Geothermal heating, cooling and seasonal storage near Tampere
Overview
Kiilto Oy is a Finnish manufacturer of chemicals for construction and industrial purposes. In 2018, the company took a great step in reducing its CO2 emissions by integrating a hybrid heat pump system at its plant in Lempäälä near Tampere. This is part of Kiilto’s efforts to become carbon balanced by 2028.
A first of its kind hybrid system
At the Lempäälä plant a geothermal heat pump is used for cooling the machines for glue production while the waste heat from this process is recovered using a second heat pump and used for the heating and hot water of all buildings on the site covering 3.2 hectares. In addition, recovered waste heat is stored underground in the geothermal wells during summer and fed into the heating system during winter.
The hybrid system has not only reduced the plant’s energy consumption by 14%, but the improved cooling has significantly increased the production capacity of the polymerization process and production plans no longer need to be changed according to the cooling capacity. After this success in Lempäälä, Kiilto is also planning to install a geothermal system at its production plant in Hankasalmi.
The total investment for the hybrid system was € 320,000 with a payback time of only 4 years.
“Kiilto is a prime example of how investments increasing energy efficiency and the utilisation of renewable energy can create significant savings, while providing the company with a competitive edge.”
Summary
Use: Process cooling, space heating, seasonal thermal storage
Technology: Heat pump, closed loop
Commissioning: 2018
Heating capacity: Geothermal HP 130kW
Energy savings: Over 1800MWh/year, or a 14% reduction
CO2 reduction: 350 tons per year