Star Refridgeration

BETTER HEATING

BETTER PLANET

UK-based Star Refrigeration, a leading supplier of industrial refrigeration and heating systems, is staying at the forefront of innovation. Romana Moares spoke to David Pearson, Group Sustainable Development Director, about the company’s heat pump business that is already playing an important part in decarbonisation around the world.

Founded in 1970, Star Refrigeration is the UK’s largest industrial refrigeration contractor. It produces world class natural refrigeration and heating technology for the benefit of customers and the environment alike.

Through the acquisition and development of a range of businesses, the Star Refrigeration Group today is comprised of six business units. One unit which evolved naturally within the group was Star Renewable Energy, which brings high-efficiency fluid heat pumps for medium to large applications for a

variety of different scenarios.

“When we realised that a large portion of climate change is attributable to the burning of gas for heat, we had to bring our skills to this new challenge. It began 14 years ago with boosted heat for a chocolate factory,” said Group Sustainable Development Director David Pearson. “We pushed further with the world’s first 90°C ammonia heat pump taking heat from a Norwegian fjord for heating homes and offices. Every time we think there is a limit to heat pumps the technology improves. A 200°C heat pump is within grasp, and this opens up petrochemical and other processes assumed to need combustion.

“It's quite a clever diversification strategy, because it is baking a totally different cake using the same ingredients.”

Star’s heat pumps

As the company's website www.neatpumps.com explains, heat pump technology can typically reduce

Queens Quay; owned by West Dunbartonshire Council and delivered by main contractor Vital Energi

carbon emissions from heating and hot water production by up to 80%. This can be more if the grid is 100% clean, as renewable electricity is zero carbon. Heat pumps also improve air quality since they do not emit any NOx, SOx or particulate matter locally, all key contributors to air pollution.

Launched under the name of Neatpumps (natural heat pumps), Star's heat pumps are available with capacities ranging from 700kW to 10,000kW with multiple modules possible. They can cool water and secondary fluids such as glycol.

Mr Pearson explained that water source heat pumps are the most versatile in terms of applications. They can utilise rivers, waste heat from industrial processes and harness the heat from the very ground itself.

“Decarbonising cities is a massive challenge. Our focus is on river source heat pumps, as rivers and the sea are the only source big enough. We use

a natural working fluid,” he said. “That's really important and a factor that distinguishes us from many others.

“It's cheaper to do it the wrong way but is important to do it the right way. The European Parliament is now finalising legislation that will further squeeze down the use of synthetic working fluids, as it has been found that they cause pollution in drinking water as well as exacerbating global warming.

“Ammonia, a natural working fluid is actually a better working fluid for heat pumps, as they can get to slightly higher temperatures more efficiently and can tackle older buildings more easily and with less disruption.”

Pioneering novel solutions

Mr Pearson highlighted a recent project that has demonstrated how heat pumps are not only suitable for new building developments, as is generally believed,

but that with the right design, they can be harnessed anywhere. A prime example is the Queens Quay heat network near Glasgow, a mixture of new-build and retrofit buildings.

The solution for West Dunbartonshire Council at Queens Quay has two 2.65MW ammonia water source heat pumps, and a 130m3 thermal store at the heart of the low-carbon system. At peak utilisation, this will provide around 80% of the 51,000MWh annual heat demand, with the remainder supplied by backup gas-fired boilers until these are swapped at some stage. There is scope for two further heat pumps of the same capacity to be added as the heat demand increases.

The heat pump harnesses the ambient heat from the river to evaporate the ammonia working fluid in titanium tubed spray chillers provided by Austrian spe -

cialist Holger Andreasen and Partner. The ammonia vapour when compressed heats to around 100°C, thus allowing heat to be transferred to the district heating network via Vahterus heat exchangers raising the water from around 60°C to 80°C.

This water is distributed via a 1.5km district heat network serving the 23-hectare development. It will eventually serve 1,200 homes, and the associated infrastructure needed to support these, such as health centres and commercial facilities. As the heat is transferred the ammonia is condensed to a high-pressure liquid. Allowing this to expand through a Danfoss expansion valve results in the ammonia seeking heat to evaporate.

The final clever bit aside from lots of pressure and temperature sensors (Danfoss and Dean and Wood) and hundreds of pressure fittings from Hydrasun

on the oil management system is that the electrical power harnessed by ABB motors makes up only approximately 33% of the useful heat delivered.

Simple physics

When asked about the further prospects, Mr Pearson admitted that conditions are not ideal: “In the UK, we have legally binding decarbonisation targets. The delivery legislation is evolving but progress needs to be faster; we are really lagging behind most European countries. Despite the highest amount of renewable electricity from wind in Europe, at some of the lowest costs in the world, the purchase price of electricity is tied to gas. This, plus a suite of policy costs, raises it by around 700%.

“The fact is that there is not a single building in the UK that could not be heated with a heat pump, including the Houses of Parliament. Coupled with significant renewable electricity generation, this should see the Government's targets regarding decarbonisation being met quite easily. However, with developers still building new houses with gas boilers, older buildings free from any obligation to decarbonise (even public sector ones)

and electricity hiked so dramatically, the potential for heat pump installations large and small is sailing away from us not towards us.

“Rather than offer subsidies to overcome the generic deficiencies of the power market, the Government should remove levies on electricity for heat pumps. This would then see private institutional investors ploughing billions of pounds into the market raising billions in tax revenue.

“If we can make electricity for less than 4p/kWh, why not just add a 20% delivery levy, provided it was windy (it usually is in winter) and allow heat pumps to be privately funded? The gaps in wind generation could easily be bridged with top up boilers in the short-term and this would actually encourage more strategically located deployments of wind farms close to where heat is needed”.

Moving a dysfunctional market

Mr Pearson affirmed that sustainability is something that is ingrained in the very core of the business. His responsibilities cover three areas – offering existing and new customers heat pumps as an alternative and preferred solution to burning fossil fuel.

The second area is data analytics –measuring whether the customer’s system is managed correctly, in order to establish whether an improvement, sometimes up to 50%, can be achieved with the existing source, thus helping clients to achieve a more sustainable use of electricity.

The third area is the sustainability of the business itself, to make sure that Star develops in line with the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals. “There's much more to sustainability than just energy use,” he said, “it covers health and education and various other aspects. That’s why I agreed to become a Visiting Professor at Edinburgh Napier Universityto help spread the knowledge we need and inspire students to join this mission. We are in the early stages, but we are trying hard. I'd like to see the needle moving in a positive direction in all 17 areas.”

Looking ahead, he affirmed that the company will continue to push for changes to this dysfunctional market. Changes are slow, but Star Refrigeration hopes to see more project wins soon.

Successful schemes to date have utilised the now ended Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), so it is imperative we focus on the underpinning business models that make clean district heating a reality. While there are still projects being delivered out with this; they are utilising funding from elsewhere and typically smaller than what should be being aimed for.

“People, planet, profit isn’t an original mantra of Star’s,” Mr Pearson concluded, “but it seems to fit pretty we ll.” n

David Pearson, Group Sustainable Development Director