Technical and financial assessment of four workshop ventilation systems incorporating different types of heat recovery systems

In many sectors of activity, the fabrication or use of dangerous products can cause pollution liable to jeopardize the health of workers exposed to it. Capturing pollutants at source is often the technique given priority for reducing occupational exposure to dangerous substances and to carcinogenic products in particular.
To ensure the efficiency of capture systems and the thermal comfort of personnel, the air extracted must be compensated by an equivalent influx of heated air in winter and possibly cooled air in summer. However, taking energy costs linked to heating and cooling air into account often leads to the adoption of halfway solutions regarding prevention: reducing ventilation flowrates, recycling “cleaned” air in the workshop", absence of air compensation.
The aim of this communication is to perform a technical-economic assessment of four existing ventilation installations equipped with energy recovery systems to show under what conditions it is possible to reconcile the prevention of occupational risks with cost management.