September 2021

12 | Plant & Works Engineering www.pwemag.co.uk September 2021 Insight F or the manufacturing industry the importance of high performing, energy efficient and sustainable process cooling solutions is of course, nothing new. Manufacturing companies need to balance the rising costs and energy emissions of the plant while at the same time maintaining product quality and process efficiency. This is particularly important in processes such as food and dairy manufactures, breweries, soft drinks production but also in chemical and pharmaceutical industries, where manufacturers must live up to a plethora of standards and regulations related to the quality of the end products. As with all stringent standards, they add to costs, energy consumption and ultimately make life harder for operations leaders who are looking for ways to reduce the Total Life Cycle Cost of their investments. Reducing emissions and energy use of operations is also under the increased attention of policymakers, adding to the pressures of the manufacturing industries. New ways for quality process cooling This all serves to focus the attention of the process cooling industry to drive innovation and meet the call for new ways of providing quality, high-performing and sustainable process cooling. New technologies and techniques emerge to allow companies contain their costs without compromising on other critical factors. One of the trends is moving away from ammonia-based cooling systems. Ammonia has been traditionally common in food and beverage processing applications due to its cooling capabilities and low global warming potential (GWP) qualities. Yet, repetitive incidents with leaks threatening workers’ health and causing potential end-product and environmental contamination, have triggered a discussion on the pros and cons of using ammonia as a refrigerant. With ammonia’s toxicity causing serious health risks with even a low level leak, the process cooling industry has responded with substantial improvements in technology to offer manufacturers a viable alternative to the ammonia-based systems – removing the risks and adding better energy efficiency and lower cost of ownership. HFO refrigerants: R1234ze systems for low GWP, lower cost, no toxicity and easy maintenance When considering ammonia-based systems’ risk factors, process cooling systems with hydrofluoro-olefin (HFO) refrigerants create a vital, safer, more energy efficient option with equally low environmental impact. But it’s the plant and operations managers who need to make the choice and select a system that will be best for their application, future proofing their operations for years to come. Looking at the two alternatives, there are six main criteria to compare a system with an HFO refrigerant, like the R1234ze, to an ammonia- based solution: The Global Warming Potential Big part of the responsibility to play its part in regional and pan-European initiatives towards becoming carbon-neutral societies lies with the industry. To reach our overall sustainability targets we cannot neglect the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of the refrigerants used in the cooling systems. The R1234ze HFO is an ultra-low, near zero GWP fluid of GWP of less than 1, which means it has a lower impact on the global warming than the CO2. Ammonia has a GWP Making the right choice: Comparing HFO to Ammonia-based process cooling systems Dave Palmer* takes a look at considerations for the Food and Beverage industry’s transition to low GWP, HFO-based cooling systems.