United States manufacturer Johnson Controls has launched an industrial heat pump that converts refrigeration waste heat into hot water for food production facilities.
The system captures thermal energy that factories normally discard into the surrounding atmosphere and lifts it to usable temperatures, allowing industrial operators to cut their reliance on fossil fuels.
Named the Frick HeatPAC, the unit provides heating capacities ranging from 200 kilowatts to two megawatts. It can supply hot water at temperatures between 54.4 and 87.8 degrees Celsius, meeting the intense heat requirements of food and beverage plants.
High temperature heat recovery
Industrial facilities have traditionally burned natural gas or other fossil fuels to generate steam and hot water. In food and beverage manufacturing, large volumes of thermal energy are needed continuously for pasteurisation, equipment sanitisation, facility washdowns, and building space heating.
At the same time, food factories operate substantial refrigeration networks to chill and preserve ingredients. These refrigeration chillers reject large quantities of heat as a byproduct of their daily operation. Johnson Controls said the HeatPAC system is specifically engineered to extract that rejected heat from ammonia refrigeration circuits and convert it into clean, reusable hot water.
Ammonia, known chemically as R717, is the standard refrigerant used across large-scale food distribution, dairy processing, and cold storage facilities. While ammonia systems offer exceptional thermodynamic efficiency and zero global warming potential, conventional plants vent the resulting condensation heat into cooling towers or outdoor air coolers. Using an industrial heat pump allows a factory to capture that energy before it is lost.
Compressor design and technical specifications
At the core of the HeatPAC unit is the Sabroe Mark 5 reciprocating compressor platform. The system pairs the compressor with a fully welded plate-and-shell condenser that incorporates an integrated desuperheater. According to the company, this heat exchanger design improves overall heat transfer rates, supports hot water generation at higher target temperatures, and reduces the physical footprint of the equipment inside factory machine rooms.
To protect heat transfer efficiency over long operational periods, the machine includes a two-stage oil separation system that keeps lubricating oil from contaminating the heat exchangers. The unit also features a crankcase breather system designed to prevent liquid refrigerant from reaching and damaging the compressor. Capacity modulation is managed through a variable frequency drive with a 4 to 1 turndown ratio, allowing the motor speed and heat output to adjust smoothly to shifting factory demands while preserving high efficiency during partial load operations.
Reciprocating compressors use pistons driven by a crankshaft to compress refrigerant vapour to high pressures and temperatures. In refrigeration and heat pump circuits, a desuperheater cools the superheated gas immediately following compression before condensation begins, extracting high-grade thermal energy that can raise process water to the highest possible discharge temperatures.
Energy efficiency and boiler comparison
Johnson Controls stated that the HeatPAC system can achieve energy efficiency levels up to seven times higher than conventional natural gas boilers in typical industrial settings. The company noted that this performance comparison is based on its internal computer modelling.
The manufacturer has not yet released detailed technical performance metrics, such as nominal coefficient of performance figures or baseline electrical consumption data, which would allow independent engineering comparisons. In heat pump engineering, the coefficient of performance measures the ratio of useful heat delivered to electrical energy consumed. A system with a coefficient of performance of four, for example, produces four kilowatt hours of thermal energy for every single kilowatt hour of electricity it draws from the grid.
Traditional gas-fired boilers can never exceed 100 percent fuel efficiency, with modern condensing units typically operating between 85 and 95 percent efficiency because they must generate heat entirely through combustion. Industrial heat pumps do not generate heat from scratch but instead transfer and concentrate thermal energy that already exists, enabling overall system efficiency to exceed 300 to 600 percent under favourable operating conditions.
System controls and integration software
To simplify site installation and commissioning, each HeatPAC unit is delivered fully assembled and pre-tested from the factory. Machine management is handled through a Frick Quantum HD control panel fitted with a 15-inch colour touchscreen. The controller operates on the proprietary Unity architecture, which enables direct connection into existing plant automation networks and centralized refrigeration supervisory systems.
Factory operators can evaluate their specific heat recovery potential using the company's Frick Coolware software suite. The program calculates facility waste heat availability, overall system efficiency, projected operating expenditures, and financial savings relative to continuing with conventional fossil-fuel heating equipment.
Industrial equipment controls must withstand harsh manufacturing environments while coordinating complex variable-speed motors, safety relief valves, and electronic expansion valves. Pre-packaged, skid-mounted systems that arrive pre-wired from the factory reduce the specialized on-site pipework and electrical installation work required in ammonia machinery rooms.
Cheese processing plant simulation
To illustrate the commercial performance of the machine, Johnson Controls modelled a dairy facility manufacturing cheese. In the computer simulation, the plant required an instantaneous heating capacity of two megawatts to deliver process water heated to 60 degrees Celsius.
The simulation showed that deploying the HeatPAC system could reduce annual energy costs by up to 40 percent compared to using traditional natural gas boilers. The company emphasized that actual financial savings will vary across individual commercial sites depending on local electricity and natural gas tariffs, as well as the specific operating hours and thermal conditions assumed in facility planning.
With the release of the HeatPAC, Johnson Controls is positioning the system as a primary alternative for energy-intensive processors seeking to decarbonise their thermal operations. For factories that run continuous refrigeration alongside heavy hot water washing and pasteurisation lines, recovering industrial reject heat offers a direct path toward reducing utility bills and emissions as industrial energy regulations tighten.
