| | Palama Meat Company set out to build a new facility in 1999 to help streamline operations, improve product quality, increase its processing capabilities, and lower operating costs. With these goals in mind, Palama Meat Co. constructed their new Kapolei facility incorporating a wide range of energy-efficient designs. The new facility houses company offices, a chilled loading dock, low temperature freezer rooms, and meat processing areas. Refrigerant systems were designed with parallel compressors and sub-cooling units. The sub-cooling units reduce the liquid refrigerant’s temperature before entering the evaporator, which increases cooling capacity while lowering energy requirements. Also, additional layers of insulation were added to chilled area ceilings to minimize heat gain. In addition, hot compressor gas that would normally be rejected as waste heat is passed over evaporator coils and serves as the coil defrost system, which eliminated the need for a traditional electric defrost system. The chilled and freezer room floors were equipped with a glycol heating system that used waste heat via a refrigerant heat exchanger. Energy-efficient T8 fluorescent lamps were installed in all office areas and high-pressure sodium lamps were used for exterior lighting and all high-bay warehouse areas. Other partners associated with this project: Hussman Refrigeration, Schiller Associates, Maryl Pacific Construction | |
