More than 1.4 megawatt hours of carbon-free electricity from exhaust steam fed into the power grid

Yield data underpin excellent start of steam mission – a forward-looking technology to increase energy efficiency

Yield data now available for the energy module for carbon-free electricity generation from exhaust steam produced at a glass factory in Lünen which was installed by Aqua Society GmbH demonstrated an excellent start of the module called "steam mission". Based on the data, the module produced over 1.4 megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity from January 15 to February 15, 2010 which was delivered to the public utilities of the city of Lünen for feeding it into the public grid.

As the glass factory currently can provide only limited quantities of the steam it produces for the energy module, no more than 30 per cent of the potential electrical output of 10 kilowatts (kW) could be generated. The remaining steam is still used to preheat the oil used in the glass factory. Only after completion of the planned conversion of the facility will the total steam quantity be available for the energy module to reach full operating capacity.

"In the medium term, we expect to have 8000 operating hours and carbon-neutral electricity production of 80,000 kWh per year", says Dipl.-Ing. Hubert Hamm, managing director of Aqua Society GmbH. "This will allow us to make a major contribution to increasing energy efficiency."