Gundagai Meat Processors (GMP), a red meat processor in New South Wales, has installed a staged heat recovery system that cuts its natural gas use by about 30%, improves refrigeration efficiency and has spared it a major boiler upgrade, Beef Central reports from a project report by the Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC), which backed the work.
The system collects waste heat from the plant's refrigeration condensers and compressor oil coolers through a closed loop and uses it to preheat boiler feed water from 15°C to 50°C. Measured results show average gas savings of about 30 gigajoules a day, steadier boiler operation and a lighter load on the condensers. The saving on boiler fuel is estimated at about A$135,000 a year, so the A$450,000 installation could pay for itself in three years.
The plant had a reason to act. Its 2 MW hot-water boiler, which supplies sterilisation, carcase processing, wash-down and sanitation, was regularly running above its maximum capacity as production grew, especially in winter when incoming water averaged 15°C, and keeping the required 82°C at the sterilisers occasionally interrupted production. Engineers had concluded that expansion would need a new 2.5 MW boiler at an estimated A$400,000, at about the time the company's gas price rose 50% on contract renewal.
Heat thrown off by refrigeration through evaporative condensers has usually been released into the air. GMP's staged approach recovers as much of it as possible from existing equipment before any energy-hungry heat pumping is added. The next step is an industrial heat pump that will lift the water to about 88°C, pushing gas displacement towards 100% and, the report says, creating one of Australia's most advanced integrated industrial heat recovery systems.
"This project offers a practical, scalable and commercially attractive model for the Australian red meat industry's transition to lower emissions and improved energy efficiency," the AMPC report says, adding that heat recovery should be treated as an integrated energy system rather than a single piece of equipment. Energy is one of the heaviest costs for Australian processors: refrigeration is their largest electrical load and gas supplies most process heat.
Source: Beef Central
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