A Two Year Comparison of Energy and CO2 Emissions of an Industrial Refrigeration Plant after the Installation of a Waste Heat Recovery System

The Paris Agreement aims to combat climate change by keeping a global temperature rise this century well below 2^oC by the reduction of CO₂ production. Scotland aims to be a world leader in the change and has set ambitious targets to meet this commitment. With nearly 70% of the energy cost in the production of ice cream spent on refrigeration, any improvement in their efficiency will reduce energy costs and CO₂ production. A waste heat recovery system presents a great opportunity to reclaim energy from the onsite refrigeration systems and convert it into useful hot water. A £216,275 project funded by The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Innovate UK was setup to investigate the use of a waste recovery system within an onsite refrigeration system. The results showed a savings of 5% by the refrigeration plant in total along with an individual saving of 27% by the compressor within the refrigeration system. The WHRS also produced a supply of hot water which could be used onsite within the manufacturing or cleaning processes required onsite.