Central Water-Cooled Chill Water Plant

Abstract

A medical device facility in the island needs to determine the feasibility of replacing the existing air-cooled chilled water system at their main plant with a more efficient water-system in order to reduce the electric energy consumption and realize the associated economies and reductions in air emissions. As part of this effort, monitoring equipment was installed on the existing chilled water distribution system and the data obtained was used to establish the annual cooling requirements and energy and water consumption for the alternate schemes under consideration. Two schemes will be developed for cost estimating and life cycle cost evaluation. One scheme was selected based on availability of used equipment from a recently closed nearby manufacturing facility as a secondary system for redundancy interconnected to a completely new system. The other scheme is based on keeping the existing equipment and replaced as time requires. A Life Cycle Cost Analysis for the both alternates over a 20 year period will be performed under a discount rate and energy cost scenario. The analysis will also include air emissions levels of CO2, SO2 and NOx for the different alternates for the average US location. Key Terms - Chill Water Plant, Cooling Requirements, HVAC, Life Cycle Cost.