Efficient use and recuperation of energy within a state of the art commercial heat treatment facility

Right at the beginning of an expansion project to an existing commercial surface treatment plant for a "heat treatment facility for hardening and tempering of fasteners", due to be in place by mid 2007, the owner could be convinced to pay elevated attention to the overall energy e fficiency on the new investment. An in depth project analysis and cost & benefit evaluation was necessary to proof, that any additional required investment must be underlined by a return of investment (ROI) within less than 3 years through energy & related operating cost savings. Most welcome was the fact, that alongside with significant savings of energy also the CO2 emission rate could be reduced proportionally. The following article outlines in detail the situation at the start of project work as well as the solutions provided, to significantly reduce the amount of energy required for the operation of the heat treatment facility and subsequently the resulting CO2 emissions.