Catalytic Products International

Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO)

Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO)

What is a regenerative thermal oxidizer?

A Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer (RTO) is a combustion device that controls volatile organic compounds (VOCs), hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), and odors by converting (destroying) the emissions into CO2 and H2O through the use of heat before exhausting them to the atmosphere. RTOs can achieve thermal efficiencies up to 97%, and destruction efficiencies that can exceed 99%.

These specially designed, cost-effective, proven systems combine the basic principles of time, temperature, and turbulence.

• Retention time, or residence time, is the length of time that a VOC/organic is at the appropriate oxidation temperature. Both retention time and residence time refer to time inside the thermal oxidizer's combustion chamber.
• Typical temperatures in the combustion chamber range between 1400°F and 1600°F and higher. For each organic, a specific temperature and a specific retention time is required to achieve the desired level of destruction.
• Sufficient air mixing, also known as turbulence, must also be achieved in the combustion chamber.

How does a regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) work?

• Pre-heated air enters the combustion chamber where it is heated to the set-point temperature where oxidation of the VOCs are completed.
• Hot treated clean air is cooled as it passes through the heat exchange media and is exhausted from the stack into the atmosphere. 
• Every three (3) minutes the process of air flow reverses direction as the poppet valves switch positions, allowing the heat captured in the ceramic media from the exiting clean air stream to heat the incoming process air.  It is this regeneration of the ceramic heat exchanger media, with its high heat capacity, which enables a regenerative thermal oxidizer to deliver greater than 95% thermal efficiency.