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Recuperación de Calor de Sistemas de Refrigeración ASHRAE
Recuperación de Calor de Sistemas de Refrigeración ASHRAE
The search for recoverable heat from industrial refrigeration systems often begins in the engine room.
Heat Recovery
In Industrial
Refrigeration
By Douglas T. Reindl, Ph.D., P.E., Member ASHRAE; and Todd B. Jekel, Ph.D., P.E., Member ASHRAE
D uring the past year, concepts of sustainability have received will benefit by improved competitiveness
a great deal of emphasis within ASHRAE. This article explores
one aspect of sustainability in the context of industrial ammonia
today, but they will also be uniquely posi-
tioned to compete in a future with energy
prices that are certain to escalate. Because
refrigeration is often the single largest
refrigeration systems. In this article, we explore approaches of energy consumer in food production and
storage facilities, it is a natural target for
increasing the use of primary energy consumed during the course efficiency improvements.
With the cost of energy continuing
of refrigeration system operation. Specifically, approaches of to rise, now is the time to revisit op-
portunities and evaluate approaches
gathering and using heat normally discarded from a refrigeration that can better use primary energy to
system are discussed and evaluated.
About the Authors
Many industrial refrigeration system efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their
Douglas T. Reindl, Ph.D., P.E., is a professor and
end-users are increasingly focusing on utility infrastructure. Those end-users who director, and Todd B. Jekel, Ph.D., P.E., is assistant
identifying operating principles and tech- proactively seek opportunities to improve director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s In-
nologies that can effectively improve the the energy efficiency of their operations dustrial Refrigeration Consortium in Madison, Wis.
1.3
103 220°F 800
1 .4 R
185°F m-
/ lb
Btu
1.5 600
95°F
95°F 2
65°F
400
102
11. 4°F
200
1 Heat recovery rate is on a per ton of refrigeration basis.
0
90 110 130 150 170 190
101
0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8
Minimum Usable Temperature (°F)
Figure 1: Desuperheating and condensing energy split for a non- mal energy in the form of both sensible (superheat) and latent
liquid-injected, high-stage twin screw compressor operating at 25 (condensing) heat. Figure 1 illustrates the compression process
psig suction (11.4°F [–11.4°C] saturated) and 181 psig discharge from suction (1) to discharge (2) for a typical fluid-cooled
(95°F [35°C] saturated). screw compressor operating with ammonia at 25 psig suction
(11.4°F [–11.4°C] saturated) and 181 psig condensing (95°F
Heat Recovery Potential [35°C] saturated). In this best case scenario, only 11.5% of the
Since most industrial refrigeration systems today use screw total system heat rejection is available in the superheat range
compressors, we will focus our attention on heat recovery (higher quality) while the remaining 88.5% of the heat is avail-
potential from this compression technology. We will explore able in the phase change from vapor to liquid (lower quality).
opportunities to recover heat from both screw compressor Unfortunately, the highest quality of heat lies in the superheat
discharge gas and oil cooling heat exchangers. We will not region where the lowest quantity of heat is available. For the
consider heat recovery from reciprocating compressors (head given operating conditions, the total heat rejection require-
cooling or discharge gas) here due to the limited use of this ment to condense the discharge gas to a saturated liquid is
compression technology. 13.9 mBtu/h per ton of useful refrigeration (1.2 kWTHERMAL/
kWREFRIGERATION).
Screw Compressor Discharge Gas The natural question then becomes: How much thermal
In exploring the potential for heat recovery from the discharge energy can be recovered from the compressor’s discharge gas
gas stream from a screw compressor, there are four permutations stream? The answer depends on the minimum usable tem-
of the basic options that could be considered: perature by the process receiving the heat. For the purposes of
• High-stage compressor exploring the heat recovery potential, let’s assume an ideal heat
· Liquid injection oil cooled exchanger (zero approach temperature). If heat at temperatures
· External oil cooled as low as 95°F (35°C) can be utilized, the entire heat of rejection
• Booster compressor (sensible and latent) can be recovered (i.e. 13.9 mBtu/h·ton).
· Liquid injection oil cooled If higher temperatures are required, the recoverable heat will
· External oil cooled diminish as the minimum usable temperature rises as shown
For compressors that use liquid injection (and its variants) in Figure 2. For example, the recoverable quantity of heat at a
for oil cooling, the discharge gas temperature is suppressed to minimum usable temperature of 110°F (43°C) is a paltry 1.3
cool the oil leaving the compressor. Normally, these machines mBtu/h·ton (0.11 kWTHERMAL/kWREFRIGERATION)—a portion
have discharge gas temperatures in the range of 130°F (54°C) of the sensible fraction of rejected heat from the system.
whereas external oil cooled machines operate with discharge An issue that arises in considering heat recovery from the
temperatures as high as 185°F (85°C). Because the discharge discharge of external oil cooled screw compressors is the re-
gas temperature from liquid-injected screw compressors is duction in discharge temperature as the system head pressure
lower, this technology is less attractive for heat recovery mean- decreases. Expect the discharge gas temperature for this type of
ing that the economic criteria for the majority of most end-us- screw compressor to decrease with lower head pressure at the
ers will not be met. Let’s consider the more optimistic case of rate of approximately 0.6°F/psig (4.8°C/bar). In other words,
external oil cooled screw compressors. a machine that has a discharge temperature of 185°F (85°C)
The discharge refrigerant gas from a compressor has ther- at discharge pressure of 180 psig (12.4 bar) can be expected
A potential source for heat recovery is the discharge gas Non-Recoverable (~95%) -R
l bm
tu /
Pressure [psia]
95°F 5B
1.
stream from booster compressors. Although recovering heat
from booster discharge gas has the desirable effect of reduc- 102
Figure 4: Oil cooling heat available over a range of suction and Figure 5: Normalized oil cooling heat available over a range of
discharge conditions. suction and discharge conditions.
oil cooler. In this case, the glycol is pumped through the oil (temperature). The question now becomes: What quantity of
cooler absorbing heat from the oil and then rejecting that heat heat is available from an oil cooling heat exchanger?
to a closed-circuit fluid cooler located outdoors. It is this heat The quantity of heat available from an oil cooler will depend
that could be recovered and used for meeting relative modest on a number of factors including:
heating demands in a plant. • Size of the compressor (capacity);
Typically, an oil cooling heat exchanger receives hot oil from • Operating suction pressure;
the screw compressor’s oil separator at a temperature near the • Operating discharge pressure; and
compressor’s discharge gas temperature, which ranges between • Part-load ratio.
160°F to 185°F (71°C to 85°C), and cool the oil to a supply Figure 4 illustrates the trends in heat rejected through oil cool-
temperature of 130°F (54°C). With oil in this operating tempera- ing heat exchangers over a range of suction and discharge/con-
ture range we clearly have a heat source with reasonable quality densing conditions for a typical twin screw compressor package.
Table 1: Comparative heat recovery potential for compressor discharge vapor versus oil cooling heat exchanger for a mid-sized high-stage
screw compressor.
Figure 6: Fraction of total heat of rejection that appears as an oil Figure 7: Annual heating cost savings for a 55°F (31°C) range
cooling load over a range of suction and discharge conditions. assuming the offset operation of an 80% efficient boiler.