In the industrial cheese curing process, maximum energy savings are required.
BUSINESS CASE
Energy savings in the industrial cheese curing process
The challenge
Keyter established an energy optimization and efficiency plan in which the solution was found to the following needs:
– 100% electric process without boiler installation
– Generation of cold water at a temperature of -6ºC.
– Use of condensation waste heat to generate hot water for the drying process.
The solution
The solution was carried out by implementing a water chiller with partial-total heat recovery with an unit of 530 kW of cooling capacity in working conditions I/O water temperature -2/-6 ºC, using ecological refrigerant R-1234ze together with two energy-efficient screw compressors where it achieves a recovery of the residual heat of condensation, generating free water up to 35ºC for the curing process. This is equivalent to eliminating boilers for hot water generation, an important economic saving per year in fossil gas consumption because this heat generation is free, an increase in efficiency in the generation of cold water of 17% compared to other equivalent systems used in the installation and an optimum energy savings in the energy efficiency of the unit.
Therefore, a parallel production of cold and heat was obtained for dehumidification, taking advantage of the heat provided by the partial recovery of the chiller to obtain the indicated humidity in the dryer, and at the same time, benefiting from the production of cold from the chiller in the different processing facilities.
