R1234ze chillers bring efficiency to rolling mill facility
As global warming potential becomes more of an issue, a growing number of industries and businesses moving toward new refrigerants. One of the best examples is the recent upgrade completed by Kaltra for ArcelorMittal’s hot strip rolling mill cooling in Belgium. Recently, the cooling system was driven by water-cooled chillers charged with large amounts of refrigerant R134a, which is characterized by high GWP value of 1430.
Based on the results of an in-depth audit, the company began the search for a replacement of old units with ones featuring environmental friendliness and higher energy efficiency. The final choice was made in favor of Kaltra’s Turbocor-based chillers with low-GWP refrigerant R1234ze equipped with economical shell-and-tube heat exchangers. The chillers were customized with refrigerant leak detectors, flash tank economizers, and energy monitoring system which enables to track energy usage of individual units and entire cooling plant.
In parallel, the owner completed the installation of new, highly efficient cooling towers and enabled lower condenser water temperatures for newly installed chillers, thus further reduced compressors energy consumption.
The new, 8-megawatt cooling plant was commissioned in 2018 and operate at full capacity.
Headquartered in Germany, Kaltra Innovativtechnik GmbH designs, develops, and manufactures air conditioning and refrigeration equipment and systems. The company offers air-cooled, water-cooled, and free cooling chillers, precision air conditioners, IT cooling systems, including room-, rack- and row-based solutions, and energy management solutions. It also designs and manufactures air-cooled condensers, dry coolers, and cooling units for special applications. Additionally, Kaltra offers microchannel heat exchangers for condenser, evaporator, and water cooling and heating applications, as well as aluminium coils for small cooling applications. All Kaltra products are engineered with the clear objective of improving energy efficiency and reducing total cost of ownership.
For more information on Kaltra and its products call +49 911 715-32021 or visit www.kaltra.com