News

The "New compressors with waste heat technology and development of infrastructure for the reduction of energy consumption at Orkli" project was born in 2018 from the detection of an opportunity to improve the energy efficiency of compressed air compressors acquired in the last decade, and the need to renew them.

It was found that the efficiency of the compressors was very low, and as they were air-cooled, the heat was dissipated into the atmosphere, wasting an annual energy equivalent to around € 300,000. The project was born with the clear objective of making the most of this energy to heat water and use it in the company's industrial processes. This is where the concept of waste hot water or RWH came from.

Over the years, the project has become a reality and its scope of application has increased. Today, Orkli already consumes 58% of the energy generated by the compressors in the Arama lines, warehouse, thermocouples, magnetic groups, Ceramat underfloor heating and in the production of DHW for bathrooms and toilets, and this percentage is going to grow significantly by the end of the year.

The estimated energy savings from this use in Orkli's internal processes is €/year 220.000, and it is also 100% renewable energy, reducing electricity consumption and avoiding CO₂ emissions.

The project has exceeded everyone's expectations and has involved an investment of € 2.2 million.

In the consultations carried out through the EVE, the new system has been designed with a subsidy from the IDAE of 609,915 € and we are in the process of negotiating with the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa for a 15% tax exemption, to which must be added the savings generated in energy consumption for the company.

The benefits can be summarised as follows:

• More efficient air compression machines.
• Compressed air production capacity is almost doubled for future lines.
• Use of hot water from compressors to reduce electricity consumption in heating cleaning machines in production processes, bathrooms, showers, underfloor heating, etc., with the consequent removal of electric water heaters.
• Heating of the air in the Arama and Ordizia shipping docks to maintain the interior temperature and improve the comfort of the workers.
• Reduction of noise generated by compressors.
• Increased productivity of the automatic lines due to the elimination of waiting times when starting up machines by pre-heating the osmosis water.
• Comprehensive management of the system by monitoring, controlling and recording all parameters in the SCADA.

In addition to these excellent results, it should be added that even with these internal Orkli measures, a surplus of energy is generated in the compressors, which is why meetings have been held with the town council to transfer this surplus to heat the swimming pools of the Majori sports centre (Ordizia), with the possibility of also extending it to the ikastola and secondary school located nearby, with Orkli having already taken charge of the precise installation required up to the limits of the company's extension.

Since the end of March 2021, the system for using waste heat from the compressors has been implemented in stages, and to date, 500,000 kWh have already been used in Orkli's internal processes, with the consequent reduction of 165.5 Tn of CO₂ into the atmosphere.

These values will increase significantly with the connection to the compressor RCA system of the cleaning machines that are still pending.

 Informative poster