Heat pipes, often referred to as thermal superconductors, have become transformative tools in industrial energy efficiency, especially within the oil and gas sector. Since 2006, Professor Hussam Jouhara has spearheaded the development of advanced heat pipe systems, guiding their evolution from laboratory prototypes to commercially viable technologies. To date, these systems have been successfully implemented in over 400 locations across 32 countries world-wide.
This presentation will examine the engineering principles behind heat pipe technology and its unique capability to recover waste heat from processes previously considered unsuitable for conventional heat exchange. Under Professor Jouhara’s leadership, these systems have been commercialised and deployed across diverse industries, delivering substantial reductions in energy consumption and carbon emissions.
The talk will outline the full development pathway, from conceptual design and experimental validation to industrial manufacturing and global deployment, supported by real-world case studies and installation imagery. Special focus will be given to units developed by Professor Jouhara for the oil and gas industry, with successful implementations in the United States and China. These examples will highlight the technical and economic impact of heat pipe systems, including return on investment, operational efficiency, and decarbonisation outcomes.Additionally, the presentation will share insights from ongoing and completed research programmes led by Professor Jouhara, showcasing the current state-of-the-art and future directions in heat pipe engineering for sustainable industrial transformation.
Prof. Jouhara is a Full Professor at Brunel University of London and a Fellow the Royal Academy of Engineering. He is also the Technical Director of Econotherm (UK) Limkited. Prof. Jouhara obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester, UK in 2004 and has a career in both the Industry and Academia since then. He is a Chair of Thermofluids at Brunel and the Founder and Head of the Heat Pipe and Thermal Management Research Group and the Principal Investigator of many national and international projects in the areas of multiphase heat transfer and fluid dynamics, energy efficiency, renewable energy systems and innovative thermal management systems for electronics, nuclear and biomedical applications. Throughout his academic and industrial career, Prof Jouhara has received over £16M in direct grants fundings from the Industry, EPSRC, Innovate UK, EU, Royal Academy of Engineering and UK Atomic Energy Authority. Professor Jouhara was also the technical lead and coordinator of many Horizon EU projects. His innovative design methods have led to applications of the heat pipe technology in over 32 countries, and many granted international patents. The development of heat pipe heat exchangers, produced by Prof. Jouhara, has been applied in many industries, from high temperature processes such as recovering waste heat from ceramics, steel industry, food processing, solar PV thermal management and thermal energy storage using PCMs. His patents have been adopted and implemented by various multi-national companies such as S&P Coils Products Limited, Econotherm (UK) Limited, Flint Engineering Limited, Solex Thermal Science and Air Products PLC that funds many of Prof. Jouhara’s projects directly. Professor Jouhara’s research has been published in over 200 journal articles and over 300 other publications, including the publication of many books. Prof. Jouhara is the editor-in-chief of the Elsevier International Journal of Thermofluids Thermal Science and Engineering Progress Journal and an Editor of the International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer.
Decarbonising the Oil and Gas Sector through Advanced Waste Heat Recovery: Real-World Case Studies