Unique Water Cooling Energy System Helps Cider Plant Keep Green
FMA Process Engineering has helped devise an environmentally friendly solution for process cooling at Aston Manor Cider’s new riverside production facility in Stourport-on-Severn.
The Lichfield-based project management, process consultancy and control system integration specialist has fulfilled the vision of Aston Manor’s Engineering Director, Paul Clifford, in creating a system that uses water from the adjacent River Severn to provide cooling energy for the apple juice concentration process. Only marginally warmer than when it was abstracted, all of the water is returned back to the river.
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Avoiding the need for a high-energy chiller
By implementing the river-water cooling system, Aston Manor Cider avoided the need to build a costly and potentially unsightly high-energy industrial chiller/cooling tower. Additionally, the time saved through the creation of the system helped ensure the plant was commissioned ahead of schedule. As a result, it was able to come online ready to process some 6,000 tonnes of apples during the 2014 harvest.
“It was highly rewarding to work on this inspiring project for the UK’s leading independent cider maker and help bring Paul Clifford’s imaginative solution to life,” comments FMA Process Engineer, Joseph Brooks.
“Following an extensive design study, we provided Aston Manor with a solution to comply with the EA regulations, as well as simulating and writing the software essential to keep the plant’s Alfa Laval juice evaporator and aroma recovery units operating at peak efficiency.”
Highly original solution
In what is believed to be the first installation of its kind, water from the River Severn is abstracted at a rate of 400m³ per hour and screened through Hydrok passive wedge wire cylinders, which prevent river life from entering the system. Specialist application pumps, supplied by the Pump Company, were integrated into the solution. The cider plant’s fermentation vessels and product chiller are then cooled by means of a water loop that is connected to an air-cooled chilling facility.
Addressed brief precisely
“The river-water cooling system was a particularly challenging aspect of the project, as there was no off-the-shelf solution available to replicate,” adds Paul Clifford. “FMA addressed our brief precisely and, by integrating their process control with the hardware of others, provided us with an extremely effective and environmentally friendly solution.”
Natural cooling power
It is anticipated that the use of the river-water cooling system will provide Aston Manor Cider with a maximum of 2.8 Mw of cooling power. In an associated project, FMA also took responsibility for designing and installing the plant’s effluent control system, which uses a series of holding tanks to strictly control delivery to the municipal sewerage system.
FMA: Process Engineering with Unconventional Wisdom
Founded in 1981, FMA provides innovative consultancy, project management and project solutions across the global brewing & drink, dairy, food, healthcare and sustainability sectors. A leading provider of automation and control services, as well as mechanical and electrical installations, FMA offers unrivalled expertise in liquid processing, with a particular focus on the brewery and dairy industries.
Totally independent, FMA takes pride in creating bespoke solutions and offers expertise across all stages of project life cycles, including: masterplan development, feasibility studies, capital justification, front-end engineering and detailed design, right through to full turnkey project completion. The insightful approach used by FMA in creating world-class solutions has resulted in it being recognised as providing ‘Unconventional Wisdom’.
FMA Process Engineering,
Three Spires House,
Station Road,
Lichfield,
Staffordshire
WS13 6HX, UK
T: +44 (0)1543 255152
F: +44 (0)1543 250578
