Aqua slices cheese maker’s energy bill

UK: Farnham-based Aqua Cooling has installed inverter-driven screw compressor chillers and a water-to-water heat pump at a leading dairy product manufacturer in Wales.

Aqua Cooling was called in by Dairy Partners to supply energy-saving technology to cool its pasteurisation and mozzarella process and to upgrade its previous system.

Dairy Partners is a privately owned, milk processor that produces and exports a variety of pizza cheeses from milk supplied by contracted farmers. Products include the Danscorella brand mozzarella and pizza cheeses.

Previously, the cooling system at its West Wales production plant on the edge of Newcastle Emlyn, Carmarthenshire, comprised two conventional refrigeration systems and one ammonia chiller unit. Aqua replaced these systems with inverter-driven screw compressor technology, enabling the chillers to operate at part-load with high efficiency and ensuring that the minimum-required energy is used at all times.

Aqua also installed a water-to-water heat pump to reclaim heat from the plant and re use it for pre boiler feed for the steam plant and heating wash down water to enhance efficiency. By using waste heat from the process it is able to save considerable amounts of energy and money and with the UK government’s RHI scheme helped bring the payback for the system into a commercially viable option.

The project, which cost just over £600,000, has enabled Dairy Partners to participate in a number of money-saving and environmentally-friendly ‘green energy’ programmes including the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive grant scheme and the Carbon Trust’s Green Business Fund.