GREEN AND STEEL – A RADICAL NEW APPROACH TO EVAPORATIVE CONDENSERS

“We wanted to review the technology and think about how we could do it better,” says Fabricio Dedavid, Güntner’s COO in Brazil, casting his mind back to 2011. He’s talking about the technology behind evaporative condensers – at that time there was little to differentiate the units made by different manufacturers. “They were just seen as commodities,” he recalls. “It was like when you decide to buy an Android phone, there are a hundred different models but they all look pretty much the same and provide pretty much the same experience… but then there’s the iPhone.”

Innovation stainless steel evaporation content

The question was: how to introduce the kind of step change in the technology of evaporative condensers that Apple achieved with smartphones, and to develop something radically different? Dedavid sat down with CEO Osni Caron and the pair started to think how it could be done. “The main challenge was that for decades until that time, the technology had used galvanized coatings,” says Caron. “That causes a lot of problems in terms of the environment, because it means using metals such as lead or zinc, which can leach into the water system. So, we started to think about something more environmentally friendly.”

The answer they came up with was revolutionary: an evaporative condenser design using stainless steel. The environmental benefits were clear. As well as negating the use of potentially harmful metals, stainless steel coils and casing would offer superior corrosion resistance, meaning less water and chemical usage.

But understanding the potential advantages and developing a working product were two very different things. First it was necessary to get expert outside help to understand the challenges of working with stainless steel, and in particular the different kinds of corrosion and contamination that might potentially occur. The answer to this was a chemical finishing process called passivation, which gives the stainless steel a protective oxide layer. In order to move the project into the testing phase, a bold move was required: the construction of a new laboratory, in the shape of the EC-LAB. A huge, 2314 sqaure feet building, it is unique in the southern hemisphere, because it is able to simulate weather conditions anywhere in the world, using state-of-the-art technology.

“THE REASON THE EC-LAB WAS BUILT WAS BECAUSE WE WERE THINKING IN TERMS OF A GLOBAL APPLICATION. WE DIDN’T WANT TO DEVELOP JUST A LOCAL SOLUTION, BUT SOMETHING THAT COULD BE USED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD. THE LABORATORY MEANT THAT WE COULD ENSURE THAT THE PRODUCT WOULD WORK ANYWHERE.”
FABRICIO DEDAVID COO BRAZIL, GÜNTNER

The result of all this work was ECOSS, the world’s first stainless steel evaporative condenser developed since the first concept. “It’s completely different to the other cooling solutions that already existed,” says Caron. “We’re talking about a 100 percent recyclable unit, because it's almost 100 percent stainless steel.”

“When we first thought of the concept, we were worried that it would be very expensive,” adds Dedavid. “But the EC-LAB allowed us to gain more knowledge and then we found that ECOSS could be very competitive in terms of costs.” As well as its environmental credentials, the cost savings brought by ECOSS are also significant. The total cost of ownership is reduced through long equipment life, low operating and maintenance costs, and sustainable thermal performance. The ECOSS also takes up 30 percent less space than a typical galvanized unit and weighs 40 percent less. “It means we’re not offering a commodity,” says Dedavid. “No one can say our competitors offer the same.”

“It’s true,” says Caron. “This unit is one of a kind.” The ECOSS has proved a stunning success, with more than a thousand units shipped to date, and they are now in use in countries around the world, from the Americas to Australia, and from the Middle East to Asia. The wide variety of applications include food processing facilities, data center cooling, as well as energy and process cooling.

“WHEN WE FIRST SAT DOWN TO TALK ABOUT THIS PROJECT, OUR MOTIVATION WAS TO PRODUCE A COMPLETELY NEW EVAPORATIVE CONDENSER THAT WAS ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, MORE EFFICIENT AND OFFERED ADDED VALUE TO THE CUSTOMER. I THINK WE SUCCEEDED.”
OSNI CARON CEO BRAZIL, GÜNTNER