Active Coolers are the newest technology within the renewable energy industry. Designed by ElectraTherm, the integrated heat to power technology provides enough energy to power the cooler and produce additional electricity. With many corporations naturally progressing towards sustainability, the first place they will look to rectify is their waste.
What is an Active Cooler?
It uses the organic rankin cycle (ORC) to turn waste heat into electricity. It’s suitable for extremely high temperatures and provides enough energy to power both the cooler and additional electricity for the company using it. The diagram below outlines the entire process:
What’s Special About The Technology?
It removes heat energy from high temperature process streams by converting some of the energy into mechanical work and, subsequently, electricity. This is an economical solution for facilities that already require process cooling because it helps reduce the costs associated with removing heat energy that they have already paid for once in the form of electricity or fuel before. The cooler runs entirely on the electricity it generates, which reduces the carbon footprint associated with the overall heating and cooling processes.
Companies The Active Cooler Would Benefit
Any companies that require to cool down heat quickly within their processes. The real benefit comes from the cross section between a company that generates a lot of waste heat and needs to cool temperatures down quickly. Outlined below are a few industries this includes:
- Breweries
- The rubber industry
- Businesses using extrusion or vulcanization
- Businesses with a waste heat formula of gallons / minute
- Industrial and manufacturing businesses that use a lot of process heating or produce a lot of heat during daily operations
What Is The Financial Scope?
The use of energy sources is starting to shift in America, which makes this technology more viable. Natural gas is very inexpensive right now and will be for the next 20 years due to fracking. In hand with this, electricity rates are rising so the cost parity of installing an active cooler now is very favorable.
Many manufacturers used liberally heat when natural gas first become cheap, and with it remaining cheap for the considerable future, there is increased waste heat to take advantage of and turn into electricity. This means a spark spread exists between the volumes of waste heat and the amount of cheap electricity it can generate. EnergyLink’s CEO, Chris, comments that this technology “is chasing the efficient frontier,” with it’s ability to turn waste heat into inexpensive electricity.
