Taking advantage of the emerging green economy, Fast Freeze International in the northern NSW town of Casino has won a grant to upgrade its ageing freezer rooms.
As a small to medium sized business, Fast Freeze International couldn’t spend big dollars on specialist consultants.
Instead Fast Freeze trading company Richmond Dairies completed its grant application in-house and received a subsidy of over 25 per cent for an $800,000 upgrade.
Fast Freeze International processes milk from its own direct supply farms and other milk processors to produce a range of frozen dairy products used as ingredients by other manufacturers, mainly for the export market.
Like many ageing food processing facilities, Fast Freeze International was reliant on inefficient and high-maintenance refrigeration systems using the ozone depleting and high global warming potential HCFC R22.
In response to both rising electricity prices, and impending refrigerant supply constraints arising from the phase-out of R22 imports, as well as the need to maintain its reputation as a reliable supplier of world-class quality products, Fast Freeze needed to upgrade its freezers.
Fortunately, the project met the criteria for the federal government’s Clean Technology Investment Program (CTIP).
The contractor, Scantec Refrigeration Technologies, supplied a technical evaluation of the company’s existing energy use, and recommended a replacement system to generate energy savings.
Scantec's managing director Stefan Jensen says this information formed the basis of the company’s application and the CTIP funds were made available to help Fast Freeze reduce its reliance on harmful refrigerants.
“It is important for eligible businesses to realise that applications can be successful even if prepared by the grantee, provided the technical information required can be made available via parties other than specialist consultants,” Jensen says.
“We understand that some applications need the assistance of specialist consultants, but there are also many other instances where the information provided by a competent refrigeration contractor is sufficient for a successful outcome.”
In November 2012 Fast Freeze International was awarded a grant of $225,418 towards a total project cost of just under $800,000 to construct a new, larger and much more efficient and reliable freezer warehouse.
Central to the new state of the art refrigeration system is a roof mounted, containerised, two-stage ammonia refrigeration plant using Sabroe CMO reciprocating compressors on variable speed drive (VSD) operation supplied by Johnson Controls.
The low-temperature system operates on pumped liquid recirculation, and the chilled spaces use direct expansion. Much of the reduced operating costs are delivered by the Sabroe CMO compressor design that dramatically lowers power consumption, especially when operating at part load.
Further cost savings are delivered by easy maintenance procedures enabling all repairs to be carried out on site, reducing both repair costs and downtime.
Use of natural ammonia refrigerant also ensures Fast Freeze is not affected by carbon pricing and the HFC levy. Special design features of the ammonia compressors ensure low noise and low vibration levels, with safe, environmentally friendly operation and minimal leakage. Monitoring and alarm systems installed in the plant room provide additional peace of mind, ensuring early warning in the event of any malfunction.
The project will cut carbon emissions and electricity use by 65 per cent and result in $27,000 worth of power savings per year.
Fast Freeze International’s chief engineer Nick Pierce says the company is continually looking to improve the environmental impact of its operations and to reduce energy use.
“The amount of energy that can be saved with a well-designed refrigeration plant is very impressive,” Pierce says.
Construction services for the new freezer rooms were provided by Spaceframe Buildings (www.spaceframe.com), working in conjunction with Scantec Refrigeration.
The project demonstrates that with a collaborative effort between everyone involved in the project, existing government grants can be accessed without the use of complicated design and project management structures. More information at www.ausref.org.au.