The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, August 2007.

©Copyright 2007 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and

Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically
or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE.

The search for recoverable heat from industrial refrigeration systems often begins in the engine room.

Heat Recovery
In Industrial
Refrigeration
By Douglas T. Reindl, Ph.D., P.E., Member ASHRAE; and Todd B. Jekel, Ph.D., P.E., Member ASHRAE

D uring the past year, concepts of sustainability have received will benefit by improved competitiveness
a great deal of emphasis within ASHRAE. This article explores
one aspect of sustainability in the context of industrial ammonia
today, but they will also be uniquely posi-
tioned to compete in a future with energy
prices that are certain to escalate. Because
refrigeration is often the single largest
refrigeration systems. In this article, we explore approaches of energy consumer in food production and
storage facilities, it is a natural target for
increasing the use of primary energy consumed during the course efficiency improvements.
With the cost of energy continuing
of refrigeration system operation. Specifically, approaches of to rise, now is the time to revisit op-
portunities and evaluate approaches
gathering and using heat normally discarded from a refrigeration that can better use primary energy to
system are discussed and evaluated.
About the Authors
Many industrial refrigeration system efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their
Douglas T. Reindl, Ph.D., P.E., is a professor and
end-users are increasingly focusing on utility infrastructure. Those end-users who director, and Todd B. Jekel, Ph.D., P.E., is assistant
identifying operating principles and tech- proactively seek opportunities to improve director at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s In-
nologies that can effectively improve the the energy efficiency of their operations dustrial Refrigeration Consortium in Madison, Wis.

22 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org August 2007

achieve a facilities’ operational objectives. Here we explore
the potential for recovering thermal energy (heat) from in-
dustrial refrigeration systems. Using recovered heat offers
the potential for reducing both the direct primary energy
consumption associated with refrigeration system operation,
as well the consumption of primary energy used to meet
heating demands directly. Potential applications for using
waste heat from an industrial refrigeration system include
underfloor heating (e.g., as required for freezers), cleanup
water pre-heating, domestic water heating, boiler makeup
water heating, and space heating (for both temperature and
humidity control).
As compelling as heat recovery sounds, it is possible to im-
properly apply and/or control heat recovery equipment; thereby,
increasing the overall energy consumption of a refrigeration
system relative to a base operation without heat recovery. Let’s
begin by first understanding the fundamentals this opportunity
presents and then we will provide information to help you
determine whether or not heat recovery has application in a
given plant or facility.
Heat Recovery Overview
For the purposes of this article, we define heat recovery
as gathering and using thermal energy that normally would
be rejected from the system to the ambient environment. At
a fundamental level, refrigeration systems absorb heat from
spaces or products where it is unwanted and reject that heat at
a higher energy state to the outdoor ambient environment. Heat
recovery strategies attempt to “find a home” for a portion of
the heat that is normally rejected from the system. Some key
issues need to be considered in evaluating the potential for heat
recovery in a given application including:
• Quantity of heat required, Btu (kJ);
• Rate of heat required, Btu/h (kWT);
• “Quality” of heat required, °F (°C); and
• Time of day the heat is required (coincidence of heat avail-
ability and demand).
Theoretically, any quantity of heat that can be recovered
from an industrial refrigeration system offers the potential for
system efficiency improvement. Practically, the quantity of
recoverable heat must be large enough to warrant the invest-
ment in capital equipment, as well as any additional opera-
tional overhead (e.g., maintenance) or increased complexity
required to use the waste heat.
The “quality” of heat is another factor that may limit the ex-
tent to which thermal energy is recoverable from an industrial
refrigeration system, which is a detail that will be discussed
shortly. Finally, it is desirable to have the availability of the waste
heat stream be coincident with the demand. In cases where there
is a time mismatch between the supply of recovered heat and
demand, one or more storage tanks will be needed to accumulate
the recovery-heated fluid (e.g., hot water storage).
August 2007
Locating Recoverable Heat
For industrial refrigeration systems, the number of locations
within the system suitable for recovering heat is limited. It is
also important to recognize, evaluate, and reduce to the extent
possible, any penalty or operational risk associated with the
presence of heat recovery equipment (e.g., refrigerant-side
pressure drop). The following are potential locations within an
industrial refrigeration system that could supply thermal energy
suitable for recovery:
• Oil cooling/heat rejection (fluid-cooled screw compres-
sors)
• Head cooling (reciprocating compressors)
• High-stage discharge gas stream
· Reciprocating compressors
· Screw compressors
• Booster discharge gas stream (minimal opportunity)
Today’s screw compressors use oil for lubrication, control ac-
tuation, and rotor sealing to maintain the machine’s volumetric
efficiency during the compression process. A consequence of
using oil in these machines is that the oil absorbs a portion of the
“heat of compression” from the refrigerant as it moves through
the compressor. As such, the oil leaving a screw compressor will
be at or near the machine’s refrigerant discharge temperature.
Apart from the variants of liquid injection-type oil cooling
strategies, maintaining proper compressor operation requires
post-compression oil cooling to limit the oil’s temperature rise.
Thermosiphon and water-cooled (or glycol-cooled) oil cool-
ing heat exchangers are used on screw compressor packages
to lower the oil from discharge temperature to an acceptable
supply temperature (e.g., 130°F [54°C]). Thus, oil cooling heat
rejection is one potential source for heat recovery.
Reciprocating compressors that operate at moderate to high
compression ratios require a supply of water, glycol, or refriger-
ant to the machine’s heads for cooling. This head cooling fluid
(water or glycol) is a second potential source of recoverable
heat recovery.
Recovering heat from refrigerant gas leaving the discharge
of a compressor is another readily identifiable opportunity for
industrial refrigeration systems. The quality of heat available for
recovery will depend on the compressor technology (recipro-
cating vs. screw), the compressor’s operating suction pressure,
discharge pressure, and load. For screw compressors, the quality
of heat will also vary depending on whether the machine uses
internal (i.e., liquid injection) or external oil cooling. By their
very nature, compressors equipped with liquid injection oil
cooling have lower discharge temperatures; therefore, a lower
quality or grade of thermal energy available for recovery. Liq-
uid-injected machines have a higher discharge mass flow rate
of vapor so the quantity of heat recoverable is often greater than
thermosiphon or external oil cooled packages.
Let’s look at how much heat we can recover and the quality
of heat we have available from these sources.
ASHRAE Journal 23
 105
Ammonia Assumes:
1,600
Condensing (~90%) 11.4°F (–11.4°C) Saturated Suction Temperature

