STAR WINS COOL AWARD FOR HEATING CHOCOLATE FACTORY

An energy saving heating and cooling system installed at one of Nestle’s UK chocolate factories has scooped a major industry award for its designer, Star Refrigeration.

Star’s innovative ammonia heat pump plant at Nestle’s confectionary production facility in Halifax, West Yorkshire, has won a prestigious RAC Cooling Industry Award. The Nestle Halifax installation took the Industrial and Commercial Project of the Year title at the 2010 awards ceremony.

Star’s Neatpump impressed the judges by demonstrating significant environmental advantages over conventional systems. Neatpump uses groundbreaking technology to simultaneously deliver chilled glycol and hot water at 600C using waste heat. Featuring a single stage screw compressor, Neatpump delivers hot water far more efficiently than a traditional gas fired boiler system.

The dual-purpose plant enables a number of cooling and heating applications to take place across the Nestle site. These include process heating and process cooling, as well as building heating.

As part of Nestle’s continued drive to cut carbon emissions, Star was challenged to find a solution that would reduce total energy demand at the Halifax site. Nestle also insisted on the use of natural refrigerants in all new plant to reduce the environmental impact of its manufacturing operation.

Star’s Director of Innovation Dave Pearson says: “As a dual purpose cooling and heating system, Neatpump has cut process utility costs at the Halifax site by over £200k per annum. In addition, over 500,000kg of CO2 emissions per year have been avoided. This has to be a wake up call to the Finance Directors of any business that utilises cooling and heating. Nestle simply had the vision to aim higher.”

A world leader in cooling system innovation, Star has developed a range of heat pump solutions to meet the needs of end users in the building services and industrial sectors. As an environmentally conscious supplier, Star’s heat pump solutions typically use natural refrigerants, such as ammonia and carbon dioxide for high efficiency heat generation.

Unlike many first generation heat pump systems, Star’s Neatpump does not require any synthetic global warming gases (HFCs). It operates using ammonia, a naturally occurring refrigerant that has zero ozone depletion potential.

Dave Pearson adds: “Nestle Halifax now has a world leading cooling plant that uses less electricity than the previous system, delivers free hot water, minimises carbon footprint and avoids high global warming potential gases. In addition, the plant is designed to provide over 20 years service without the costly maintenance work associated with other compressor types.”

Star’s Neatpump is a renewable energy heat pump that extracts heat from seawater, air or any industrial waste stream, such as air conditioning or large scale cooling processes. This waste heat is captured, compressed, boosted and recycled to provide hot water at up to 90°C.

The Vilter single screw compressor is at the heart of Neatpump. The unique compressor design has balanced pressure across the central motor, ensuring long life, high reliability and low maintenance.

The high efficiency Neatpump is available with capacities ranging from 300kW to 8000kW. The system can be designed to cool both water and secondary fluids including glycol, making it suitable for a variety of applications including process cooling and heating, AC with heating, steam raising and district cooling, heating and desalination.

Ideal for both new projects and retrofits, Star’s Neatpump can be commissioned and charged prior to delivery, reducing site installation and commissioning time.

When it comes to designing energy efficient cooling and heating systems, Star is a natural innovator. Star works with strategic partners across the globe to deliver low carbon, cost saving solutions.

www.star-ref.co.uk.