System and method for recovering cooling capacity from a factory exhaust gas
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorChin-Hsien Chung
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Abstract
A system and a method for recovering energy from a low temperature factory exhaust gas are disclosed. In the system, a heat exchanger is added between a wet scrubber and a cooling tower such that a low temperature scrubber exhaust gas can be utilized to decrease the temperature of a heat transfer medium used in the cooling tower. The lower temperature cooling tower water therefore increases the efficiency of cooling in a chiller connected to the cooling tower. Furthermore, the increased scrubber exhaust gas temperature reduces its opacity to fulfill requirement of environmental protection regulations. The lower water temperature in the cooling tower further reduces water evaporation rate and therefore reduces water consumption due to evaporation.
Claims27
A system for recovering cooling capacity from a factory exhaust gas comprising:
- a scrubber having an inlet for receiving an exhaust gas from a process chamber and an outlet for outputting scrubbed exhaust gas at a first temperature, said first temperature not higher than about 22° C.,
- a heat exchanger for receiving said scrubbed exhaust gas at said first temperature and outputting a heated, scrubbed exhaust gas at a second temperature at least 5° C. higher than said first temperature by absorbing thermal energy from said heat transfer medium of said cooling tower,
- a cooling tower, and
- a condenser in fluid communication with said cooling tower through a first and a second conduit, said cooling tower further comprises a third conduit for outputting a heat transfer medium at a third temperature to a heat exchanger and a fourth conduit for inputting said heat transfer medium at a fourth temperature from said heat exchanger, said fourth temperature being generally lower than said third temperature.
A method for recovering energy from a factory exhaust gas comprising the steps of:
- providing a scrubber having a gas inlet and a gas outlet,
- flowing an exhaust gas from a process chamber into said gas inlet of said scrubber,
- flowing a scrubbed exhaust gas at a first temperature not higher than 22° C. from said gas outlet of said scrubber into a heat exchanger,
- providing a condenser in fluid communication with a cooling tower through a first conduit and a second conduit,
- flowing a heat transfer medium at a third temperature to said heat exchanger through a third conduit from said cooling tower,
- flowing a heat transfer medium at a fourth temperature lower than said third temperature to said cooling tower through a fourth conduit from said heat exchanger, and,
- flowing a heated, scrubbed exhaust gas at a second temperature at least 5° C. higher than said first temperature into a factory exhaust pipe for releasing into the atmosphere.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.