Usable Heat (Btu/h per ton)

1,400 95°F (35°C) Saturated Condensing Temperature
104 185°F (85°C) Discharge Temperature
Desuperheating (~10%) 1,200
1
1. 2
1. 1,000
Pressure [psia]

1.3
103 220°F 800
1 .4 R
185°F m-
/ lb
Btu
1.5 600
95°F
95°F 2
65°F
400
102
11. 4°F
200
1 Heat recovery rate is on a per ton of refrigeration basis.
0
90 110 130 150 170 190
101
0. 2 0. 4 0. 6 0. 8
Minimum Usable Temperature (°F)

Figure 2: Recoverable sensible thermal energy based on minimum

100
–100 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1,000 usable temperature.
Enthalpy [Btu/lbm ]

Figure 1: Desuperheating and condensing energy split for a non- mal energy in the form of both sensible (superheat) and latent
liquid-injected, high-stage twin screw compressor operating at 25 (condensing) heat. Figure 1 illustrates the compression process
psig suction (11.4°F [–11.4°C] saturated) and 181 psig discharge from suction (1) to discharge (2) for a typical fluid-cooled
(95°F [35°C] saturated). screw compressor operating with ammonia at 25 psig suction
(11.4°F [–11.4°C] saturated) and 181 psig condensing (95°F
Heat Recovery Potential [35°C] saturated). In this best case scenario, only 11.5% of the
Since most industrial refrigeration systems today use screw total system heat rejection is available in the superheat range
compressors, we will focus our attention on heat recovery (higher quality) while the remaining 88.5% of the heat is avail-
potential from this compression technology. We will explore able in the phase change from vapor to liquid (lower quality).
opportunities to recover heat from both screw compressor Unfortunately, the highest quality of heat lies in the superheat
discharge gas and oil cooling heat exchangers. We will not region where the lowest quantity of heat is available. For the
consider heat recovery from reciprocating compressors (head given operating conditions, the total heat rejection require-
cooling or discharge gas) here due to the limited use of this ment to condense the discharge gas to a saturated liquid is
compression technology. 13.9 mBtu/h per ton of useful refrigeration (1.2 kWTHERMAL/
kWREFRIGERATION).
Screw Compressor Discharge Gas The natural question then becomes: How much thermal
In exploring the potential for heat recovery from the discharge energy can be recovered from the compressor’s discharge gas
gas stream from a screw compressor, there are four permutations stream? The answer depends on the minimum usable tem-
of the basic options that could be considered: perature by the process receiving the heat. For the purposes of
• High-stage compressor exploring the heat recovery potential, let’s assume an ideal heat
· Liquid injection oil cooled exchanger (zero approach temperature). If heat at temperatures
· External oil cooled as low as 95°F (35°C) can be utilized, the entire heat of rejection
• Booster compressor (sensible and latent) can be recovered (i.e. 13.9 mBtu/h·ton).
· Liquid injection oil cooled If higher temperatures are required, the recoverable heat will
· External oil cooled diminish as the minimum usable temperature rises as shown
For compressors that use liquid injection (and its variants) in Figure 2. For example, the recoverable quantity of heat at a
for oil cooling, the discharge gas temperature is suppressed to minimum usable temperature of 110°F (43°C) is a paltry 1.3
cool the oil leaving the compressor. Normally, these machines mBtu/h·ton (0.11 kWTHERMAL/kWREFRIGERATION)—a portion
have discharge gas temperatures in the range of 130°F (54°C) of the sensible fraction of rejected heat from the system.
whereas external oil cooled machines operate with discharge An issue that arises in considering heat recovery from the
temperatures as high as 185°F (85°C). Because the discharge discharge of external oil cooled screw compressors is the re-
gas temperature from liquid-injected screw compressors is duction in discharge temperature as the system head pressure
lower, this technology is less attractive for heat recovery mean- decreases. Expect the discharge gas temperature for this type of
ing that the economic criteria for the majority of most end-us- screw compressor to decrease with lower head pressure at the
ers will not be met. Let’s consider the more optimistic case of rate of approximately 0.6°F/psig (4.8°C/bar). In other words,
external oil cooled screw compressors. a machine that has a discharge temperature of 185°F (85°C)
The discharge refrigerant gas from a compressor has ther- at discharge pressure of 180 psig (12.4 bar) can be expected

