A system and method of recovering some of the latent heat of vaporization in a system having a heated environment that adds heat to liquid material and converts the liquid material into gaseous material. The latent heat of vaporization is partially recovered using a unique heat exchanger. The heat exchanger preheats the liquid material entering the heated environment with heat energy from the gaseous material exiting the heated environment. The heat exchanger has a gas flow path. A volume of a gas medium fills the gas flow path. A pump causes the gas medium to flow through the gas flow path at a predetermined mass flow rate. The gas medium and its flow rate are selected to ensure that the specific heat of the gas medium surpasses that of the gaseous material exiting the heated environment.
