igus has developed a Machine Heat Recovery System (MHRS) that heats industrial factories with waste coolant water from machines, saving on gas costs and CO2 emissions. The company is making the technology accessible to other industrial companies, estimating that if all injection moulders worldwide use the system, over one million tonnes of CO2 and 548 million cubic metres of gas could be saved.
igus believes that adopting this technology by all injection moulders globally could reduce over 1 million tons of CO2 emissions and save 548 million cubic meters of gas. The system is suitable for low-temperature operation and can adjust to fluctuating cooling circuit temperatures. “With this in-house heating system, we can reduce gas consumption to zero in the future. In addition, we need less electrical energy for cooling,” said igus CEO Frank Blase. The company is gradually reducing compressed air energy to lower energy costs. Eventually, the company aims to rely entirely on machine heat for heating their factory and office areas.
The MHRS captures the heat from the hydraulic motors of moulding machines, which would usually be lost through cooling towers. The MHRS redirects hot water flows to fan heaters. This reduces the cooling demand of the cooling tower and eliminates the previous gas heating. Therefore, this eliminates the need for an expensive heat pump or a heat exchanger, reducing temperature losses.
Dennis Berninger, Factory Manager at igus, stated that the company sees great potential for the MHRS in the industry and has made the concept available to other companies free of charge. “During our research, we found no published instructions ourselves. We are already providing information on how MHRS and the developed control device work with our website,” he said.
The MHRS is an important step towards igus’ goal of achieving completely CO2-neutral buildings and production by 2025. The company plans to install nine fan heaters in their 7,209 square metre logistics centre. Additionally, this move has the potential to save approximately 31.5 tons of CO2 emissions per year.