Climate Air Energy Efficiency Instead of "Energy Wastage"

Group photo after successful commissioning. From left: Jens Amberg, Managing Director Luftmeister GmbH, Frédéric Yvorel, Merck France, Francois Tojagic, Mapclim France, Wolfgang Eiche, Head of Project Execution Luftmeister GmbH, Lucas Cambou, Mapclim France

Frédérick Yvorel is responsible for energy efficiency at the French plant in Martillac of the Darmstadt pharmaceutical company Merck. This high-tech site, also called "Merck Biodevelopment," develops biotechnological manufacturing processes at the highest level. Numerous cleanrooms ensure the appropriate conditions.

From Mr. Yvorel's perspective, most media are "energetically in the green." However, he has been troubled for years by the high energy and cost expenditures related to climate technology.

It's well known in the cleanroom environment: the focus is on the availability of the system and GMP compliance. Then "nothing happens for a long time," and only afterwards do they perhaps also address energy consumption and operating costs.

With the "Luftmeister Luftenergiezähler" (Airmaster Air Energy Meter), Merck has finally found a suitable solution. The cleanroom air conditioning system is continuously analyzed energetically. For this, the mass flow (e.g., the main supply air of an HVAC system) is measured at all times, and the enthalpy is recorded before/after each relevant treatment stage. Enthalpy (unit kWh heat per kg of air) indicates the "thermal density" — multiplied by the mass flow (kg of air per unit time), this results in the thermal power (in kW) and (accumulated) the thermal energy (in kWh).

What are the benefits of this effort? Mr. Yvorel highlights four key points:

1. The Luftmeister measurement system detects so-called "energy destruction" (the cooling works against heating or heat recovery). Systematic elimination of these "efficiency killers" on the measurement and control side is an important contribution to energy efficiency.
2. The efficiency of each treatment stage ("what does the heat recovery actually bring?") becomes transparent and can often be optimized through control technology.
3. Monitoring of air delivery is available at all times: Which volume flow, which temperature, which humidity was delivered to the cleanroom?
4. In case of deviations (too low temperature, incorrect volume flow, etc.), the Luftmeister system helps to find the faulty treatment stage more quickly.