24 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org August 2007

to drop to approximately 167°F (75°C) when the system head
104
pressure drops to 150 psig (10.3 bar). The advantage of lowering
Ammonia
system head pressure is improved efficiency of compression. 1 .1
1 .2
This advantage significantly outweighs the decrease in recover- 1 .3
103 Recoverable (~5%)
able heat from compressor discharge gas. 160°F
1 .4

A potential source for heat recovery is the discharge gas Non-Recoverable (~95%) -R
l bm
tu /

Pressure [psia]
95°F 5B
1.
stream from booster compressors. Although recovering heat
from booster discharge gas has the desirable effect of reduc- 102

ing high-stage compressor load, the usable heat is in a very 10°F

10 °F
10°F
2′
narrow range within the superheat region. Figure 3 shows that
the proportion of the total discharge superheat is higher but the 101 - 40°F
1′
0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
fraction that is useful for heat recovery is less than a high-stage
compressor. In the case being considered, discharge vapor leaves
the booster at approximately 160°F (71°C) and is desuperheated 100
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
to 95°F (35°C). Although there is still energy available in the Enthalpy [Btu/lbm]
superheat from 95°F (35°C) to the +10°F (–12°C) intermediate
temperature, the thermal energy is of low quality; therefore, it is Figure 3: Recoverable heat in desuperheating to 95°F (35°C) with
usually not considered recoverable. As a fraction of the total heat remainder as heat rejected to high stage for a booster twin screw
rejected from the booster, only 5% is considered useful for heat compressor operating at –40°F (–40°C) saturated suction and 10°F
recovery. While the percentage does not sound impressive, the (–12°C) saturated discharge temperature.
impact of reduction of high-stage load can make this attractive
if the pressure drop on the vapor side of the heat exchanger is
kept below 1 psi (0.069 bar).
Beyond the thermal considerations, recovering heat from
the discharge gas stream of any compressor brings additional
concerns including:
• Parasitic effects of refrigerant-side pressure drop due to
presence of heat transfer equipment, which translates to
increased booster horsepower; and
• Potential risks to refrigeration system in the event of a heat
exchanger failure (e.g., water incursion directly into the
refrigeration system).
Recognizing that compressor discharge gas heat recovery
offers a relatively modest opportunity to cost-effectively use
this relatively low grade of energy, we now consider another
alternative.
Oil Cooler
Screw Compressor Oil Coolers
Most practitioners consider thermosiphon as the state-of-the- Photograph 1: Screw compressor package equipped with a glycol-
art in oil cooling for screw compressor packages because of its cooled oil cooler.
inherent efficiency. Thermosiphon oil cooling utilizes saturated
high-pressure liquid as the “coolant” in a refrigerant-to-oil dissatisfied many plant personnel regarding operation. Improp-
heat exchanger integrated into the compressor package. The erly sized thermosiphon pilot receivers, vent lines, return lines
lower temperature refrigerant liquid within the heat exchanger or supply lines have individually or collectively contributed to
absorbs heat from the hot oil and evaporates. The high-pres- a number of problem installations. In addition, thermosiphon
sure refrigerant vapor is then vented to the condenser(s) where oil cooling systems are not particularly conducive to system
it is recondensed and made available to continue cooling oil expansions. When problems arise in thermosiphon systems
or meeting system loads. Thermosiphon oil cooling heat ex- (which happens quite frequently), those problems are difficult
changers are a type of gravity flooded evaporator. Because of and frustrating to troubleshoot and solve.
its principle of operation, thermosiphon oil cooling requires A less frequently applied oil cooling heat exchange tech-
minimal energy for heat rejection—only incremental condenser nology alternative is the water-cooled (or glycol-cooled) oil
fan and pump energy. cooler. In this approach, water or glycol is used as a secondary
Thermosiphon oil cooling is particularly effective when fluid to absorb heat from the oil. Photograph 1 shows a screw
properly engineered; however, it is also a technology that has compressor package (booster) equipped with a glycol-cooled

