Singapore-based MClean Technologies Pte. Ltd. (MClean) installed and trial-tested a CO2 heat pump at one of its facilities earlier this year.
The company’s main business is providing precision cleaning services for the semiconductor, hard disk drive and medical device industries.
The CO2-based heat pump supplies hot water for the company’s business operations and is expected to save up to 70% on the firm’s energy costs as it rolls out the technology to all its facilities, replacing older traditional electric resistance hot water heating systems company-wide.
Testing one of the first CO2 heat pumps in Singapore
MClean is led by Chairman Jason Yeo. Early this year, Yeo decided to move forward with a trial test for the CO2 heat pump at MClean’s facility in Singapore. The company installed one ‘ECOSTAR CO2 Solution’ heat pump provided by another Singapore-based company, Energeia Technologies.
Energeia Technologies was established in 2017, by a group of engineers with significant experience in NH3 and CO2 HVAC&R system design, in order to commercialise its ECOSTAR series of products.
Hot water is vital for MClean’s precision cleaning process. The company uses ultra-clean distilled water that must be heated to 60°C to clean trays and components.
Until the trial, the company had always used electric resistance water heating.
“According to our calculations, we can save almost 70% [on energy costs].“
Jason Yeo, Chariman, MClean Technologies
The CO2 heat pump trial testing period lasted several months, while Yeo and his team benchmarked basic energy consumption data. When the data was collected and analysed, the results not only confirmed but exceeded Yeo’s expectations.
As per data collected in May, the ‘ECOSTAR CO2 Solution’ heat pump supplied close to 800 litres of hot water per hour at 60°C at a daily average COP value of 4.2.
In other words, for every 6.3 kW of energy used, the heat pump was supplying around 27 kW of heating capacity. Inlet water temperature averaged around 27-34°C, while ambient temperatures averaged around 30-32°C.
This data was representative of the results seen in previous months of the trial-testing period, according to Energeia Technologies.
Yeo then compared these results to its internal company data on the energy efficiency of its conventional electric resistance water heaters.
“According to our calculations, we can save almost 70% [on energy costs],” says Yeo.
“We would have been happy even with 30%. But we know that we can save much more. Even with external factors like the environment, we will easily save more than 50%.”
MClean’s cleaning facility in Singapore.
Once the testing was completed, Yeo says the decision to implement the new technology at MClean on a large scale was a no brainer.
“Basically, once I saw our potential cost savings, we decided to move forward,” says Yeo.
“It is very much about the cost savings.”
Asked when he estimates the installations will provide a return on investment, Yeo replies, “less than three years. It is very well worth it”.
Yeo says that the wheels are already in motion to begin installing the ECOSTAR system at both its planned new facilities as well as replacements for the electric resistance systems in its existing facilities.
“We now have the operational data of the system, so we are now going step-by-step to get them in,” says Yeo.
This is an excerpt from the story ‘MClean Technologies grows business by going natural’ to be published next week in Issue #1 of Accelerate Asia. This issue will also be distributed in September alongside ATMOsphere Asia 2018.
The 5th Annual ATMOsphere Asia 2018 will take place on 4 September, the day before Mostra Convegno Expocomfort (MCE) Asia (5-7 September) in Central Singapore.
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