CO2 chiller heat pump boosts brewer’s efficiency
22nd October 2023
AUSTRALIA: The installation of a CO2 chiller heat pump and a PV system has enabled an Australian brewery to increase production capabilities by 400% without increasing energy consumption.
The installation at the 3 Ravens Brewery in Thornbury, Mebourne, sought a clean energy transition from its old inefficient process systems.
The site had several obsolete R22 reverse cycle electric split systems for cooling the rooms and R404A and R436A process chillers. The company was looking for a better solution than upgrading the business-as-usual equipment.
A proposal was made to replace the separate heating and cooling processes with a single-cycle CO2 heart pump chiller to efficiently combine both processes and utilise the waste heat from the cooling supply,
In order to make the energy upgrade possible, 3 Ravens installed a 45kW variable duty Enex CO2 heat pump chiller that can switch between transcritical and subcritical modes, an external adiabatic Enex gas cooler to complete the CO2 cycle and an additional heat exchanger to catch and use the medium-temperature heat flow for HVAC purposes, if required. It also had to optimise and renew its distribution and air handling systems.
The 3 Ravens Brewery worked with energy consultant Regenerate Engineering Pty to design and adopt the Enex tailor-made solution. Commissioned in June, the new system’s performance is being closely monitored. Its predicted saving are set out below:
