Flavourfresh Salads
Thermal Heat Storage Tank System
With 5 acres of modern glass tomato production at their Aldergrove site relying on existing boilers from 1989, and a further 5 acres added it was inevitable that the expansion of glass coupled with rising gas costs and the greater requirement of co2 enrichment the next major project would be to reduce operating costs.
In October 2010 a requirement was set out for the supply and installation of;
- Vertical thermal heat storage tank capacity 800.000 litres
- High pressure Nitrogen expansion system
- Reconstruction of boiler system to convert to “open Buffer system”
Sales Director Darren McDonald took the project onboard and visited Holland to discuss the project with Dalsem Horticultural projects BV, Darren’s relationship with this key Dutch supplier and installer would be a key factor in offering Flavourfresh a competitive proposal. Darren discussed the project requirements in great detail and arranged a meeting with all three parties to view the system proposals at the Aldergrove nursery. LS Systems were the contractor chosen out of the three that tendered and a programme of works with tight deadline schedules was put into place.
The design of the system would enable Flavourfresh to work the existing boilers harder in the day time and reap the benefits of increasing the amount of co2 enrichment available to the tomato plants which would contribute to increasing yields in daylight hours, the thermal storage tank would store hot water available to be used to heat the greenhouse at night without having to run the boilers.
The financial outlay for the project will be offset by savings to Flavourfresh in a saving on the amount of gas used, pure co2 bought in and higher yields of tomatoes. The day to day project was managed by Darren providing the link between the contractors from Holland and the Flavourfresh Salads staff and to make sure all timescales and deadlines were met, the project was completed late February.
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