German bioethanol plant chooses AlfaCond for process flexibility
CropEnergies Bioethanol GmbH´s bioethanol plant (formerly Südzucker Bioethanol) has four AlfaCond plate heat exchangers installed for various condensing duties. An AlfaCond 600 is operating as a final product condenser and two AlfaCond 800 units are running in parallels purge condensers.
DATE 2023-11-28In addition, an AlfaCond 400 is installed as a flash condenser for the evaporation system used in the production of an animal feed by product. Alfa Laval’s application know-how, combined with AlfaCond’s ease of installation and extension flexibility, were key factors for CropEnergies in its choice of these condensers.
AlfaCond, easy to transport and install
Project Manager, Dr. Angermann, consulted Alfa Laval and CropEnergies purchased an AlfaCond 600 plate heat exchanger for the duty. The decision was strongly influenced by the AlfaCond’s compact shelving and ease of installation. It would have been very complicated to transport and install a bigger STHE condenser into the space available.
According to Dr. Angermann, the one large inlet connection of the AlfaCond made pipework much simpler. Other important factors were the AlfaCond’s extension flexibility and the lower pressure drop on the vapour side due to the special design of the AlfaCond in comparison with a normal plate heat exchanger.
Product
Condensing plays an important part in processing industries of virtually all kinds, including energy, chemicals and food.
Benefits
- Compact: small footprint, low installation cost
- One large vapour inlet for easy piping
- High turbulence: less fouling on cooling water side
- Easy to clean chemically or mechanically