Global corporates line up for heat pump CO2 savings

Using heat pumps to recover and re-use waste heat in drying processes, together with using renewable electricity can completely eliminate CO2 emissions from one of the most energy-intensive processes in the food industry.

According to DryFiciency External Expert Advisory Board Member, Managing Director of dryer manufacturer Geelen Counterflow, Sander Geelen, multi-national conglomerates, like Mars Petcare and Cargill Ewos are not waiting for governments to set the agenda for corporate sustainability. Rather, such corporates are proactively creating sustainability milestones, and even are taking calculated investment risks to invest in technologies that aim to reduce global emissions in line with the targets of climate change treaties.

Under the scientific lead of the AIT Austrian Institute of Technology, the first industrial high- temperature heat pumps were put into operation and tested in an industrial environment in three different application areas at AGRANA, Wienerberger, and Scanship in Norway. The three demonstrators showcased the use of heat pumps as an alternative to conventional fossil natural gas for many industrial drying processes. The technology developed shows in the first tests running across Europe that heat pumps can deliver process heat of up to 160 °C. Compared to natural gas, heat pumps have the potential to increase energy efficiency by up to 80 per cent, reduce CO2 emissions by up to 80 per cent and also cause up to 20 per cent less productions costs.

Drammen, a rural municipality in Viken, Norway, with a population of around 66,000 residents is host to one of the most innovative heat pump systems in the world. Lindum AS, a leading player in Norway in the treatment of organic waste and contaminated masses, operates the waste management facility in Drammen.

The DryFiciency demonstration open loop heat pump plant, housed by Lindum at its Drammen waste processing and biogas site, has involved key DryFiciency partners Scanship and SINTEF. This makes Drammen a good showcase of European innovation actions, harnessing key expertise and investment across science and industry with the aim of directly servicing communities determined to valorise waste streams.

View all the presentations that were presented during the “PUMP IT UP” DryFiciency conference.

DryFiciency Conference – Heat Pumps demonstrating Energy Efficiency Conference now online! Watch the full event , hear all experts and follow the panel discussions from leading research, industrial and policy players.

Together with leading expert speakers from policy, energy integration, manufacturing and end users, this interactive conference will showcase the results achieved and the potential of the available solutions, demonstrating how high temperature heat pumps can help making the industry and its energy supply more robust for reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

This demonstration seminar highlighted the exiting interim results of the DryFiciency flagship project in three demonstration sites at AGRANA, Wienerberger  and Scanship. DryFiciency focuses on high temperature heat pumps (HTHP) that are able to supply process heat up to 160oC. Three demonstrations in industrial drying are being advanced as the drying processes are very energy intensive and offer huge potential for energy efficiency and therefore to the utilisation of HPs in industrialisation. The latest results from the commissioning and demonstration were presented validating the potential of high temperature heat pump technology for industrial applications.

What is an automotive company doing with heat pumps you may ask? Well, at the recent DryFiciency online seminar Søren Schmidt, Head of Operations of ROTREX A/S explains the supercharged activities of ROTREX turbo compressors adapted for high temperature heat pumps.

Compressors are an integral part of the DryFiciency high temperature heat pump systems. In the recent DryFiciency online seminar we analysed the lubricants, refrigerants and compressor technologies that has successfully been developed and adapted to process heat streams at temperature levels of up to 160°C. Here Julian Pfaffl, Head of Product Performance, BITZER Kühlmaschinenbau GmbH showcased the successful advancements of the screw compressor for the DryFiciency high temperature heat pumps.

In a recent DryFiciency online seminar core components were analysed that have successfully been developed and adapted for upgrading idle waste heat streams to process heat streams at temperature levels of up to 160°C.  Chemours showcased the successful advancements of refrigerants for the DryFiciency high temperature heat pumps.