Confremar in Madrid manufactures and distributes frozen products. The company’s lines include frozen fish, shellfish, pre-cooked products and vegetables. The key to its success was to convert a craftsmanship activity into an industrial process without losing the care and quality.
Confremar also hires cold storage to other frozen product companies, so it is very important for it to provide cold storage with the very best conditions.
The relationship between Confremar and Munters began in 2005 when they decided to improve their installations. The first part of the project was the installation of three Munters units for three new cold stores. One ML17 blows air in two doors and two ML1350s were supplied for the other two.
Since installation, Confremar has kept the cold stores free of ice and frost. It has avoided fog formation and slippery floors, as well as increased the refrigeration efficiency and reduced energy consumption
Thanks to these excellent results, Confremar turned to Munters again and installed four more units for a new cold storage area with chambers of different sizes. Munters installed two MX5000s, which blow dry air into 12 cold store-chambers, an MX5000 for six chambers and one MX6200, which blows air into seven old chambers to eliminate the ice formed on the walls and ceilings and ensure good conditions for workers.
All of the Munters units were equipped with Munters MX energy recovery kits to reduce energy consumption.
The MX range of dehumidifiers were designed more than ten years ago. It has an effective sealing system and a desiccant rotor, which make it an effective desiccant dehumidifier.
Munters has since developed an upgrade kit that makes this unit even more effective. Energy reductions up to 25% can be made, without the unit losing its capacity.
Internal energy recovery
Use of traditional external heat recovery systems has always been an available option for these types of dehumidifiers. Normally, this would require considerable investment and a lot of extra space around the dehumidifier. But Munters now has an internal energy recovery upgrade kit, which can easily be retrofitted to the existing installation.
The extra space required is minimal. This upgrade kit reuses the residual heat in the desiccant rotor so that the required regeneration heat is less. This results in a lower energy consumption at the same dry air output.
Alternatively, this residual heat can also be used to make the air drier (lower dew point) at the same energy cost.
By developing this upgrade kit, Munters has shown again that it cares about its customers, even if they bought equipment ten years ago. As the heat reused in the system, the dry air leaves the unit at a lower temperature.
Contrary to some other external heat recovery systems, the Munters MX Energy recovery system does not require any frost protection when outside air is used. The investment of the retrofit usually pays back within one year.
The retrofit doesn’t require any change in the existing ducting and can be installed within a day, including an efficiency check of the system. After the retrofit, no extra periodical maintenance is needed and the standard scheduled maintenance activity will suffice.
Confremar is very happy with the solution and trusts Munters fully, as the company has given them the right solution in every case. For that reason, Confremar is testing the new IceDry30 in a cold store with ice problems.
