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Combined heat, refrigeration and power for supermarket applications
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Combined heat, refrigeration and power for supermarket applications
The food Industry, food manufacturing, storage and retail, has a need for heating and electrical power as well as refrigeration. Invariably, plant is installed which consists of heating systems employing low pressure hot water, high pressure hot water or steam, vapour compression refrigeration systems and an electrical power supply derived from the National Grid.
The overall utilisation efficiency of these processes is low because of seasonal variations in demand and the relatively low electricity generation efficiency in power stations and distribution losses in the grid. One way of increasing the energy utilisation efficiency of food manufacturing, storage and retail facilities is through Combined Heating Refrigeration and Power (CHRP) or trigeneration. Trigeneration systems have been in operation for many years but only in a small number of food manufacturing industries. Recent increases in fuel prices, concerns about the environmental impacts of the food industry and developments in technology have increased interest in the application of trigeneration to the food industry.
This paper reviews the main technologies employed in trigeneration systems. The paper also outlines research, development and application challenges and explores the influence of the performance characteristics of trigeneration systems on energy performance and environmental impacts in supermarkets.
