Heat Recovery From Refrigeration (HRFR)
It's part of the net zero strategy for the dairy sector
Nigel Upson, Marketing Director ofDK Heat Recovery, talks about the benefits of heat recovery from refrigeration and air conditioning on the road to net zero for the dairy industry.
What is Heat Recovery From Refrigeration (HRFR)?
Heat recovery from refrigeration (HRFR) is the technology that captures the waste heat from a refrigeration or air conditioning system and uses it to heat water. Heat Recovery systems are NOT heat pumps and they do not use any power or refrigerant gasses to function.
How does Heat Recovery From Refrigeration (HRFR) work?
Imagine your refrigerator at home. It has a compressor (the little motor that buzzes away at the back), an evaporator (the cold panel at the back of the fridge on the inside) and a condenser (the warm grid where the heat is lost).
Now imagine a bigger system operating in a commercial environment, everything from your local butcher, the gym you attend to vast food factories or building complexes with big air conditioning units. These systems have exactly the same components: compressor, evaporator and condenser. Traditionally, the aim was to move heat from where you don't want it and expel it outdoors. This expelled heat is a resource that can be captured by a heat recovery system and used to reduce carbon emissions and used as a heat source. The heat can be transferred to water through high-efficiency heat exchangers for use in potable water* heating or space heating.
(* must comply with EN 1717 so plate heat exchangers commonly used on the dairy sector for pasteurisation are not appropriate for water heating)
What does Heat Recovery From Refrigeration (HRFR) do for net zero?
By heating water using waste heat there is a consequent reduction in the use of other energy sources that might be used for heating water e.g., gas, electricity, oil and therefore a reduction in carbon emissions. Based on research commissioned by DEFRA in 2016, if 15% of waste heat from food sector refrigeration were captured in this way, we would not need Sizewell C. In other words,heat recovery from refrigeration not only reduces carbon emissions but also reduces the demand for new infrastructure.
Energy gets used twice, the ultimate in energy efficiency.
What does Heat Recovery From Refrigeration (HRFR) offer financially?
The payback onheat recovery from refrigerationcan be very rapid often measured in months rather than years. This is all dependent on how much heat you need and how much refrigeration/air conditioning you have. The way in which you finance the technology can help justify it too. Upfront cash is sometimes hard to find in amongst the clamour for this investment or that repair. However, the short paybacks or the ready availability of ‘green finance' helps. There are companies which have decided to seed their net zero campaign with cash for heat recovery and used the savings to finance the rest of their programme. Very forward-thinking!
What are the barriers to the uptake of Heat Recovery From Refrigeration (HRFR)?
The most common barrier is the refrigeration engineer who doesn't fully understand the technology and fears that the refrigerant gasses will condense and go to the compressor as liquid causing untold damage. This is not the case with heat recovery from refrigeration as all systems should be fitted with pressure controls that protect the system.
Second is the ever-increasing rate at which freon gasses are being phased out. With the looming expectation that they will be replacing their fridge plant soon, many organisations put off considering heat recovery. The paybacks can be so short that the system will pay for itself way before the plant gets renewed. If your switch is imminent, consider heat recovery from refrigeration as an integral part of the project as the best and most cost-effective time to add a heat recovery system is when installing new fridge.
DK are, we believe, the only manufacturer of heat exchangers that can withstand the pressure of CO2 refrigerant systems.
NO BRAINER?
Minister for Net Zero, Graham Stuart says Heat Recovery From Refrigeration is a ‘no brainer'
The third barrier is government policy. All we hear about is energy generation, not energy reduction. The value of energy consumption reduction has not yet really been taken on board at Westminster. There is plenty of cash for generation and carbon capture, but wouldn't it be better for the environment to fund not using energy in the first place? Interesting to note that the Minister of State for Net Zero, Graham Stuart, called heat recovery from refrigeration a ‘no brainer' when visiting a food manufacturing business in his constituency that had a newly installed unit in 2017.
How to assess the benefits to your business?
CashAt the end of the day, any purchase has to be paid for so regardless of any other benefit, finance and ROI have to be considered. Heat recovery from refrigeration (HRFR) can offer rapid paybacks and so it is a sound investment that offers real savings in quick order, mainly because it is an add-on to existing infrastructure, not the infrastructure itself.
To establish what the potential benefits will be for your organisation, simply find out how much hot water or heating you use. Most grossly underestimate this figure so ask for data not just an answer from your engineer. It takes 1kW of energy to heat 20 litres of water by 40C. If you use 1000 litres per hour at 50C that's 50kW, which at 20p per kW is £10 or £20,000 per year in an 8-hour day. A typical heat recovery from refrigeration system that delivers 50kW per hour will cost you less than £25,000 fully installed.
Carbon EmissionsPer £ invested, heat recovery from refrigeration is one of the most cost-effective technologies for delivering carbon emission reductions. The same company that installed the system that Rt Hon Graham Stuart MP described as a ‘no brainer' was installed for less than 50% of the cost of solar PV installed by that same company, and delivers four times the energy i.e. £ for £ and 800% better investment. The same 50kW system and water usage as described above will save 30 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
ESG isincreasingly high on many organisations' agendas and heat recovery from refrigeration is a low-hanging fruit for food manufacturing businesses to take a big step toward its carbon neutral goals. It is cost-effective, affordable, scalable, has a short lead time and payback and can be retrofitted with ease. Heat recovery from refrigeration is currently a little-known technology, but one that will increasingly play a part in corporate sustainability stories and can be promoted with your supply chain as a highly affordable scope 3 technology.
It takes foresighted leadership to put carbon savings before cash.
Example: Wensleydale Creamery installed a heat recovery system in 2014 which paid for itself in less than 2 years and is now a cash contributor to their business as well as saving 117T of CO2 emissions to date. Pleasefollow the linkto read the case study.
Finance, Grants and The Bank of Heat RecoveryHeat recovery from refrigeration can attract grant funding, either stand-alone or as part of a larger growth project. It can also be seen as a sustainability bank from which to borrow money for other projects due to the rapid payback it can offer. Planting some seed capital in a nominal account within your accounting system, and using the savings to fund other sustainability projects, can be a great release for justifying such expenditure, if you didn't have enough already! If the original seed was a green finance loan your capex pot is not affected.
Heat Recovery From Refrigeration (HRFR) should be on the list for investment in a net zero future, for any organisation that has refrigeration or air conditioning in its premises. HRFR is affordable, scalable easy to maintain and does not need other infrastructure for it to work.
Ends
Photos:
- DK Heat Recovery's Marketing Director, Nigel Upson Nigel Upson
For more information or to arrange an interview with Nigel Upson, please emailmedia@dkheatrecovery.co.ukor contact Tracey Baty at three60 marketing on;
Direct line:01430 871360
Mobile:07971 961574
E mail:traceybaty@three60marketing.co.uk
Notes to editors
For more information aboutDK Heat Recovery, please visithttps://bit.ly/DKHRHome