Sustainable and economical
energy
The Thalassothermie project, initiated in 2016, in partnership with
ADEME, the Hauts-de-France Region, the Boulonnais Agglomeration Community and Ferest Energies, has been in testing at NORFRIGO since January 2023.
This concept relies on using seawater (via a glycol-water loop and a heat exchanger) to condense our hot gases and recover this heat to power an industrial or district heating loop.
This generates no pollution and causes no disruption to the marine ecosystem, as the systems are separated by a glycol-water loop.
This sustainable approach contributes to our commitment to environmentally friendly practices while promoting energy efficiency.
The Norfrigo project:
This project focuses on implementing a demonstrator for the Norfrigo 6 & 7 warehouses.
It involves modifying part of the refrigeration system for these warehouses to meet a reduced energy footprint, regulatory requirements, and lower energy costs (due to an initial 5% annual increase in energy prices in 2016).
Currently, the system is shown in the adjacent figure, where condensation in the R134A circuit is achieved using air-cooled condensers located on the warehouse roof.
Norfrigo’s Thalassothermal Energy Concept:
These air-cooled condensers will be replaced by a glycol-water heat exchanger to transfer heat into the Loubet basin.
It would be possible to bypass this intermediate loop and thus improve the system’s efficiency by using a direct connection, but Norfrigo does not wish to be the operator of the seawater pump (discharge liability – water law).
Norfrigo, winner of the 2023 Hauts-de-France innovative companies awards in the “Saving money” category.
On Friday, December 1, 2023, Charles Vanappelghem, director of Norfrigo, received this award recognizing our innovative approach at the headquarters of the Hauts-de-France Region. More than 200 executives, large corporations, entrepreneurs, elected officials, and other stakeholders in economic development were present to share their vision of innovation.
The evaluation criteria were related to the novelty of the solution, its usefulness, competitive advantage, target market, but also its environmental impacts.
At Norfrigo, we believe in continuous innovation to shape a more sustainable future that respects our planet.
Stay tuned for more information on our exciting initiatives -> NORFRIGO