Thermal processing systems are used in numerous industrial production processes around the world, whether in the manufacture of steel and iron, glass and cement, chemical products or in the food industry. Recuperative burners are part of many thermoprocessing systems. There are currently around 500,000 conventional recuperative burners in use in Germany. The industrial energy revolution has not materialised everywhere yet. Were this to happen, the impact would be huge, as the systems are designed for long-term operation. However, the crucial bit would be to save resources quickly and enable the switch to renewable energy sources. The ‘iRecu’ recuperative burner was developed under the leadership of Marcel Biebl from the Gas and Heating Institute and Jens te Kaat from Kueppers Solutions and in close association with interdisciplinary teams from both project partners. This innovation combines both approaches to the operation of industrial furnaces.

"iRecu" was developed entirely in North Rhine-Westphalia and, according to the inventors, is the world's first recuperative burner to be manufactured using 3D printing. The production method enables flexible designs. This means that old systems can be retrofitted with minimal investment and time. The number-two advantage: the specially developed heat exchanger preheats the combustion air to the best possible degree, using recovered heat, thus reducing gas consumption by up to 50 per cent. The dual-fuel technology also allows operation with both natural gas and renewable energy sources, such as green hydrogen. This makes it possible to switch to renewable fuels without extra modifications to the systems.

Gas- und Wärme-Institut Essen e.V. and Dortmund-based Kueppers Solutions GmbH jointly came up with the first technological fundamentals for the burner in 2019. In 2021, they produced what they claim to be the world's first recuperative burner using 3D printing. One year later, the first 42 3D-printed recuperative burners came on stream at Mannesmann Precision Tubes in Hamm, NRW. Series production began when the company moved to a new manufacturing site at the Dortmund Technology Centre in April 2023.