Energy Hunter for savings in HVAC and Manufacturing industries

Sustainability helps a company’s profitable growth, through energy efficiency, heat recovery, reduced fuel bills, reduced CO2, emissions. savings in maintenance costs, and has a positive impact on the environment.

The series of Energy Hunter from Alfa Laval offers real-life

application examples on how gasketed plate heat exchangers can help companies with sustainability targets, on the way to a better planet. Each case listed in the series is a true story, with global references each operating with continued savings since their installation.

With rapidly, increasing energy costs, plant managers have more and more pressure for their contribution to sustainability. Major equipment installed in food, beverage, manufacturing. and HVAC industries consume high amounts of energy by burning natural resources such as carbon fuels or electricity, which are generated with the same.

Sustainability savings can be in operation, maintenance and energy consumption of equipment such as open cooling tower, how water boiler, steam boiler, chiller, air compressor, cogeneration equipment, and shell-and-tube heat exchangers. Similarly, fluids to be considered for savings are cooling tower water, hot water, flash steam, oils, chilled water, warm waste-water, and compressed air.

What can heat be used for

  • Preheating hot water boiler feed
  • Preheating steam boiler feed
  • Hot water for cleaning
  • Hot water for bathing & showers
  • Heating of office or production facilities
  • Use in production processes
  • Supply to district heating network

Purchasing the correct gasketed plate heat exchanger is also delivering sustainability, as fierce market conditions are forcing manufacturers to size gasketed plate heat exchangers with tolerances of up to 0.5°C and higher pressure drop limitation of up to 30 kPa or more. Due to seasonal and variable loads, accurate measurement of these tolerances is impossible with standard instrumentation and under performance has a severe effect on the running costs of associated equipment such as pumps, chillers, and boilers. Hence gasketed plate heat exchangers designed and supplied with AHRI Performance Certification, is sustainability in itself.

The map show European electricity prices for industries in Europe. The higher the rate, the shorter the return on invest-ment period for a given kWh.

  1. Chiller condenser protection and savings with AHRI performance certification
    The condenser of a chiller using open cooling tower water is prone to develop a layer of CaCO3 Rule of thumb in the industry is that a 1 mm coating of CaCO33, inside the tubes, can mean 3 °C higher condensation temperature of the refrigerant gas at the condenser. This equates to approximately 10% higher condensation pressure and higher electricity consumption of the compressor.
  2. AHRI performance certified gasketed plate heat exchangers for sustainable high-rise buildings
    Can you accurately measure 0.5 ° C? What happens to the operation of the chiller if the installed pressure breaker gasketed plate heat exchanger under performs by 0.5 ° C? Lower evaporation temperatures lead to higher lift with the chiller compressor and increasing electricity consumption of up to 3%. Installing AHRI performance certified gasketed plate. heat exchangers provides a payback period of under three years.
  3. Free cooling with chiller bypass
    A chiller is one of the highest running cost equipment in many plants. Those with a water-cooled condenser can win in two ways with an Alfa Laval gasketed plate heat exchanger.
    One to protect the chiller from CaCO3, coating on the tubes, saving electricity with lower condensing temperature and pressure and the other is by turning the chilier off up to 30 days per year, depending on the geographic location and the wet-bulb temperature. AHRI performance certification is vital as approach temperatures of 1 °C are needed and who can measure 0.5 ° C!
  4. Heat recovery from air compressors
    72% is the conversion of electricity to waste heat with air compressors. Compressed air and lubricating oil are often cooled with in built heat exchangers, releasing the heat to the atmosphere. Cooling the air also helps the dryer run effectively, reducing moisture content for critical air equipment.
  5. Heat recovery from warm wastewater
    With Alfa Laval wide gap plate technology, heat recovery is efficient at the same time blockage free for wastewater containing < 5 mm particles or fibres. Wastewater temperatures as low as 35 ° C and as low 10 m³ per hour can save 175 kW (150,000 kcal/hr) with a payback period of less than six months, preheating the boiler feed water to 30 ° C .
  6. Heat recovery from waste flash steam
    All industries using steam as a heat source have problems with steam management. With a simple cyclone separator at the condensate collection point, flash steam can be condensed, heating water up to 80 ° C Recovering 500 kg per hour of flash steam can save up to 5,000 euro per month. The return on investment is less than 3-6 months.
  7. Boiler protection with gasketed plate heat exchangers
    Especially for retrofit applications, the building circuit can contain debris, mud, CaCO3, and oxygenated water. The CaCO3, can bake at 300 ° C plus fuel temperatures and with thermal expansion/contraction crack the boiler’s heater. Two identical buildings located side by side, one with gasketed plate heat exchanger protection and the other without, has fuel costs 30% less, as with protection
  8. Heat recovery from open cooling tower
    This is exceptionally beneficial where heating and cooling takes place at the same plant. Typically for preheating boiler feed water close as 2°C to cooling tower return. Savings are in increased cooling tower capacity, less fuel costs for boiler operation (almost half) and less evaporation of water at the tower, hence saving water.
  9. Cooling tower interchanger
    Plant cooling equipment protection from open cooling tower mineral deposits CaCO3, and Chloride ions, minimum fouling from debris. Savings are in maintenance-free operation of plant equipment, lower pumping costs avoiding pipe diameter reduction and replacement of corroded equipment.
  10. Shell-and-tube replacement with only dimensional data  
    Based on the right channel type of gasketed plate heat exchanger and proportional heat surface area. Savings are with less footprint – including removal space for tube bundle, less hold up volume hence faster response times, easier and quicker maintenance and heat losses to the atmosphere from the shell-and-tube surface.

How to calculate savings

Savings in water consumption depends on the overall cost for a plant to source, treat, and produce the quality of water used in their process. On average, the treated water cost in Europe is 0.1 euro/m³.

Quantifiable savings and return on investment depend on the type of fuel used and its cost per kilowatt-hour consumed during a given period. For example, saving 100 kilowatts of natural gas consumption at a cost of 0.10 euro/kilowatt-hour, for 24 hours can be calculated as below:

100 kW x 24 hrs x 0.10 euro/kW hour = 240 euro per day

Savings in maintenance costs, avoidance of unplanned shutdowns, failure of associated equipment will depend on plant to plant with varying labour costs in different countries. Please contact your nearest Alfa Laval sales offices or Alfa Laval Certified Distributors globally who are ready to support customers with their sustainability targets.