Following reports UK greenhouse gas emissions have risen year-on-year, Alfa Laval has launched its latest, most sustainable T21 gasketed plate heat exchanger (GPHE) to help energy-intensive facilities and plants save tonnes of carbon dioxide through highly efficient cooling and minimised energy consumption.
According to a June 2023 report from the Office for National Statistics, UK greenhouse gas emissions rose by 3% to just to over 502 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent between 2020 and 2021. These findings followed an announcement from the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Authority declaring a 2.4% annual increase in CO2 emissions covered by the ETS in 2022 - up 2.7 million tonnes from 2021 to 110.6 million tonnes in total.
These findings followed an announcement from the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) Authority declaring a 2.4% annual increase in CO2 emissions covered by the ETS in 2022 – up 2.7 million tonnes from 2021 to 110.6 million tonnes in total[2].
These figures, alongside tightening sustainability legislation, underlines the impact reviewing existing process equipment and specification processes could have on power-hungry plants and facilities.
According to Gemma Reeves, Business Unit Manager for Heat Transfer at Alfa Laval, sector sustainability strategies should be expanded to focus on minimising energy use and realising heat recovery opportunities.
Advanced, efficient plate heat exchanger technologies such as the T21 will be key to this.
“Energy efficiency can account for more than 40 per cent of emissions reductions in the next 20 years and will be crucial to achieving net zero,” she says. “Considering 50% of today’s potential for energy savings comes from industry, and 30% can be achieved from buildings, this puts pressure on power-intensive sectors to decarbonise.
For more information on the T21, CLICK HERE.
“For example, our new T21’s upgraded plates increase overall thermal efficiency, and its flexible configuration means its heat transfer area can be modified, making it suitable for a wide range of applications across plants looking to decarbonise.
Energy efficiency can account for more than 40 per cent of emissions reductions in the next 20 years and will be crucial to achieving net zero
The new T21 includes Alfa Laval’s energy-driven patented efficiency features, including CurveFlow™ distribution area technology to improve media flow and minimise fouling risks, alongside the company’s unique OmegaPort™, which further enhances flow and thermal efficiency.
The T21 also incorporates the possibility to further optimise the unit efficiency with Alfa Laval’s FlexFlow™ plate design, which uses asymmetric channels to optimise pressure drop utilisation and make additional improvements to thermal efficiency when unequal flows are in play.
“GPHEs are often crucial to many facility processes, so ensuring best possible performance and equipment specification is a must for energy-intensive plants,” Gemma concludes. “Collaboration across the supply chain will be required to ensure power consumption can be reduced and operators’ decarbonisation journeys remain on-track.
Specifying effective solutions such as the T21 will be crucial to this, so it is vital site decisionmakers work in close partnership with suppliers to identify opportunities where upgraded equipment can help turn potential efficiencies into reality.”
For more information on the T21, CLICK HERE.
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