The Hydrea-Thermpipe® – heat from waste or cooling water

Recovering heat from waste or cooling water: it’s a good idea, but is it realistic? SOCEA collaborated with contractor Heymans and plastic pipe producer Frank to develop a jacking pipe prototype that recovers heat from the fluid running through it. The HybridEnergyPipe has a concrete outer housing and an inner lining made of HDPE. It recovers ‘lost’ heat from the fluid in the pipe thanks to an ingenious system of tubes and heat pumps. The system is effective even with modest temperature gradients of 3 or 4°C.

It’s a promising technique, especially since many cities and municipalities are currently renewing their waste water systems. Replacing the old drainage pipes with HybridEnergyPipes is a sound investment that helps reduce global CO2 emissions since the recovered heat can be used to supply district heating or hot water.

The developed prototype is a jacking pipe, but SOCEA can apply the technique to all of its pipes, including gravity drainage pipes and steel core concrete pipes under pressure, which are frequently used in cooling water circuits.