August 2007 ASHRAE Journal 25

 900 7.0

Oil Cooling Heat Rejection (mBh/ton)

Fluid Cooled Oil Cooler Fluid Cooled Oil Cooler Saturated Suction Temperature
Oil Cooling Heat Rejection (mBh)

800 Twin Screw Compressor Twin Screw Compressor

6.0 –40°F (–40°C)
700 –40°F (–40°C)
5.0
600
0°F (–18°C) 4.0
500
3.0
400
10°F (–12°C) 2.0 0°F (–18°C)
300
10°F (–12°C)
200 1.0 30°F (–1°C)
30°F (–1°C) Saturated Suction Temperature
100 0.0
75 77 79 81 83 85 87 89 91 93 95 75 77 79 81 83 85 87 89 91 93 95
Saturated Condensing Temperature (°F) Saturated Condensing Temperature (°F)

Figure 4: Oil cooling heat available over a range of suction and Figure 5: Normalized oil cooling heat available over a range of
discharge conditions. suction and discharge conditions.

oil cooler. In this case, the glycol is pumped through the oil (temperature). The question now becomes: What quantity of
cooler absorbing heat from the oil and then rejecting that heat heat is available from an oil cooling heat exchanger?
to a closed-circuit fluid cooler located outdoors. It is this heat The quantity of heat available from an oil cooler will depend
that could be recovered and used for meeting relative modest on a number of factors including:
heating demands in a plant. • Size of the compressor (capacity);
Typically, an oil cooling heat exchanger receives hot oil from • Operating suction pressure;
the screw compressor’s oil separator at a temperature near the • Operating discharge pressure; and
compressor’s discharge gas temperature, which ranges between • Part-load ratio.
160°F to 185°F (71°C to 85°C), and cool the oil to a supply Figure 4 illustrates the trends in heat rejected through oil cool-
temperature of 130°F (54°C). With oil in this operating tempera- ing heat exchangers over a range of suction and discharge/con-
ture range we clearly have a heat source with reasonable quality densing conditions for a typical twin screw compressor package.

Recovered Energy Flow (gpm [Lpm])

SST SDT Discharge Temp. Compressor Capacity OCHR
°F (°C) °F (°C) °F (°C) Tons (kW) mBtu/h (kW) Desuperheater Oil Cooling
Heat Exchanger Heat Exchanger
95 (35) 181 (83) 419 (1474) 1102 (323) 13.5 (51) 40.1 (152)
–10 (–23) 85 (29) 176 (80) 432 (1519) 881 (258) 11.8 (33) 32.0 (121)
75 (24) 171 (77) 446 (1569) 677 (198) 10.3 (39) 24.6 (93)
95 (35) 181 (83) 538 (1892) 1056 (310) 17.2 (65) 38.4 (145)
0 (–18) 85 (29) 175 (79) 555 (1952) 815 (239) 14.7 (56) 29.6 (112)
75 (24) 168 (76) 571 (2008) 593 (174) 12.1 (46) 21.6 (82)
95 (35) 179 (82) 682 (2399) 976 (286) 20.8 (79) 35.5 (134)
10 (–12) 85 (29) 172 (78) 702 (2468) 716 (210) 17.3 (66) 26.0 (99)
75 (24) 163 (73) 722 (2539) 479 (140) 13.2 (50) 17.4 (66)
95 (35) 176 (80) 854 (3003) 861 (252) 24.4 (92) 31.3 (118)
20 (–7) 85 (29) 167 (75) 878 (3088) 584 (171) 19.0 (72) 21.2 (80)
75 (24) 156 (69) 902 (3172) 340 (100) 13.0 (49) 12.4 (47)
95 (35) 171 (77) 1,058 (3721) 709 (208) 26.9 (102) 25.8 (98)
30 (–1) 85 (29) 161 (72) 1,087 (3823) 427 (125) 19.7 (74) 15.5 (59)
75 (24) 149 (65) 1,117 (3928) 198 (58) 11.8 (44) 7.2 (27)

