Success Stories
The Industrial Technologies Program (ITP) has sponsored many successful R&D projects that have resulted in commercialized, energy-saving technologies. The following publication describes a recently commercialized success story in the aluminum industry.
Oxygen Enhanced Combustion
A research team led by Air Products & Chemicals, Incorporated, has developed and demonstrated a high-efficiency, high-capacity, low-NOx combustion system integrated with an innovative, low-cost, vacuum-swing-adsorption oxygen system. This system uses a novel air-oxygen-natural gas burner that provides 30 percent higher furnace productivity and 40 percent energy efficiency improvements with low NOx emissions relative to air-fuel burners. Presently, this system has been permanently installed into a commercial furnace. (PDF 7.4 MB) Download Adobe Reader.
Energy-Efficient Isothermal Melting of Aluminum
Since 2001, the U.S. Department of Energy's Industrial Technologies Program has supported the development of a radically new concept for melting aluminum that has demonstrated potential to revolutionize the industry melting capabilities. This concept is called the Isothermal Melting process (ITM). The process can be applied in every segment of the aluminum industry to address the challenge of continuing to meet market demand in the face of the United States' increased reliance on imported primary aluminum ingots and secondary aluminum produced domestically from melted scrap. This success story can be accessed by clicking on following PDF link: (PDF 48 KB) Download Adobe Reader.
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- Isothermal Melting Kickoff Event Video (3:26)
- High Bandwidth (WMV 6.2 MB)
- Low Bandwidth (WMV 2.8 MB)
- Video Transcript (PDF 17 KB) Download Adobe Reader.