Chilled Water Plant
Evaluation
Salas O’Brien evaluated an aging system and identified options for increasing its capacity.
Our client
This global company develops and manufactures nutritional and medicinal products for use around the world.
Their challenge
Our client wanted to expand production at one of their facilities, which required an increase in their refrigeration capacity. Prior to expansion, their system was already under-performing to meet the existing demand of 3,000 tons of refrigeration (TR), and our client required an additional 500 TR to increase production. The four existing chillers had been installed in the 1990’s and modified throughout the years to support new product lines.
Our solution
Salas O’Brien provided a thorough analysis of the system, revealing that two of the aging chillers were operating at less than the original capacity and one of the chilled water pumps was operating below its original curve. The analysis also revealed flaws in the piping configuration and cooling tower location. We provided detailed recommendations and estimates to modify and correct the chillers, piping, and pumping and identified an operating sequence that could be automated that would improve cooling capability and efficiency.
The results
Decades of plant engineering experience allowed our team to thoroughly examine and identify areas of improvement. Our detailed analysis helped our client determine their best, most cost-effective path to improve efficiency, operation, and reliability.


