Desuperheater: A Primer
It may sound like something you’d find in a Marvel character’s headquarters, but a desuperheater is a different kind of secret weapon—one that’s helping food and beverage businesses get to net-zero by making use of a renewable resource hiding in plain sight: waste heat. Nearly three-quarters of all the energy produced by humanity becomes waste heat that is released into the atmosphere. By capturing and reusing this free byproduct, businesses can save money and optimize production while conserving resources and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. That’s where the desuperheater comes in.
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WHAT IS A DESUPERHEATER AND HOW CAN I USE IT AT MY FACILITY?
A desuperheater is a heat exchanger that removes heat energy from compressor discharge gas. Facilities that require a lot of hot water and have industrial refrigeration systems—think food processing plants, food distribution plants, and beverage plants—can tap into that system’s waste heat with the help of a desuperheater. As part of a net-zero solution, desuperheaters can directly offset a facility’s greenhouse gas emissions by reducing the carbon emissions from a fossil-fuel fired boiler.
BUT HOW EXACTLY DOES IT WORK? LET’S TAKE A PEEK UNDER THE HOOD.
A desuperheater removes the superheat from the compressors discharge gas. Superheat is a thermodynamic condition where sensible heat is added to discharge gas raising its temperature above the condensing saturation temperature. Superheat is present in all gas compression refrigeration processes and generally represents 10 to 15 percent of the waste heat discharged to the atmosphere by the condensers. On the water process side, water is typically stored in an insulated tank and recirculated through the desuperheater gradually increasing the stored water's temperature. When the water is needed, it’s either taken directly from the storage tank or passed through a boiler for any supplemental heating that is required.
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CHOOSING YOUR DESUPERHEATER
There are two main types of desuperheaters, and the one you choose will mainly depend on the type of water you’ll be working with. A non-potable water desuperheater is a single wall heat exchanger, whereas a potable water desuperheater is designed with a double wall configuration, a safety net so that in the rare case of a material breakdown the refrigerant and process water cannot mix. Once you know which water your desuperheater will be heating, you need to determine how much water is required and at what temperature, how the demand for hot water compares to the demand for cooling by the refrigeration plant, and what volume of hot water storage is required. With this information our engineers can correctly identify the size and type of desuperheater required but also how to integrate it with the existing boiler systems.
SAVE MONEY AND SAVE THE PLANET? THE MATH JUST MAKES SENSE.
A desuperheater has the ability to recover otherwise wasted heat that in turn will directly reduce the cost of heating with either gas or electricity utility bills.
Success Story
Maple Leaf Foods is on a mission to become the most sustainable protein company on earth, and we’re rooting for them. Here’s how CIMCO helped one plant significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Spoiler: it involves a boiler system and a desuperheater.
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CIMCO Refrigeration’s New Facility in Bradford Strengthens Regional Service and Prefabrication Capabilities
CIMCO Refrigeration has expanded its Ontario operations with the opening of a new service, construction, and prefabrication facility located at 202 Stirling Crescent in Bradford, Ontario. The space will operate as a regional hub, supporting field teams and projects throughout the province.
The Bradford facility is designed to improve response times and enhance support for customers and technicians in the area. Its prefabrication capabilities will also help streamline build timelines and improve quality control by allowing more work to be completed in a controlled environment.
“We’re focused on strengthening how we deliver projects and service across Ontario,” says Josh Bell, RSE, Vice President of Ontario and Western Canada at CIMCO. “This location gives our teams the resources and proximity they need to work more efficiently.”
The new facility builds on CIMCO’s ongoing efforts to expand its geographic footprint and improve access to regional support. Recent investments include the opening of a 42,000‑square‑foot manufacturing facility in Duncan, South Carolina in 2024, and a 22,500‑square‑foot manufacturing facility in Edmonton, Alberta in 2022.
With the addition of the Bradford location, CIMCO continues to grow the infrastructure needed to meet increasing demand for refrigeration and thermal solutions across key markets in North America.