A quite new and unique piece of equipment for the thermal treatment of gas wastes (i.e., the incineration of volatile organic compounds contained in polluted air) has been developed. This compact equipment is characterized by a cylindrical combustion chamber placed inside a heat exchanger--a polluted air preheater. This cylindrical preheater consists of several concentric stainless sheets. Both flue gas from the combustion chamber and polluted air heated by flue gas flow in the spaces between the cylindrical sheets. Narrow distance strips placed between the sheets form helical rectangular ducts, through which we can achieve a counter-current flow of process fluids. A mathematical model for the calculation and/or simulation of the equipment consists of submodels of a heat exchanger and combustion chamber and the annular space between them. Based on the results of measurements on an industrial scale experimental facility, new correlations for the thermal and hydraulic calculations of the heat exchanger were developed. Some industrial applications are briefly mentioned.