Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers (RTO)

An installed regenerative thermal oxidizer unit

A regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) is an air pollution control device that destroys VOCs and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) in industrial exhaust air. By using regenerative heat recovery, it achieves high fuel efficiency, often operating with 95% heat recovery.

Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers (RTO) are the technology of choice for most applications due to its high VOC destruction efficiency, low fuel use and long system life.
What does regenerative mean?

The term “regenerative” in regenerative thermal oxidizer is drawn from the type of ceramic media heat exchanger used in these systems. It is unique in that it captures heat from the exhausting, clean airstream during one cycle and releases the heat to the incoming, dirty airstream in the next cycle. The heat is captured (and released) from beds of ceramic media. The RTO incorporates switching valves to cycle the direction of the airflow through the RTO heat exchanger beds to enable regenerative heat recovery.

We are buying a new piece of process equipment. Do we have capacity in our existing oxidizer or can we make changes to achieve the needed capacity?

We can evaluate the existing oxidizer capacity and the requirements of the new process and determine the best approach to upgrade the oxidizer. This could include new heat exchanger media, a larger fan or possibly both. We would also evaluate things like the burner system and combustion chamber size to verify it can provide the required destruction levels. Some applications would be a good match for a VOC concentrator that can significantly concentrate (>10:1) airstreams currently exhausting to the oxidizer.

Is there a risk of ceramic media plugging due to condensing VOCs?

A bake-out feature can address organic compound build-up

Is there a refurbished RTO system available with the features needed?

Please check our RTO Inventory...Quality-built refurbished regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) systems have a long life, can save 40% vs. new units, and have performance and parts warranties comparable to new systems.

What is the role of turbulence in a thermal oxidizer?

VOCs must combine with oxygen and heat to trigger the chemical reaction that breaks them down into CO2 and H2O. There are many successful thermal oxidizer designs that ensure sufficient turbulence, such as introducing the process air at an angle to induce spin or creating internal choke points. The better the mixing and heat distribution, the higher the VOC destruction.

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You can also call Buster at 920-309-0725 or send us an email.