MEATing POINT Magazine: #08/ 2016

ENERGY EFFICIENCY
The
distance that
the heat will have to
travel from the generation to
the process itself will also need to be
accounted for, as any heat losses will
mean that the overall CHP efficiency will
be lowered.
According to the Carbon Trust, CHP is a
completely viable option for sites that have
a high and constant demand for heat of at
least 4,500 hours per year.
As a general rule, operators should be able
to make the money back on their investment
within just three or four years, depending
on the difference between their gas and
electricity supply prices.
Putting a freeze on energy bills
With the right engineering put in place,
captured heat can also be recycled as
cooling energy. Known as trigeneration or
combined cooling, this process can deliver
a range of financial and environmental
bonuses for cost-conscious meat processors.
As with any industry dealing in products
that need to be refrigerated, of the biggest
drains on power in a meat plant are electrical
cooling systems. According to AHDB Beef
& Lamb, the organisation for beef and
lamb levy payers in England, up to 70%
of the electricity used by many meat plants,
is consumed by their refrigeration systems.
Trigeneration uses an
absorption chiller to convert heat
into cooling energy. This is economical
and environmentally friendly, as it eliminates
harmful refrigerants and reduces overall
air emissions. As an absorption chiller
has no moving parts, the opportunity for
wear and tear is low, resulting in minimal
maintenance costs.
Additionally, there are now absorption
chillers available on the market that can
be powered directly with the CHP exhaust,
removing the need for an intermediate
exhaust gas heat exchanger.
Cleaner, Greener Meat
While for most businesses the prospect of
reduced energy bills will undoubtedly be the
biggest draw of a CHP system, they also
come with major environmental benefits
that shouldn’t be overlooked.
If it is run on conventional fuel, such as
natural gas, CHP systems still produce
carbon dioxide. However, because it will
reduce the amount of fuel needed to run
your plant, a system will likely dramatically
cut your emissions.
According
to a document
produced by the
UK’s Local Government
Association, a well-installed
and specified system will reduce the
amount of carbon emitted by the site’s
energy systems by a minimum of 10%, and
potentially as much as 60%[3].
The chance for greener energy becomes
even greater if you consider the possibility of
combining the CHP system with an on-site
anaerobic digestion (AD) plant. These take
waste products and use bacteria to convert
them into methane.
After a small amount of processing, this gas
can then be fed into the CHP unit’s engine
and burned in exactly the same way as any
other fuel. This is an excellent way to take
waste that plants generally have to pay to
dispose of and make use of it.
With the benefit of a high quality and secure
energy source system on site, your business
can dramatically reduce its dependency on
the national grid for power.
Gas engines or gas turbines?
When it comes to installing a CHP system,
specifiers will generally choose between two
primary power sources: gas reciprocating
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