Intel’s new manufacturing plant in Leixlip, Eire, which value $18.5 billion to construct, is replete with applied sciences touted for conserving power and water together with programmable, all-LED lighting and a water reclamation and filtration system that might save 275 million gallons a yr.

One in every of its extra uncommon options, nonetheless, is an strategy that’s usually neglected: capturing warmth generated by tools within the facility and funneling it into manufacturing processes moderately than expelling it via cooling towers. This was achieved by the set up of restoration chillers that seize warmth created by Intel’s high-temperature manufacturing processes and pipe it within the type of heated water to different locations on the facility.  

Intel estimates these warmth restoration measures will permit it to considerably lower the pure gasoline it should purchase to run operations on the web site, Fab 34. It would use 9 instances as a lot recovered power than what’s generated by different fuels, the corporate initiatives. That so-called “waste warmth” can be utilized for duties equivalent to preheating the ultra-pure water Intel wants for semiconductor fabrication or retaining buildings on the web site heat throughout cooler climate, mentioned Wealthy Riley, principal engineer in Intel’s company companies improvement group.

“If we didn’t have that warmth, we would wish that rather more gasoline to facilitate the [heating, ventilation and air-conditioning] operations,” Riley mentioned. “That is an general discount of pure gasoline consumption.” 

Over time, Intel’s plan is to construct on warmth restoration and different power effectivity measures by updating them with industrial tools, equivalent to warmth pumps, that run on electrical energy. 

Intel’s near-term energy-related sustainability objectives embody lowering Scope 1 and a couple of emissions by 10 % by 2030 from a 2019 baseline (it has achieved 4 % as of fiscal yr 2022); and conserving as much as 4 billion kilowatt-hours cumulatively. 

An untapped supply of power effectivity

Intel hasn’t disclosed the potential impression on its carbon emissions this warmth restoration at Fab 34 effort may have, however a retrofit utilizing water-to-water warmth pumps in Fab 10 (additionally in Leixlip) will save an estimated 18.3 million kilowatt-hours of electrical energy yearly. It would scale back Scope 1 emissions by about 4,760 metric tons, however Scope 2 emissions will enhance by about 1,627 metric tons due to the electrical energy wanted for the warmth pumps.   

Industrial power stays a thorny problem for company sustainability groups: An estimated 20 % to 25 % of power consumed globally by industrial sources remains to be predominantly powered by coal and pure gasoline, based on the Worldwide Power Company.  

The potential power value financial savings of utilizing recovered waste warmth for industrial processes, district heating purposes or to generate electrical energy may attain as much as $152.5 billion yearly, barely lower than half the worth of the pure gasoline imported by the European Union in 2022, based on a McKinsey report printed in November. The evaluation estimates the worldwide recoverable warmth potential is a minimum of 3,100 terawatt-hours.

“In our view, if you wish to decarbonize, warmth restoration and waste warmth is without doubt one of the most economical levers out there,” mentioned Ken Somers, a McKinsey accomplice who was one of many report’s authors. One barrier to adoption has been low pure gasoline costs, however tariffs and provide shortages have prompted firms to rethink their dependence, he mentioned. 

The economic warmth pump expertise wanted to maneuver warmth from the place it’s generated to the place it’s wanted in a manufacturing course of can also be maturing. The potential for producers of chemical substances, client merchandise, meals and prescribed drugs to make use of this strategy is rising as a precursor to the electrification of manufacturing methods, mentioned Patricia Provot, president of thermal manufacturing tools producer Armstrong Worldwide. 

“In case your plan is to completely decarbonize, your first step is to eliminate steam and use sizzling water, and attempt to get well as a lot of that water as doable and put it again into the system,” Provot mentioned.

Classes from Intel’s expertise

Other than the Eire manufacturing unit, Intel has launched warmth restoration and recirculation methods in Arizona, Ohio and Germany, and this strategy will probably be thought-about for each new manufacturing unit the corporate builds, mentioned Todd Brady, vp of world public affairs and chief sustainability officer at Intel. “It takes engineering design, understanding the place the warmth is generated, how it may be captured and redirected,” he mentioned. “A whole lot of it entails the place the tools is positioned.”

Within the Eire fab, a high-volume facility for the corporate’s Intel 4 chips, the engineering workforce carried out an in depth mapping of warmth motion to make choices about what number of warmth exchangers and chillers had been required to attenuate the quantity of high-grade warmth methods powered by pure gasoline, mentioned Riley.

Low-grade sources, rated between 100 levels and 200 levels Celsius, may embody exhaust from boilers, air compressors or dryers. Intel nonetheless wants pure gasoline for very high-temperature processes.

Listed here are questions engineers ought to take into account in designing a warmth restoration system, Riley mentioned.

• Have engineers carried out a “pinch evaluation“ for all seasons? These assessments research the circulation of warmth via an industrial course of and are used to find out the minimal power consumption required to get the job carried out. There are often totally different metrics for summer time and winter months.
• Will sufficient warmth be generated to make a distinction? This requires participating tools suppliers and services managers, who’re accountable for the place tools is positioned in an general web site design.  
• If it’s a retrofit, how can warmth be funneled to the place it may be used? If manufacturing methods are extensively distributed, the logistics of redirecting the warmth may require relocating them or putting in piping. In any other case, seize won’t make sense.
• Does the value of power within the area justify the funding? The reply may make or break the return on funding case. In areas the place the value of pure gasoline is excessive, the payback for these investments will probably be shorter. 

It took Intel a number of years to refine its course of, however now warmth restoration is taken into account as a part of each plant manufacturing undertaking, Riley mentioned: “It’s fairly sophisticated, however now it’s routine.”