Waste heat generation and potential recovery systems used in Sri Lankan hotels

Abstract

The waste heat recovery concept can be used as a solution to optimise energy consumption while reducing the waste heat in energy generation systems. However, its application in Sri Lankan hotels is still in the infancy stage even though the hotel sector accounts for high energy consumption. Therefore, this research aimed to assess the amount of waste heat generated from the different sources in hotel buildings and thereby identify the most appropriate waste heat recovery systems to the hotel buildings in Sri Lanka through a comparative case study analysis of three similar natured hotel buildings. The required data to perform waste heat calculation were extracted through document reviews and site visits. This study identified the three main waste heat generating sources in hotel buildings: HVAC condenser out, boiler exhaust, and kitchen exhaust. The analysis shows that the condenser out of the HVAC system is the highest waste heat generating source which accounts for an average of 41,823GJ per year while boiler exhaust and kitchen exhaust generate the waste heat of an average of 11,000GJ and 8GJ per year. It is further found that the quality of waste heat generated from the boiler exhaust is higher than the condenser out of the HVAC system and kitchen exhaust. Hence, this study concludes that the boiler has the highest potential of using the waste heat recovery system than the condenser out of the HVAC.