Cooling systems designed and operating without regard for an entire facility’s different cooling needs can be big energy wasters. For instance, in far too many cases, centralized ammonia compressors are designed to achieve a maximum degree of cold, even though that level may be needed for only one process. Although other parts of the plant require varying degrees of refrigeration, they feed off the centralized system.
Another approach, which Frigel calls intelligent process cooling, does away with the huge ammonia loads in a centralized compressor room and replaces them with a form of distributed cooling based on a closed-loop system. The central cooler uses heat exchangers and an internationally patented adiabatic chamber to cool water circulated to it from chillers positioned near each process cooling point. Each process dictates the type of chiller (water or air cooled) that is used. Microprocessor-based controllers maintain precise temperatures at each cooling point.