Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers (RTO)

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.
RTO Case Studies
RTO Operation
Maintaining an RTO
Selecting an RTO
FAQs
It depends on some design factors that need to be scrutinized but typically, no. Advancements in new structured media designs can sometimes increase the thermal efficiency and reducing pressure drops through the media beds. This can sometimes can provide a couple percentage points of capacity increases over RTOs that utilize saddle ceramic media.
Regenerative thermal oxidizers (RTOs) typically have a 0.5 second to 1.0 second dwell time for most applications.
Catalyst utilized in a regenerative catalytic oxidizer (RCO) allows chemical reactions to occur at lower temperatures (700-800F) than they occur in a thermal oxidizer (typical 1400-1450F) or an RTO (typical 1600F).
Read more in Comparison: RTOs and RCOs.
Using a bake-out feature can help prevent and remove organic compound buildup in the ceramic media, reducing the risk of plugging and maintaining efficient operation. A preheater or recirculation loop are also possible mitigation methods.
RTOs typically operate at 1500o – 1600o Fahrenheit depending upon the VOC characteristics. Thermocouples inside the chamber monitor temperature and adjust gas burner firing as needed. Adequate temperature is essential to ensure VOC destruction efficiency. In most cases a data log of chamber temperature is required for air quality compliance.
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