Table 1: Comparative heat recovery potential for compressor discharge vapor versus oil cooling heat exchanger for a mid-sized high-stage
screw compressor.

26 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org August 2007

The availability of heat from oil cooling
increases with increasing condensing
temperature (pressure) and/or decreasing
suction temperature (pressure). Figure 5
shows the normalized oil cooling load
(oil cooling heat rejected per ton of re-
frigeration capacity) for the same range
of discharge/condensing conditions with
the same typical twin screw compressor
package.
For the same high stage twin screw
compressor, Figure 6 shows the oil
cooling load expressed as a fraction of
the total heat of rejection as a function
of the saturated suction temperature
and saturated discharge (condensing)
temperature.
With fluid-cooled oil cooling heat
exchangers, it is feasible to achieve
recovered fluid temperatures from the
oil coolers in the range of 110°F (43°C)
based on a 55°F (13°C) supply. For such
temperatures, the recovery fluid flow
rate will depend on the fluid type (water,
ethylene glycol, propylene glycol) and
the oil cooling heat rejection. The recov-
ered heat flow ranges from 3.6 gpm per
100 mBtu/h (0.465 L/min per kW) of
oil cooling heat rejection (water) to 3.8
gpm per 100 mBtu/h of oil cooling heat
rejection (25%wt solution of ethylene
glycol in water).
To place the above two heat recovery
opportunities into perspective, let’s look at
the scale of recoverable heat using a mid-
range sized high-stage screw compressor
with external oil cooling. Performance
data for this machine over a range of
saturated suction temperatures (SST) and
saturated discharge temperatures (SDT)
is provided in Table 1. The compressor
performance data consisting of capacity,
oil cooling heat rejection (OCHR) and
discharge gas temperature is used to pre-
dict recovery hot water flow rates assum-
ing an entering water temperature of 55°F
(13°C) and a leaving water temperature of
110°F (43°C). The approach on each heat
recovery heat exchanger is assumed to
be 20°F (11°C). The estimated hot water
heat recovered from both a desuperheater
(located in the compressor discharge gas
stream) and an oil cooling heat exchanger
are provided.
August 2007
At low suction temperatures, the
heat available for recovery from the
oil cooler yields two to three times that
available in the discharge gas stream.
As the head pressure decreases, the heat
available for recovery in both the dis-
charge gas stream and oil cooling heat
exchanger decreases, as expected, with
the latter generally decreasing faster.
For higher suction temperature opera-
tion, the recoverable heat from the dis-
charge gas stream begins to approach
that of the oil cooling heat exchanger
during higher head pressure operation.
At high suction temperatures and low Advertisement formerly in this space.
condensing pressures, oil cooling loads
decrease at a faster rate, which dimin-
ishes the heat available for recovery
while the discharge gas stream heat re-
covery remains relatively flat. It is also
worthwhile to note that the recoverable
heat as a fraction of the compressor’s
refrigeration capacity decreases as the
suction pressure rises.
For example, the heat recovery fluid
flow rate from oil cooling heat exchangers
at the –10°F/95°F (–23°C/35°C) condi-
tion is 0.0957 gpm per ton (0.103 L/min
per kWT). When the suction temperature
rises to +20°F (–7°C) with a saturated
condensing temperature of 95°F (35°C),
the fluid flow rate to recover heat from
the oil cooling heat exchanger drops
threefold to 0.0367 gpm per ton (0.0395
L/min per kWT). Finally, the results
shown here for heat recovery from the
discharge gas stream do not include any
effects of refrigerant-side pressure drop
on the performance of compressors
operating.
The majority of the operating cost
savings with the above heat recovery
options is attributable to a reduction in
primary energy (natural gas or propane)
that would normally be used for heating.
Figure 7 shows the displaced heating
energy cost (savings) due to heat recovery
for a range of primary fuel costs and flow
rates. The recovered heating energy is as-
sumed to offset the operation of an 80%
efficient boiler that would normally be
used to provide the required heat.
Recovering heat from an industrial
refrigeration system has the added benefit
ASHRAE Journal 27
 0.35
Saturated Suction Temperature 160,000
Fraction of Total Heat Rejected [–]

