The “Turkey Waste Heat Potential Evaluation Project,” carried out in cooperation with the World Bank within the scope of the Turkish National Energy Efficiency Action Plan targets of the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, was completed in July 2022. According to the information in this report, the total theoretical waste heat potential calculated in Turkey is 160 thousand terajoules per year.
The savings that can be achieved with the recovery of the waste heat potential are calculated as $650 million per year, and the equivalent carbon emission reduction is calculated as 10 metric tons per year. This equates to the carbon emissions of approximately 4 million vehicles per year. 42% of the waste heat potential is in industry, 40% in thermal power plants and 18% in commercial buildings.
RePG Energy, which was established in 2016 with the support of TUBITAK Individual Young Enterprise (BIGG) to evaluate this potential, produces technologies and devices that produce energy between 20-kWh and 1 MWh by using the air, more or less intense waste heat in industrial and industrial environments. The company wants to be the first company to initiate and implement the “Zero Waste Heat” strategy.
RePG Energy Deputy Chairman of the Board and Founder General Manager Hasan Ayarturk said that hot flue gas discharged from boiler or stove chimneys or geothermal hot water below 100 degrees Celsius is called waste heat.
Ayarturk stated that he has been conducting theoretical studies on energy production from waste heat for 20 years, that they were able to see the first physical outputs of the project in 2015, and that they came to the stage of creating a product with the support of angel investors by establishing a company.
Emphasizing that they have developed a technology that makes it possible to produce energy from waste hot water above 60 degrees, hot gas, and chimney heat in factories, workshops, and workplaces in the light industry and that this technology is a new renewable energy system that produces electrical energy, Ayarturk said that a 250-kW device will be able to meet the electricity needs of 1000 houses. He told me that he produced a lot of energy.
Stating that the device is also used in geothermal waters apart from the light industry, Ayarturk said about the benefits of the system to the environment in this field, “Our technology produces energy with zero carbon emissions. It converts the hot water coming out of the ground into electrical energy and injects it under the ground again. Since it can work at lower temperatures, sometimes there is no need to remove the water. By digging the ground a little, we can generate electricity directly by using the soil’s heat. For example, even in houses with gardens, electricity can be generated by going down to the places where ground source heat pumps go, thus preventing a very serious carbon emission.”
Stating that the geothermal system, which produces energy from waste heat, can operate at lower temperature differences than existing systems, Ayarturk said:
“We can achieve much higher efficiency electricity output than conventional systems by using 60 degrees Celsius of waste heat, 20 degrees of the outdoor environment, and 40 degrees of temperature difference. In case all geothermal wells that cannot be used with current technologies due to insufficient temperature are used with our technology and the capacities of existing geothermal wells are increased by using this technology.”
“Türkiye has the chance to produce an extra 10 GW of energy, which corresponds to 10% of the installed power of approximately 100 GW.”
Stating that their systems are modular and that the small systems installed can be expanded later on, Ayarturk said, “For example, when a 100-kW system installation or a larger system installation is required, we can make the case large and install a small system inside and enlarge it. Thus, we can start electricity production in a much shorter time.” he continued.
A next-generation heat pump
RePG Energy Chairman of the Board Huseyin Karaya??z also drew attention to the fact that Türkiye ranks 4th in the world in terms of geothermal resources and stated that they can convert all geothermal resources at 100 degrees and below, which could not be converted to electricity before, into electrical energy with the technology and devices they developed.
Underlining that systems such as oil and natural gas cause great harm to the world, Karayagiz emphasized that natural resources should be used as much as possible in energy production and that natural hot water resources in Türkiye have transformed into fuel thanks to the technologies they have developed.
Karayagiz said the following on the subject:
“Technologies that use these resources will become much more important from now on. Türkiye ‘s chance is very high thanks to both underground hot water resources and above-ground resources, thanks to the sun. The world is heading towards it. There is a concept called a heat pump. Our technology is already a kind of new-generation heat pump. In this respect, the world does not have energy problems, only technologies that will make these energy sources available are needed. Competing heat pumps consume electricity, heating, and cooling. We already do heating and cooling, and we generate electricity on top of it.”
Sharing the view that Türkiye is in a position to meet its own electricity needs with its underground hot water, Karayagiz said, “It just had to be developed technologically and turned into a machine. This is the beginning. We want to expand our idle energy potential first to our country and then to the world with the “Zero waste heat” approach,” he concluded.
