Xchanger.co.uk glycol cooling

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
Glycol snap chillers ie the ones that drop milk to below 5 deg instantly are around £30k. These look more like heat exchangers which will have some benefit but would need supplementary cooling such as ice builders or DX to work properly?
 

XchangerLtd

New Member
Hi, both of above are correct in a way.

We have developed a system that gives the same end result as a snap chiller, dropping the temperature of the milk down to 4 degrees or below instantaneously. We do this using lots of glycol cooled down to around 1 degree so there is no danger of freezing the milk. This is an extremely efficient way of cooling with running costs of as low as 2p/kWh cooling, where some older DX systems are running at 6p/kWh cooling.

In addition to the reduced running costs our patented design lets you claim RHI at a rate of 9.09p/kWh for any heat that you can reuse on the farm for washing, space heating, water heating, drying, etc.

In short it gives you the chance to update your cooling system to one that will cost less to run. In addition you get an additional income stream for doing nothing different than you do already.

Give us a call on 01743 290 555 if you have any questions about it.
 

PREES

Member
Location
SW Wales
@XchangerLtd - can you give us some more information through the forum - What does the installation involve - the image on your website implies multiple units so what are the critical factors (lt milk to be cooled per minute or total volume?) How is the system cleaned? If one wanted to utilise the heat to produce hot water what would be involved? What would be a general estimate of the cost? Do you have to replace the glycol periodically and are there any implications of so doing? From experience applying for the RHI is not a 2 minute job so do you provide that service as part of the package?
 

XchangerLtd

New Member
Hi @PREES , of course fire any questions over that you have!

- The system is sized based on the maximum flow of milk not the total volume. Standard units are up to 22kW cooling capacity on single phase and up to 100kW cooling capacity on three phase. All units are inverter driven so can ramp up or down if required and can be cascaded together if the load is bigger than one unit i.e. the pictures you are probably looking at on the website was a farm that had a 60kW cooling load and a single phase connection so we linked 3 units together.

- The system is all closed so heat mediums just go round and round. The system integrates with the milk line via a gasketed plate heat exchanger in exactly the same way as a borehole or ice bank would, this would be the only item that would need cleaning.

- Normally heat recovered is stored in a accumulator tank (heat battery). If you are a space heating a house or workshop then you just draw the heat off this as and when you need it. Alternatively if you are preheating wash water or heating drinking water then this accumulator can have a coil in it so we just redirect cold feeds through it which increases in temperature as it passes through.

- The cost would completely depend on the herd size and what the final use of the heat was. Typically our system costs more than standard glycol chillers as there is more equipment that has to be installed in order to comply with the Renewable Heat Incentive, however this additional equipment does make our system more efficient than its competitors. Systems generally start at around the £46k mark for a smaller herd, however it will completely depend on what is required and how much you want to do yourself!

- The Glycol used is in a sealed system so it will be very rarely that this needs topping up or replacing. We use a Propylene glycol which is non-toxic and the only time this would be replaced would be in the event of a leak. We work at extremely low pressures of around 1.5bar so the chance of a leak is unlikely.

- We also have lots of experience in the RHI and concur that it is not a two minute job. This is always included in the package, it is a far simpler process when you already know the answers!

Also worth mentioning is that we have complete remote monitoring on all of our systems and have a range of bulk tanks that talk to the cooling system.
 

PREES

Member
Location
SW Wales
thanks @XchangerLtd

So for a 300 cow herd producing 6800 lt per annum and production peaking at 6000 lt in a single 2.5 hour milking on 3 phase what would be the capacity required and assuming you wanted to use the heat to pre heat water for washing what would be the potential pay back period incl installation and heat store but existing bulk tank.
 

XchangerLtd

New Member
That's quite alright, please see below @PREES -

The RHI return would be in the region of £8,400.
Savings could be anywhere from £1,500 - £7,000, depending on what is being replaced.

Fully installed, commissioned and RHI registered would probably be in the region of £65,000 based on a milk flow of 2,400l per hour - 3,000l per hour, which works out as around a 6.5 year payback if you are already a very efficient farm. Alternatively if you haven't updated equipment in some time or you have houses heated by oil or LPG then the payback could be as quick as 4.5 years.

Please don't hold me to this as it could be slightly either way depending on what is involved!
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
@XchangerLtd

GEA Milfos snap chillers offer water heating as standard and come complete as a plug n play system on a pallet at considerably less cost than you are quoting. Surely if their system offers water heating, then it too should be eligible for RHI?
Or am I missing something?
 

XchangerLtd

New Member
Hi @Bald Rick ,

Like I said above we achieve the same result as the kit you are referring to however we do it in a completely different way. There is more equipment to our system to ensure it complies which leads to the higher capital cost but also to increased efficiencies.

It won't suit everyone but if you are looking at spending £30k for a snap chiller anyway, you have the option to spend a bit more to get an additional income and further reduced running costs for doing nothing different than you would anyway.
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
Hi @Bald Rick ,

Like I said above we achieve the same result as the kit you are referring to however we do it in a completely different way. There is more equipment to our system to ensure it complies which leads to the higher capital cost but also to increased efficiencies.

It won't suit everyone but if you are looking at spending £30k for a snap chiller anyway, you have the option to spend a bit more to get an additional income and further reduced running costs for doing nothing different than you would anyway.

But surely if the Milfos chillers extract heat & then use that to warm water, they too should qualify for RHI? If not, what bits of kit are needed to make it eligible?

Like the "Option to spend a bit more" .. more like double plus (y)
 

XchangerLtd

New Member
This thread has gone quiet,a bit like my query to Xchanger!

Ouch! My apologies I have been out of the country on business but you should have had a call to say i would contact you upon my return. I am working through the enquiries today so should be in touch later.

@Bald Rick we are currently developing a more basic unit that won't be RHI compliant but will be in a similar price range to the Milfos
 
@xhcangerltd

400 autumn calving cows, peak milk would be around 13,000 litres a day with total milking time of around 3.5hrs at peak, what sort of ball park figure would we be looking at and does the RHI decrease over time?
 

XchangerLtd

New Member
@xhcangerltd

400 autumn calving cows, peak milk would be around 13,000 litres a day with total milking time of around 3.5hrs at peak, what sort of ball park figure would we be looking at and does the RHI decrease over time?

Hi @Grassman247

Sizing the cooling to the peak production and an average flow of 3,714 litre's per hour would mean that you would need around 65kW of cooling if working alongside a borehole which was taking it down to say 20 degrees first, or 130kW of cooling if doing the full load i.e. taking it all the way from say 34 degrees down to 3.5 degrees.

To work out the potential RHI whats your annual yield?
 

Blue.

Member
Livestock Farmer
Where’s best to buy glycol?

I bought a system last year but haven’t set it up yet,going to need 1000litres of glycol,how long does glycol last?
 

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