–40°F (–40°C) $1.00/therm

0.30 Fluid Cooled Oil Cooler
140,000
Twin Screw Compressor

Heat Cost Savings ($/yr)

0.25 –28°F (–33°C) 120,000
$0.75/therm
0.20 100,000

0.15 80,000 $0.50/therm

0°F (–18°C)
0.10 60,000
10°F (–12°C)
40,000 $0.25/therm
0.05
30°F (–1°C)
20,000
0.00
0
75 77 79 81 83 85 87 89 91 93 95 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Saturated Condensing Temperature (°F) Average Water Flow (gpm)

Figure 6: Fraction of total heat of rejection that appears as an oil Figure 7: Annual heating cost savings for a 55°F (31°C) range
cooling load over a range of suction and discharge conditions. assuming the offset operation of an 80% efficient boiler.

of reducing the heat rejection load on the evaporative condens- Conclusions

ers, which leverages the primary heating energy savings. It is As the cost of fuels used for heating increases, the opportuni-
reasonable to assume that a plant will realize some incremental ties to economically recover heat from a refrigeration system
savings in evaporative condenser fan energy with the load grow. Traditional heat recovery approaches focus on recover-
reduction on the condensers. Conservatively, the added pump ing heat from the high stage compressor discharge gas stream
energy for the heat recovery system offsets any reduction in (desuperheater). An alternative that should not be overlooked
evaporative condenser water pump energy. is recovering heat from oil cooling heat exchangers on screw
compressor packages.
Other Considerations Advantages of this option include:
In evaluating the potential for heat recovery in specific plant • Ability to recover heat from both high-stage and booster
applications, a number of other factors warrant careful consid- compressor oil coolers;
eration. As mentioned previously, the demand for recovered • Allows recovery of relatively high-quality waste heat;
heat needs to be compared with the available supply. In situ- • Results in an oil cooling approach that is less prone to
ations where there is a mismatch, some form of heat storage problems compared to thermosiphon oil cooling;
will be needed. Related to this issue is providing redundancy • Use of sensible heat transfer fluid and pump provides more
in heat rejection. If you are considering recovering heat from control of the oil cooling (taking “Mother Nature” out of
oil cooling heat exchangers, it is important to provide some the traditional thermosiphon loop);
form of heat rejection redundancy such as the installation of • Accommodates addition of compressors during expansions
one or more closed-circuit fluid coolers that can be used dur- more easily than a thermosiphon oil cooling system;
ing periods when there is no plant demand for recovered heat. • Great retrofit opportunity for liquid injection oil cooled
With a secondary fluid such as glycol in the heat recovery loop, compressors;
another heat exchanger will be required if the application calls • Makes compressor oil cooling independent of the system
for heating potable water. pressures; therefore, facilitates easier startup; and
Be sure to check the mechanical code in the application’s • Allows the use of plate-frame heat exchangers without
jurisdiction as the heat exchanger likely will need to be a worrying about refrigerant-side pressure drop.
double-walled design. Finally, for retrofits, be sure to work Although the advantages are compelling, other factors need to
with your compressor manufacturer to evaluate any special be considered in implementing this heat recovery approach. First,
requirements for oil circulation, controls, interlocks, etc., on each compressor package needs to be fitted (or retrofitted) with
the package. an appropriate oil cooling heat exchanger. Second, the demand
For desuperheaters, it is important to evaluate the operational for heat needs to be matched with the production of heat by the
risks associated with heat exchanger failure. Refrigerant-side oil coolers. If there is a mismatch between demand and supply,
pressure drop needs to be minimized to make this option viable. extra infrastructure is needed to accommodate the mismatch.
Finally, implementation of a refrigerant vapor bypass should be Finally, the economics of recovering heat from oil cooling heat
considered for reliability. exchangers need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

28 ASHRAE Journal ashrae.org August 2007

Advertisement formerly in this space.