Aurubis Bulgaria discovered Rittal Blue e+ cooling units while searching for additional ways to save energy in its production processes. The copper recycling company put the cooling unit series through its paces to check the energy values communicated. Moreover, the results are impressive: in the routine test, the promised 75 per cent energy efficiency was even exceeded by 11%.
Aurubis produces high-purity and high-quality copper from copper concentrate and recycled materials and focuses on methods to increase energy efficiency. Its aim is to become climate-neutral by no later than 2050, and to this end, it is already implementing several carbon reduction projects at each of its production sites. In this context, the company relies on state-of-the-art technologies and places very high quality and energy efficiency demands on its suppliers. So after Aurubis had been presented with Rittal’s Blue e+ cooling unit, its decision-makers wanted to check whether the promised energy savings of 75 per cent were realistic – and they were positively surprised.
A 267-day trial
Completely identical conditions were established in the tests to let Aurubis make a direct comparison: Two enclosures for two different applications were fitted with a 4-kW Rittal Blue e+ climate control unit, and the internal temperature was set to a constant 25°C.
The tests ran for 267 days. The company even extended its standard test period by two months, as the climate control units eventually face different conditions, depending on the time of year.
The tests of the Blue e+ devices revealed an 86 per cent lower energy consumption. Moreover, no reactive energy is consumed; the annual energy savings amounted to 8,818 kWh. That convinced Aurubis, and now 42 Blue e+ devices are in use.
Overview
- Project
- Aurubis
- Location
- Pirdop, Bulgaria
- Challenge
Energy savings
- Solution
42 Rittal Blue e + cooling units
