Installation of the DWHR demonstrator at Penrhyn Castle has started

The installation of the drain water heat recovery system at the kitchen drain at Penrhyn Castle, Wales, has started. Three different configurations of the system will be tested, the expected heating savings for the kitchen range from 25-38%.

The drainage drops from the tea room kitchen on the floor above, through the coal yard into the sewer system. At a 2m drop through the coal yard, the drain pipe is replaced by two copper heat exchangers. One of them will serve to preheat the feed water, similar to traditional heat recovery from showers. The second one will heat a recirculating loop, in order to address mismatches between hot water demand in the kitchen, and the availability of hot drain water.

The works are performed by Askews, the final touches will be put on the system on Friday February 1st.

Visits will start in the Summer of 2019.

Jan presenting at the Future in Food Conference 2018

On November 28th, Jan presented the Dwr Uisce project, and our work within heat recovery from commercial kitchen drains, at the Future in Food Conference, at the Pairc Ui Chaoimh, in Cork. His presentation titled ‘DWHR from commercial kitchens: Insights from the Dwr Uisce project’ was part of the Sustainable Development Goals section of the conference. The conference proposed a wide selection of presentations, including environmental sustainability in the food sector, and reducing food waste, but also cyber security, new market development and certification.

Jan’s presentation highlighted a sector-wide, technical heat recovery potential in the UK of around 1.35 TWh/year, which could result in a yearly reduction in Carbon equivalent emissions of around 210 000 tons. Jan discussed the effects of the current heating fuel and the kitchen’s hot water consumption on the financial feasibility of such projects and highlighted a mismatch between financial feasibility and environmental benefit for kitchens with smaller hot water consumption. He presented Dwr-Uisce’s laboratory set-up aiming at addressing this unexploited potential.

http://www.engineersjournal.ie/2017/09/26/redevelopment-pairc-ui-chaoimh-stadium-cork/

Numerous industrial players and sectoral collaboration programs and platforms with activities in Ireland and the UK presented their work at information desks in the conference venue. A key message was the need for collaboration, and sharing best practices within the sector, this is one of the key activities of the Dwr-Uisce project, as well.