Non-electric cooling, heating systems seen helping industries lower power cost

Three companies 3Tech Corporate Limited, operating in Nigeria through the LionRock Brand, manufacturers of diesel generators and accessories, Broad Group, one of the biggest air conditioning system solutions provider and ASB Valiant Ltd, a Nigerian power company are driving efforts to mainstream cogeneration and trigeneration technology which are forms of combined heat and power (CHP) in Nigeria.

With Africa’s largest economy’s abysmal power supply situation, large business are relying on self power generation through diesel powered generators but are not able to ensure energy efficiency, pollutes the environment with their operations and raises production costs by about 40 percent according to manufacturers.

“The technology basically means that instead of having to rely on electricity for air-conditioning, there are solutions especially for industries, hotels and office complexes that run these generators and they also have electric chillers, for big industrial cooling, what you then do is to take the waste exhaust from these generators or you can use the hot water used to cool them to drive another equipment called an absorption chiller, ” said Ayodele Ikumapayi, president and CEO of ASB Valiant at an exhibition held in Abuja on October 26.

In the combustion of fossil fuel, the mechanical output is used to turn a generator to produce electricity. The remaining heat energy is normally dissipated in the atmosphere to keep the combustion engine in operation.  Recovering waste heat for other work is the key concept of cogeneration while trigeneration provides cooling through an absorption chiller.

Ayodele said it is a non-electric chiller which for instance could use about 400 Kw electric chiller, if  a hotel load, for example is about 500 kW, this takes it to 900Kw. “Instead of that what you can do is use your 900 kW you have from either the hot water or from the exhaust of the generator that you are using, you can harvest that and use it to drive these non-electric chiller and that will save you the cost of buying fuel by almost another 400kW, so that’s a huge savings for you,” said Ikumapayi.

The technology is part of global energy conservation revolution. “We want to make industrial operations more efficient. we are hoping to assist hotels, and industries cut operating and capital expenditure relating to power. It can save a lot of energy cost are reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Aires Siu, business development director of 3Tech Corporate Ltd.

The companies said that those expected to benefit from the technology include industries such as food processing industries, some of the paper mills, which normally use a lot of heat, typical city, hospitals, hotels and commercial office, data centres which use a lot of conditioner and hot water like in hotel for their operation.

“We have 180m people struggling to use 4,000MW of electricity and many of these industries consume the bulk of these power, there is nothing wrong if they generate their own power and then find an effective way to maximise their generation.

“Today they are not getting enough generation from the grid and they are spending a lot of money in buying diesel. The government is cooperative and ministry of science of technology is in support,” said Ikumapayi.

ISAAC ANYAOGU