Cooling for the food production process: modularity with continuous service guaranteed
Reginella d'Abruzzo Dairy
The cooling equipment at this facility is used to keep milk at a constant temperature during post-pasteurization.
This process involves the continuous cooling or production of chilled water down to 17.6 °F.
When the aging electric cooling system at this operation was near its useful life the facility’s management team was interested in more than a conventional electric replacement unit.
Their goals were as follows:
- Reduce operational costs due to high electric rates.
- Reduce service costs due to frequent maintenance and multiple moving parts.
- Use green equipment.
- Eliminate the use of harmful HCFC refrigerants.
- Free indoor space.
The management’s search led them to Robur’s gas absorption cooling technology. Eight Robur units could provide an operational savings approximately 40% lower than the electric units and an electric consumption lowered by 88% using natural gas as their primary energy source.
Given the above savings, a new cooling system with eight Robur gas-fired chillers, model ACF60-00 LB, were installed. These units produce chilled water down to 17.6 °F.
This chilled water is pumped and stored inside a 3,200 gallon water tank and then transferred to a plate heat exchanger where milk is cooled down to 39.2 °F.
Management at the facility attained several of their goals by utilizing Robur units:
- Minimal mechanical parts in the refrigerant cycle: low maintenance cost.
- Outdoor installation: more indoor space available for industrial purposes.
- Ammonia/water absorption cooling process: green refrigerant and no HCFC’s.
- Modular chiller configuration: staging economies, complete flexibility for capacity control, redundancy and greater reliability.
- Single Phase requirement.
