Study on High-efficiency Heat Storage and Heat Release Conditions in a Pilot-scale Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer for Toluene Decomposition

In the present work, the heat exchanging efficiency of a pilot-scale regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) during the thermal decomposition of volatile organic compounds (VOC) was studied using toluene as an example of a typical VOC under the following experimental conditions : raw gas mass flow rates of 1090-2550 kg・h − 1 , toluene decomposition temperatures of 973-1173 K, honeycomb heights of 0 . 9-1 . 5 m and valve switching intervals of 60-180 s . As a result, it was found that the thermal efficiency calculated from LPG fuel consumption and the decomposed toluene, gave a maximum value of 0 . 95 at a raw gas mass flow rate of 1810 kg・h − 1 in a honeycomb height of 1 . 5 m. Furthermore, it was found that a decrease in honeycomb height from 1 . 5 to 0 . 9 m caused insufficient preheating of the raw gas, which resulted in an increase in the concentration of toluene necessary in the raw gas from 340 to 530 ppm to achieve self-combustion of the toluene without additional heating by LPG fuel.