For each ton of produced soda, there is up to 8 m3 of post-distillation slurry released, which means a stream of around 800 m3/h. It is not feasible to reuse the low-heat stream, with temperatures in the range of 100-115 degrees Celsius in existing processes. Moreover, standard heat exchanging technologies seem to be unsuitable due to the fact that part of the dissolved inorganic salts will precipitate upon cooling. The combination of those two factors calls for an innovative solution in order to usefully capture the wasted energy.
CIECH, a leading European soda manufacturer, is looking for solutions which allow the recovered energy to be utilized in:
This online competition is open worldwide to any professional, company, tech center, or studentinterested in proposing a solution for this challenge.
Ennomotive offers €20,000 in prizes to be shared among the best ideas for this competition.
