrolyzers (hydrogen and oxygen production), CO2 capture, purification, compression, and the direct electrification of the processes.