Johnson Controls says its new ammonia heat pump reaches 2 MW

Johnson Controls has launched an industrial ammonia heat pump for food and beverage plants. The report, published November 5, says the standardized unit recovers waste heat from ammonia refrigeration and can heat water to as high as 87.8 C.

Capacity runs from 200 kW to 2 MW. The product is the Frick HeatPAC Reciprocating Ammonia Heat Pump. It delivers heating capacity from 200 kW to 2 MW and hot water from 54.4 C to 87.8 C. It uses ammonia, listed as R717, with a minimum refrigerant charge of about 39.5 kg.

The efficiency claim is the company's own modeling. Johnson Controls said the system can be up to seven times more energy efficient than a natural gas boiler in typical applications, based on internal modeling. The company has not disclosed a rated coefficient of performance, electrical input, unit dimensions, weight, or operating pressure limits.

The hardware is a packaged reciprocating unit. It uses a Mark 5 Sabroe reciprocating compressor and a fully welded plate-and-shell condenser with an integrated desuperheater. It has two-stage oil separation, a crankcase ventilation system, and a variable-frequency drive with a 4:1 turndown ratio. The factory-assembled units use a Frick Quantum HD controller with a 15-inch touchscreen.

The company says the standard design shortens delivery. Johnson Controls said the standardized design can reduce upfront investment costs and shorten delivery times by several weeks compared with engineered-to-order industrial heat pumps. It did not give a price or a delivery date. Micah Lehman, a product manager at Johnson Controls, said: "As energy costs continue to rise, waste heat is becoming an increasingly valuable and often untapped resource for food and beverage producers."