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In the city of Herne, the collaboration between Uniper and Evonik has resulted in the commissioning of a high-temperature heat pump, setting a precedent in thermal resource management. This system is a piece of advanced machinery, the materialization of a strategy that seeks to harness every last degree Celsius generated in chemical processes.
The high-temperature heat pump reaches 130°C
The installation operates on a logic opposite to that of a conventional refrigeration system. Evonik’s plants produce cooling water that exits at temperatures between 25 and 30°C. This resource used to be dissipated into the atmosphere through cooling towers that consumed constant electricity.
Likewise, the technology now implemented makes it possible to raise that waste heat to 130°C, enabling its direct injection into the region’s Ruhr district heating network managed by Iqony.
The start-up of this plant makes it possible to supply thermal energy to around 1,000 households, avoiding the emission of 1,750 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. This progress is vital for industrial cities seeking climate neutrality without compromising supply stability.
Replacing fuels with surplus industrial heat is possibly the most pragmatic tool we currently have for regional decarbonization.
Beyond the current 1.5 MW, the pilot nature of this initiative opens the door to a much larger scale. The companies involved are assessing the possibility of integrating an additional 20 MW in the near future.
This sector integration demonstrates that the chemical industry and municipal services can coexist in an ecosystem of mutual efficiency, where one party’s waste becomes the other’s clean fuel.
Source and photo: Uniper