Process Problems. Hire Chiller Saves The Day And Allows Sustainable Plant Planning

The Background

Sodexo Australia employs a diverse workforce of over 4,000 employees and delivers a unique array of over 100 integrated services lines including: catering, facilities management, concierge services, security, asset maintenance and hospitality services in the corporate, seniors, education and resources sectors both on and off shore.

This case study is about a recent situation with one of Sodexo’s clients; one of the world’s largest multinational homecare product manufacturers.

The Situation

Tim Creamer, Sodexo Facilities Manager, explains the situation,

“Our client’s process water chiller failed and had a tight demand schedule to fill. They had just one week to produce and supply large quantities of a particular product that required chilled water.”

The team analysed the situation and decided the chiller was beyond economical repair. However, they needed to do something quickly to keep production at normal capacity.

Sodexo had in place a preferred supplier agreement with Active Air Rentals. Within two hours of calling Active Air Rentals, Shane Hardey, Director, was on site defining their temporary chiller solution.

The Solution

“The Active Air team was great. They were onsite within a few hours, were very helpful and patient with our requirements.” explains Tim.

“The solution definition wasn’t straightforward.” Shane explains, “The permanent chiller was cooling a 33,000L tank of Glycol and with the 350 kW chiller unit not being fully utilised, we were unsure of the load capacity required. Additionally, the original engineer wasn’t available for technical discussions which made it a bit difficult.”

After some investigation of the process and technical requirements a 220 kW temporary chiller hire was defined as the best solution. It met the requirements, is energy efficient and could fit the small footprint with minimal modifications to the location.

The temporary chiller was craned in to replace the permanent chiller and snap connected to the existing power source and control system.

The Results

The temporary system has enabled Tim and his client to fully review the permanent system while ensuring they meet production requirements:

“The temporary chiller system has provided us with an opportunity to research our options and make the new permanent system more sustainable.

We’re really happy with the service from Active Air Rentals. The guys have given us the best solution for the situation and the system is doing what it should with a minimal fuss.”