Interesting perspectives are shown by heat recovery from beds of particulate solids which have to be cooled for process requirements. Sinter making plants for blast furnace feeding represent a typical application area where energy saving policies are very attractive. With reference to a sinter cooling bed of the Ilva steel works located in Taranto, several heat recovery schemes were presented under the hypothesis of unsteady-state operation. Assuming both uniform and non-uniform cooling air flow rates, solutions based on single and double (parallel or series) hoods were characterized in terms of arrangement, control criteria and performance. Finally, a comparison analysis was carried out based on plant complexities and benefits of examined heat recovery schemes.