In partnership with German energy utility provider RheinEnergie, Ardagh Glass Packaging-Europe, part of the Ardagh Group, is installing two ammonia (R717) heat pumps as part of a 3.5MW (995.2TR) system to decarbonize heating at its Obernkirchen facility.
Ardagh previously heated the facility’s packing area with steam generated from hot flue gases from a conventional furnace used for glass melting. In 2023 the company replaced its gas-fired equipment with the NextGen hybrid melting furnace, equipped with 42 electrodes and capable of providing up to 80% of the heating for glass production.
“Choosing the heat pump system aligns with our ambition to make the Obernkirchen facility as sustainable as possible,” said Andreas Kehne, Ardagh’s Plant Director. “Together with our NextGen furnace, which uses renewable electricity to reduce emissions in every glass bottle, this is a key step in reducing the site’s carbon footprint.”
Additional details: The ammonia heat pumps, each with a heating capacity of 911kW (259TR), will form the heart of the heating installation, which will also include a new hot-water and waste-heat recovery system.
- Part of the design captures normally wasted warm air from four annealing lehrs – temperature-controlled ovens used to control glass cooling – and supplies it to the packing area for space heating.
- Construction and installation of the combined 3.5MW heating installation are already underway, with Ardagh expecting it to be commissioned and fully operational in November.
Other news: RheinEnergie’s new 150MW (42,651TR) ammonia-based district heat plant in Cologne, Germany, will use the Rhine River as a heat source to supply heat to roughly 50,000 households, with a projected COP of 3.
- Although construction at the site has only recently entered its main phase, the plant’s three integrally geared 50MW (14,217TR) capacity ammonia compressors are already at an “advanced stage” of manufacturing, according to Everllence.
- Commissioning is scheduled for 2028.
Quotable: “Industrial customers face the challenge of making their energy supply future-proof and economically viable,” said Emil Issagholian, Head of the Energy Services and District Heating Division at RheinEnergie. “This is precisely where our contracting solutions come in. The project in Obernkirchen exemplifies how we translate innovative technologies into marketable and transferable business models.”
“Choosing the heat pump system aligns with our ambition to make the Obernkirchen facility as sustainable as possible.”
Andreas Kehne, Ardagh’s Plant Director at Obernkirchen.
