News & Updates
Temperature Under Control: A Cold-Water Solution for Sustainable Seafood Processing
A leading seafood processor in the Northeast U.S. reached out to Thermal Products Inc. seeking a reliable and efficient way to cool their incoming city water for fish processing. In seafood production, maintaining consistently chilled potable water is critical to preserving freshness, quality, and safety throughout descaling and processing operations.
During summer months, the company faced a significant challenge — maintaining a 45°F process water temperature when the incoming city supply could reach 80°F. To compensate, the facility relied on large quantities of ice, a method that was both labor-intensive and difficult to control, resulting in higher operating costs and inconsistent product quality.
To solve this, Thermal Products Sales Engineer Trevor Kobylarz, in collaboration with Advantage Engineering and a Brazed Plate Heat Exchanger, developed a more efficient, automated cooling system. The solution combined Advantage Engineering chillers with Hexonic stainless steel brazed plate heat exchangers to achieve a 3°F approach temperature (the difference between the process supply temperature and the cooling inlet temperature).
This narrow approach temperature is possible only with plate heat exchangers due to their superior heat transfer coefficients. Because of the low process temperatures required, the chiller loop was isolated from the potable water system to prevent freezing risks.
Key design criteria included:
- Total heat load
- Water flow rate
- Desired process supply temperature
- Voltage
- Head pressure losses
The final system featured an Advantage Engineering OACS outdoor process chiller—a single-zone unit with integrated tanks and pumps—installed outside the facility. Inside, a Hexonic Luna Series brazed plate heat exchanger provided point-of-use cooling. The Luna Series features all-stainless-steel construction and built-in insulation to prevent condensation.
The system maintains a constant 42°F glycol-water mix circulating from the outdoor chiller to the heat exchanger, cooling incoming potable water from 80°F down to 45°F before it enters the processing area. For applications demanding tight approach temperatures, plate heat exchanger technology offers the most compact and cost-effective solution available.
The plug-and-play design of the OACS chiller simplified installation, and the equipment has been operating as intended since commissioning. The chiller package includes a 1-year warranty on parts and labor and a complimentary second-year preventive maintenance inspection.
Thermal Products Inc. also offer different styles of process chillers and plate heat exchangers such as water & air cooled chillers, modular chillers, portable chillers, central chillers along with brazed plate heat exchangers, gasketed plate heat exchangers along with shell and plate exchangers and semi and fully welded plate exchangers for higher temperatures and pressures.
If your facility requires precisely controlled process cooling or chilled water systems with tight temperature tolerances, contact Thermal Products Inc. Our team would be glad to discuss your application in detail—by phone or on-site—to develop a tailored solution for your needs.