Cooling solutions for the circular economy, technotrans wins a major order from UBQ Materials
Meinerzhagen (Germany), 7 April 2022 – Sustainable cooling solution for a ground-breaking up-cycling process ensuring the transformation of household waste into thermoplastic material: technotrans develops the central cooling and heating circuit for the first European production location of UBQ Materials. The company from Israel awards the contract for the design and implementation of an efficient cooling and heating circuit to technotrans SE group. The initiative with a focus on the economical use of energy resources is intended to be a flagship project for the development of other innovative sustainability concepts. The start of operations is planned for the end of 2022. The order volume is in the seven-digit range.
“The solutions initiated by technotrans as well as their ability to complete international projects of this magnitude were very convincing,” says Uwe Geissler, project coordinator at UBQ Materials, explaining the decision in favour of the specialist for thermal management solutions. “We anticipate that our production operations will benefit greatly from the operational safety, availability, energy efficiency and low carbon footprint of the solutions as well as from technotrans’ expertise.”
Two cooling circuits for a patented conversion process
technotrans is responsible for planning the central cooling system at the new recycling location in Berg op Zoom in the Dutch Zeeland region. The challenge: To comply with the stringent emission restrictions, the company is developing an efficient cooling system with a high proportion of heat recovery. To this end, technotrans uses a combined concept based on two cooling circuits plus a connected hot water system. “Our customised system fulfils the stringent requirements concerning the production of a climate-positive (or carbon-negative) thermoplastic material,” says Nicolai Küls, Managing Director of technotrans solutions GmbH.
To ensure the operational reliability and availability of the UBQ™ conversion process, a modern heat pump system with a recooler and a capacity of 2,800 kW is used for the continuous cooling of the production machinery to 15°C. In addition, a second circuit of the system with a capacity of 850 kW ensures a permanent temperature level of 20°C of the exhaust air emitted by the production machinery. Both cooling circuits are rated for an annual operating time of 7,700 hours at a minimum.
Integrated waste heat process
An additional high-temperature heat pump, which is realised in cooperation with SPH Sustainable Process Heat GmbH, is connected to the cooling circuit for the production machinery. This modern cooling and heat pump technology raises the temperature level of the system in a dual-step process to 130°C. With a capacity of 1,367 kW, the hot water circuit heats the elementary drying system based on the waste heat originating from the cooling processes. “Our close involvement in this pioneering UBQ production system speaks for our proven competence in the field of cooling solutions,” says Küls. “The fact that we also hold full responsibility in the heat management area underlines our holistic approach to solutions.”
technotrans will have completed the integration of the cooling system into the production concept at the new location in the Netherlands by the end of 2022. UBQ Materials will use the system to produce extremely climate-friendly thermoplastic material from household waste with the aid of its patented conversion process and supply this material to the construction and automotive industries, for example. In the future, the recycling company plans to reach an annual output of over 70,000 tons of UBQ™. For every ton produced, the company will offset 11.7 tons of CO2 equivalent.
Supporting circular economy concepts
Michael Finger, spokesman of the board of technotrans SE, says about the high-volume order: “With our solutions, we strongly support the proliferation of circular economy concepts and supply highly efficient and sustainable solutions.” The systems provided by the company help its customers to considerably reduce their carbon footprint. However, the order from UBQ is just the beginning. “As soon as our concept has proved its worth, we would like to participate in similar projects of this kind.”
For further information, please visit: https://www.technotrans.de/
