Renewables


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Taking the heat out of rising energy bills


Heat pump technology promises to help the UK’s manufacturers comply with emissions regulation and reduce their energy bills but not all heat pump designs deliver the same benefi ts, explains Lee Hermitage, director, strategic planning, Honeywell Fluorine Products


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OP26 has shone a brighter light than ever before on the need for manufacturing and industry to decarbonise – additional


legislation looks sure to follow. There’s also the spectre of spiralling energy prices, which could see the UK’s bills increase by as much as 30% in the next 12 months if the cost of gas and electricity rises as predicted. This will force manufacturers to increase the price of their products, as well as squeeze profi ts. A signifi cant price hike could seriously threaten jobs. Caught between a rock and a hard place – legislation to the right, rising energy prices to the left – the UK’s besieged manufacturing sector desperately needs a way to remain compliant while also substantially reducing its energy bills. One technology that has recently garnered headlines is the use of heat pumps; an energy recovery technology that reuses valuable heat energy that would otherwise be lost or wasted. For example, a heat pump can absorb excess heat produced in a manufacturing process and use it to provide space heating and hot water. The immediate benefi ts are obvious.


The requirement for heat


However, modern industrial heat pumps go further than that; they can boost the temperature of a waste- heat stream to an even greater level; high enough for use in a range of manufacturing processes. The potential market is huge – the need for heat


is responsible for 70% of industrial energy demand, most of which is currently generated by gas. And it’s not just waste energy from buildings and


processes that can be recycled; renewable energy from the air, water or the ground can be utilised to provide heating and cooling. It’s therefore little wonder that the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) fl agship report, “Net Zero by 2050”, states that heat pumps will be a cornerstone technology for displacing fossil fuel heating to achieve Net Zero CO2


emissions. Importantly, heat pumps can be integrated with


energy storage so that if there is no immediate use for the energy that has been recovered, it can be saved until it’s next needed. Also, a high


24 December 2021


performance heat pump can achieve effi ciencies of 500% or more, providing 5kW of heat energy for every 1kW of electricity; a new gas boiler operates at 90% effi ciency. The numbers speak for themselves.


Clawing back the costs


However, not all heat pumps are created equal. Current designs are mostly limited to outputting a heat supply of around 70°C to 80°C but many industrial methods often require temperatures of between 100°C to 200°C, such as food processing, drug manufacturing, paper and board production, engineering, cement works and the plastics industry, amongst many others. That’s why UK-based company, Futraheat, has


developed the TurboClaw steam compressor, the heart of its revolutionary heat pump design. Its technology can deliver high grade heat of up to 150°C – a substantial step-up in performance. Its enumerated benefi ts typically include an 80% cut in energy consumption, a 25% reduction in fuel bills, payback within three years and CO2-free heat when powered by renewable electricity. Also, unlike other heat pump confi gurations,


Futraheat’s design operates at greatly reduced speeds and is oil-free, yielding lower manufacturing, operating and maintenance costs. There is, however, one component without which these heat pumps wouldn’t achieve their impressive results: the refrigerant.


Remaining cool under pressure


Futraheat is using Honeywell’s Solstice zd (R-1233zd) refrigerant, a non-fl ammable replacement for R-123, which has been phased out because of environmental concerns. Its chemical characteristics enable the heat pumps to operate at highly benefi cial temperatures and pressures while its ultra-low global warming potential (GWP) makes it a long-term, environmentally preferable and economical solution that helps Futraheat and its customers maximise energy savings and reduce carbon emissions.


Based on hydrofl uoro-olefi n technology, Solstice zd


has a GWP of 1. It is not only suitable for heat pumps; it also off ers better capacity and similar effi ciency to R-123 in the low-pressure centrifugal chillers used to cool large buildings and infrastructure. It is a key part of Honeywell’s Solstice range of low and ultra-low GWP refrigerants that it is continuing to develop to meet the needs of the growing low carbon heat market.


Breakthrough technologies


This burgeoning business sector is at a breakthrough phase and Honeywell’s portfolio of products, history of innovation and reputation makes it a partner of choice for companies, such as Futraheat, that are seeking to bring next generation solutions to the market. The benefi ts of these innovative technologies are rapidly being recognised; Futraheat has already received a £500,000 grant from Innovate UK to build a 300 kilowatt TurboClaw demonstrator, which it anticipates trialling in early 2022. Solstice zd will play an integral role in this development phase.


A low carbon economy


Waste heat recovery is set to become an important part of the UK’s move towards a low carbon economy – it’s already part of government policy. Its Industrial Heat Recovery Support (IHRS) programme, with a budget of £18m, aims to increase industry confi dence to invest in technologies that recover heat from industrial processes. The collaboration between Futraheat and Honeywell


delivers on that promise by providing a cost-eff ective and highly effi cient way to capture waste energy and reuse it in highly demanding industrial processes, all while radically reducing their carbon emissions. The UK should rightly be feeling pumped up about its journey to a decarbonised future.


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