The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has created tremendous growth in the worldwide demand for personal protective equipment (PPE) including gloves. Malaysia is one of the largest producers of natural rubber and synthetic nitrile gloves, and many manufacturers have had to rapidly expand their production capabilities in response to the pandemic. Such rapid expansion can create challenges, but at the same time the use of heat recovery technology can save money and reduce the overall costs associated with expansion of the business.
For a number of years, HRS Heat Exchangers has been supplying Malaysia’s rubber glove manufacturers with heat exchangers to recover useful and valuable heat which would otherwise be wasted from processes such as chlorination, and wastewater treatment, as well as steam condensers and leaching tanks. HRS’s wide range of heat exchanger solutions mean that it is able to supply the ideal solution for any situation, from simple plate heat exchangers to more advanced tubular designs.
In 2019 HRS was approached by one of Malaysia’s glove manufacturers which was expanding capacity at its production plant in the north of the country. Two HRS PHE Series plate heat exchangers were installed to recover the heat from the leaching process. This was then used to pre-heat the fresh water used for washing and in the leaching tanks from 30 to 60 °C. One of the two heat exchanger units is kept in reserve as a standby unit to maximise heat recover when the main unit is being cleaned or serviced.
Like other manufacturers, this year the client has seen significant expansion due to demand caused by COVID-19 and again they asked HRS to supply two further PHE Series heat exchangers for heat recovery. As before the units provide a temperature rise of 30 °C using recovered heat, with a working capacity of 9,700 litres per hour. This means that the high efficiency unit successfully recovers around 466 kW of energy per hour, resulting in a 4-month payback period from savings in purchased gas.