Naturet heat transfer fluid was the most cost-effective option for energy renovation
Apr 6, 2023
Naturet heat transfer fluid was found to be most cost-effective option for energy renovation at the Rajamäki alcohol beverage factory's air conditioning. The bottling hall of the beverage factory contains several heat-producing machines, a large window area and building material is a traditional brick wall that absorbs heat. The working conditions inside the bottling hall improved significantly with the basic improvement of the air conditioning as this energy- and cost-effective solution was taken into use.
At Anora's Rajamäki alcoholic beverage factory, a basic improvement of the air conditioning has been carried out in stages. The coolingsystem at bottling hall was taken into use in the second phase of the renovation, in 2021. Naturet heat transfer fluid was selected as the coolant for the renewed air conditioning system. Naturet product was delivered in IBC containers by lorry directly from the neighboring plant, Anora Industrial.
Naturet heat transfer fluid for heating and cooling
"Naturet heat transfer fluids can be used for both heating and cooling, and were chosen for the renewed air conditioning system at the Rajamäki beverage factory. Earlier there was no cooling in the beverage factory’s bottling hall. In the summertime the temperature rose to over 30 degrees, making work difficult for the employees" says Juha Matikka from Anora Rajamäki's technology team.
The air conditioning renovation project has been a step-by-step journey: first, the material warehouse ventilation machine was renewed in 2016. The material warehouse doesn’t have cooling, only ventilation and heat recovery. In the second phase of the project, a cooling system was installed in the bottling hall, and next step the new air cooling machines are coming to the logistics part of the collection area.
With the next phase, the working conditions in the collection area will also be made even easier, tells Juha Matikka happily. The machines are on order and they will be ready to be installed already before this summer, he continues. The water cooling machine has already been sized to be large enough from the start, so even more ventilation machines can be connected to the same masterline as the bottling room. This way we get even greater benefit from the investment.
Why Naturet heat transfer fluid?
Naturet heat transfer fluid flows in the refrigeration machine's pipelines. The product was delivered in IBC containers from Anora Industrial. A custom-made mixture was made for the site, as it was necessary to increase the frost resistance of the basic Naturet -17-product. There was a need for a stronger ethanol mixture, because in winter the cooling of the bottling plant is not used and thus the temperature of the system in the yard drops to the same as the outside air temperature.
The Naturet product was chosen for the system as the most cost-effective solution, as its heat transfer capacity is twice as good as that of glycol. The choice of liquid did not affect the choice of equipment. In order to achieve the same cooling power using glycol, it would have been necessary to install an even larger freezing machine because glycol has a lower cooling power.
"Overall, the new equipment has worked well and we are satisfied with it. Naturet has worked well and the pumps and flange seals have held up. Air pockets easily remain in the pipeline during the filling phase, but when the air was removed from the pipeline during the initial airing, there have been no problems since then." states Matikka with satisfaction to the upgraded cooling and overall ventilation renovation.
Facts about energy renovation at Beverage Plant
Rajamäki alcoholic beverage factory’s bottling hall has heat-producing machines, a lot of window area, and a brick wall that collects heat from the sun as well as air. Thanks to cooling, the current working conditions are significantly better in the hot summer times than earlier. There used to be more often breaks for the employees at the Beverage factory’s bottling hall since working conditions were quite hot.
The ventilation system also has heat recovery, whereby the heat from the ventilation is recovered and used to warm up beverage factory’s facilities in the winter time. After ventilation renovation there isn’t so much need for additional heating and that way energy is saved again.
About 6,000 liters of Naturet heat transfer fluid were needed for the project. Using glycol, which is more expensive per liter, would have required significantly more liquid. Based on pre-made calculations, the costs of glycol would have been approximately double that of Naturet. Additionally, glycol is a more hazardous liquid compared to the environmentally friendly and ethanol-based Naturet