Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers (RTO)

An installed regenerative thermal oxidizer unit

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.

Maintaining an RTO

How do we know if our existing oxidizer has enough capacity when adding a new process line?

We can evaluate your current oxidizer’s capacity alongside the new process requirements to recommend the best upgrade approach. Options may include adding new heat exchanger media, installing a larger fan, or modifying the burner and combustion chamber to meet destruction needs. For some cases, using a VOC concentrator to reduce pollutant levels before the oxidizer can be an effective solution. Please note that existing equipment may not be sufficient, even with changes or upgrades.

What is the dwell time of a thermal oxidizer?

TOX typically have a 0.5 second to 1.0 second dwell time for most applications.

What's the difference between a thermal oxidizer and an RTO?

An RTO is a type of thermal oxidizer that uses ceramic media beds to recover and reuse heat. Conventional direct-fired and recuperative thermal oxidizers use no primary heat exchanger or a metallic heat exchanger instead. Learn more about thermal oxidizers vs. RTOs.

What industrial applications are best for regenerative thermal oxidizers?

Clean process airstreams with high air flow and low VOC content (<10% LFL) are ideal applications. Higher VOC concentrations can be tolerated, as well as organic/inorganic particulates with proper planning and design, and possibly filters. See our case studies for a sample of possible applications.

What are the types of ceramic media for an RTO?

There are two main types of ceramic media. Structured ceramic media is typically block-shaped, with ceramic materials configured in a geometric design. It is often placed in several layers. The other type of ceramic media is random-packed ceramic saddles. These smaller, U-shaped (also called saddle-shaped) ceramic pieces are also availiable in different sizes and are spread and leveled evenly across the media bed. Kono Kogs also offers custom media configurations, such as a hybrid media bed, to best fit the heat transfer and particulate requirements of each process and unit.

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