Project: RAFF Plastics – Adiabatic Dry Cooler
RAFF Plastics is specialized in the compounding, extrusion, and recycling of plastics since 1976. It’s an international company that’s both a processor and supplier of recycled plastics.
They collect industrial plastic waste and purify post-consumer waste for reuse. Then they recycle and process the plastic into new ready-to-use composites of polypropylene, high-density polypropylene, polystyrene, or polyvinyl chloride.
Annually, RAFF Plastics produces at least 60.000 tons of materials for grounding, granulates, and agglomerates. They achieve this outcome by keeping production lines running 24 hours a day.
Insufficient cooling power to increase production capacity
In the first place, RAFF Plastics contacted us because they wanted to increase their production capacity to meet customer demand.
Therefore, they needed more cooling power for these new production lines. Dirk, our representative, recalculated that the cooling capacity should be at least 1100 kW. After several discussions with the customer, we proposed a EUROCHILLER Adiabatic Dry Cooler totalling 1200 kW. This is to foresee sufficient cooling need also for future expansion.
After a year of transparently communicating and Dirk’s precise calculations, we gained the confidence of RAFF Plastics to solve this problem.
ADcooler: an adiabatic dry-cooler
We recommended installing an extra dry-cooler system of 1200 kW to guarantee the required cooling capacity. For a case like this, we always opt for an adiabatic system. This is because evaporative cooling is a sustainable and energy-efficient system.
In addition, it keeps the temperature constant by using ambient air to cool the process water. If we use water evaporation from the adiabatic pads, we get an inlet air temperature to the exchange batteries (dry-cooler), which is much lower than the ambient one.
So it happens that the Eurochiller ADcooler system cools the water at a temperature equal to the ambient one, with no process water contamination.
In conclusion, an adiabatic system offers a significant advantage at temperatures above 25 degrees due to the fact that you cool your incoming air.
Defining pipeline network in collaboration with CP&T
The last part of the plan before integration was to define the pipe network. We realized this in cooperation with CP&T, a partner we had worked with for a long time.
In this process phase, we needed to win the client’s confidence. The successful realization of earlier projects, the detailed calculations of Dirk, and the transparent way of communication played to our advantage.
Integration based on detailed planning
For the integration to go smoothly, this requires meticulous planning. To draw up this planning, it was important that our project managers, Dirk and Kristof, worked closely with RAFF Plastics. Thus, status meetings were held at least every two weeks.
Thanks to this close cooperation and transparent communication, unexpected elements, such as a delay in the delivery of components, are easily accommodated.
The first thing on the agenda was installing the tank, unit, and pumps. One of the biggest challenges here is to position them in a certain way so that they are as close as possible to each other.
The main reason is that the dry cooler must drain in the tank in winter conditions (to prevent freezing). This process runs more smoothly when it is close together, especially when you keep in mind that the piping must be placed under an angle of a minimum of 3 degrees.
We connect everything using the predetermined pipe network when everything is in position. Our partner CP&T took care of this successfully.
After that, it’s time for our in-house team to shine. You can take that literally, as we took care of the electrical integration. That said, a week in advance, everything was in order along our side and CP&T’s side. It’s always nice to avoid having a race against time on projects of this size.
Startup by our Italian partner
The very last step was to start up the new cooling installation. Eurochillers’ employees assisted us with the startup & finetuning of this installation. In this case, they came over from Italy for three days.
Our partner should correctly judge the value of this. Eurochiller gave everyone within RAFF Plastics the necessary explanation so they could start working on it themselves. Due to the easy control of the dry cooling unit, the customer was quickly acquainted with the use of the unit
We may speak of a successful project
The customer made a small comparison during summertime to check the adiabatic system’s functionality. He noticed that for the same setpoint, the new unit reached a temperature 8 degrees lower than the old unit, which was still in place. This feedback gave us the feeling of a successful project!
More info: Eurochiller Cooling