Page 28 - Climate Control News Magazine July 2021

Heat Exchangers
A sustainable approach
to thermal efficiency
FAMILY-OWNED FRUIT PRODUCER MONTAGUE IS PAVING A PATH OF SUSTAINABLE PRACTICE USING THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY AT ITS NEW $66 MILLION SITE. DORIS PRODANOVIC REPORTS.
Townsend, said the producer is committed to ongoing energy efficiency and sustainability within its business operations.
“During the design phase, it was identified there was a need for hot water to be supplied within the production environment. Due to the site’s location, there is no natural gas available, which is the typical heating source for water,” she said.
“With the refrigeration design engineers Liq- uid Ice Refrigeration, and the production equip- ment suppliers Compac, we investigated using reclaimed heat from the refrigeration process for heating. But as the project developed, the heating loads were significant, so we needed an alternative solution where refrigeration and heating could be provided by one efficient com- bined system.”
Montague partnered with South Australian natural solutions specialists Glaciem Cooling to provide the refrigeration and heating units in a combined package, which could work alongside the ammonia refrigeration systems and the Compac production equipment.
“The design process – with all key parties –
AS ONE OF Australia’s largest fruit growers, Montague had three elements in mind when it built its newest facility in Narre Warren North, Victoria – the efficient throughput of apple and stone fruit packing, a re- duction in operational costs, and sustainability.
The $66 million development of the 53,200 square metre site carries some of the most ad- vanced technology and sustainability initiatives seen in the country, according to Montague.
On the outside, the building’s design and mate- rials aim for thermal efficiency by maximising natural light to reduce electricity use. It has 100kw of solar panels, underground chutes to transfer or- ganic waste to worm farms and animal feed, and two 500,000-litre rainwater tanks for amenities use, cooling towers and orchard irrigation.
On the inside, it includes an automated stor- age retrieval system (ASRS), three grading sys- tems to inspect apples and stone fruit, a JASA Sleever – a 100 per cent recyclable packaging so- lution, aiming to replace plastic punnets with paper and cardboard punnets – as well as an Oporo automatic carton box filler.
Most notably, this Montague site is more than meeting the challenges when it comes to heating and cooling. A vertical cold storage room, which is 60 per cent smaller than a traditional room, can still store 3000 bins typically seen in such settings, while minimising the energy footprint of the site.
The introduction of a custom heat exchanger now uses heat from the refrigeration to heat wa- ter for wax drying tunnels.
Montague’s director of marketing, Nicole
CLIMATECONTROLNEWS.COM.AU
28