Intel’s new manufacturing plant in Leixlip, Eire, which price $18.5 billion to construct, is replete with applied sciences touted for conserving vitality and water together with programmable, all-LED lighting and a water reclamation and filtration system that would save 275 million gallons a 12 months.
One in all its extra uncommon options, nevertheless, is an method that’s usually neglected: capturing warmth generated by tools within the facility and funneling it into manufacturing processes fairly than expelling it by way of cooling towers. This was achieved by the set up of restoration chillers that seize warmth created by Intel’s high-temperature manufacturing processes and pipe it within the type of heated water to different locations on the facility.
Intel estimates these warmth restoration measures will enable it to considerably reduce the pure gasoline it should purchase to run operations on the website, Fab 34. It would use 9 occasions as a lot recovered vitality than what’s generated by different fuels, the corporate initiatives. That so-called “waste warmth” can be utilized for duties similar to preheating the ultra-pure water Intel wants for semiconductor fabrication or maintaining buildings on the website heat throughout cooler climate, stated Wealthy Riley, principal engineer in Intel’s company providers growth group.
“If we didn’t have that warmth, we would want that rather more gasoline to facilitate the [heating, ventilation and air-conditioning] operations,” Riley stated. “That is an total discount of pure gasoline consumption.”
Over time, Intel’s plan is to construct on warmth restoration and different vitality effectivity measures by updating them with industrial tools, similar to warmth pumps, that run on electrical energy.
Intel’s near-term energy-related sustainability objectives embody decreasing Scope 1 and a pair of emissions by 10 % by 2030 from a 2019 baseline (it has achieved 4 % as of fiscal 12 months 2022); and conserving as much as 4 billion kilowatt-hours cumulatively.
An untapped supply of vitality effectivity
Intel hasn’t disclosed the potential affect on its carbon emissions this warmth restoration at Fab 34 effort might have, however a retrofit utilizing water-to-water warmth pumps in Fab 10 (additionally in Leixlip) will save an estimated 18.3 million kilowatt-hours of electrical energy yearly. It would scale back Scope 1 emissions by about 4,760 metric tons, however Scope 2 emissions will enhance by about 1,627 metric tons due to the electrical energy wanted for the warmth pumps.
Industrial vitality stays a thorny problem for company sustainability groups: An estimated 20 % to 25 % of vitality consumed globally by industrial sources remains to be predominantly powered by coal and pure gasoline, in accordance with the Worldwide Power Company.
The potential vitality price financial savings of utilizing recovered waste warmth for industrial processes, district heating functions or to generate electrical energy might attain as much as $152.5 billion yearly, barely lower than half the worth of the pure gasoline imported by the European Union in 2022, in accordance with a McKinsey report revealed in November. The evaluation estimates the worldwide recoverable warmth potential is a minimum of 3,100 terawatt-hours.
“In our view, if you wish to decarbonize, warmth restoration and waste warmth is without doubt one of the most economical levers out there,” stated Ken Somers, a McKinsey accomplice who was one of many report’s authors. One barrier to adoption has been low pure gasoline costs, however tariffs and provide shortages have prompted firms to rethink their dependence, he stated.
The commercial warmth pump know-how wanted to maneuver warmth from the place it’s generated to the place it’s wanted in a manufacturing course of can also be maturing. The potential for producers of chemical compounds, shopper merchandise, meals and prescribed drugs to make use of this method is rising as a precursor to the electrification of manufacturing techniques, stated Patricia Provot, president of thermal manufacturing tools producer Armstrong Worldwide.
“In case your plan is to completely decarbonize, your first step is to do away with steam and use sizzling water, and attempt to recuperate as a lot of that water as doable and put it again into the system,” Provot stated.
Classes from Intel’s expertise
Apart from the Eire manufacturing unit, Intel has launched warmth restoration and recirculation techniques in Arizona, Ohio and Germany, and this method can be thought-about for each new manufacturing unit the corporate builds, stated Todd Brady, vice chairman of worldwide public affairs and chief sustainability officer at Intel. “It takes engineering design, understanding the place the warmth is generated, how it may be captured and redirected,” he stated. “Numerous it entails the place the tools is positioned.”
Within the Eire fab, a high-volume facility for the corporate’s Intel 4 chips, the engineering group carried out an intensive mapping of warmth motion to make selections about what number of warmth exchangers and chillers had been required to attenuate the quantity of high-grade warmth techniques powered by pure gasoline, stated Riley.
Low-grade sources, rated between 100 levels and 200 levels Celsius, might embody exhaust from boilers, air compressors or dryers. Intel nonetheless wants pure gasoline for very high-temperature processes.
Listed here are questions engineers ought to think about in designing a warmth restoration system, Riley stated.
- Have engineers performed a “pinch evaluation“ for all seasons? These assessments examine the circulate of warmth by way of an industrial course of and are used to find out the minimal vitality consumption required to get the job performed. There are often totally different metrics for summer season and winter months.
- Will sufficient warmth be generated to make a distinction? This requires participating tools suppliers and services managers, who’re liable for the place tools is positioned in an total website design.
- If it’s a retrofit, how can warmth be funneled to the place it may be used? If manufacturing techniques are extensively distributed, the logistics of redirecting the warmth might require relocating them or putting in piping. In any other case, seize won’t make sense.
- Does the worth of vitality within the area justify the funding? The reply might make or break the return on funding case. In areas the place the worth of pure gasoline is excessive, the payback for these investments can be shorter.
It took Intel a number of years to refine its course of, however now warmth restoration is taken into account as a part of each plant manufacturing challenge, Riley stated: “It’s fairly difficult, however now it’s routine.”
