With CO₂ as a refrigerant, the Danish company Advansor based in Jutland uses natural refrigeration to enable more climate-friendly heating and cooling that is used in various industries. To further advance sustainability Advansor has in collaboration with ABB, developed a new optimized process for packaging handling that save space and has dramatically reduced packaging consumption and transport costs.
At Advansor, CO₂ is a resource
CO₂ doesn't have the best reputation since the gas has become synonymous with climate change, but in Brabrand, just outside Aarhus, CO₂ has a much more positive connotation. Here, Nikolaj Thorup Vendelbo, Purchasing Director at Advansor, explains how CO₂ can help make climate solutions such as a heat pump much more climate-friendly.
"We have chosen to use CO₂ in climate solutions and in the fight against global warming. CO₂ is the most climate-friendly refrigerant: it is non-toxic, does not affect the ozone layer, does not contribute to global warming and it is very energy efficient," he explains.
Advansor's industrial heat pump called HeatQuantum is designed to be connected to a building in just one working day. At the same time, CO₂ heat pumps can deliver high efficiency and thus contribute to a cost-effective operation.
Drives make heat pumps more cost and energy efficient
One of the components that make the heat pump so efficient is ABB's variable speed drives. They are part of the efficient control of the compressors in the heat pump so that it works optimally around the clock. By regulating the speed of the motor and torque to the power required by the application, energy consumption is optimally controlled. ABB has extensive industry and application knowledge, which has benefited Advansor by developing customized solutions that further optimize operation. For example, a safety measure has been developed that acts as a backup and can save the company from downtime.
Jørn Schulz is a sales engineer at ABB and is responsible for the ongoing dialog with Advansor. He explains that there are several reasons why ABB's products are attractive to customers who focus on energy efficiency and quality. "ABB's variable speed drives are a good fit for Advansor, where they not only improve energy efficiency but also support more cost-effective operations by adapting energy consumption to actual needs. When it comes to energy optimization, you need to look at the whole process to achieve the greatest possible gains.
Nikolaj Thorup Vendelbo elaborates: “Sustainability is part of our DNA and we believe that the first step is always to minimize waste. That's why energy efficiency is hugely important to us - the energy we save today, we don't have to produce tomorrow. With variable speed drives on the compressors, we ensure higher energy efficiency and with ABB, we ensure the latest technology and secure operations for Advansor's customers.
Partnerships are the way forward
The partnership between Advansor and ABB is an example of how companies can work together to solve complex challenges and promote sustainable development. This can be seen very clearly in Advansor's warehouse operations.
"Advansor had some packaging challenges because their goods arrived in a way that resulted in large amounts of waste. We set out to solve this together with them. We came up with a way to pack ABB drives much more compactly. And with our cardboard packaging solution, which can be easily compressed and reused, we came up with a system that saves Advansor a lot of the hassle of packaging handling and storage space. At the same time, we save in transportation because we can pack the goods so compactly," says Jørn Schulz.
Nikolaj Thorup Vendelbo complements this: "We strongly believe in implementing sustainability in our daily practices. The packaging we don't use should not be handled, recycled, etc. Again, the best place to start is by minimizing consumption and waste. The savings for ABB and Advansor are equivalent to 200 EUR pallets annually that do not need to be transported and stored. The benefits beyond minimizing waste are that it requires less storage space and internal handling.
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Facts about Advansor
Advansor is a market-leading OEM manufacturer that builds CO2 systems for supermarkets and industrial customers worldwide.
Facts regarding major shortage of resources
ABB has just published the "Circularity: No Time to Waste" study which states that 91% of industrial companies experience resource scarcity, pushing companies like ABB to continuously improve their processes and technologies to reduce waste and optimize energy consumption. Find out more here
