Ice cream manufacturer Mackie’s has heralded the arrival of the first parts of a £4.5mn low carbon freezer project, £2.05mn of which is supported from the Scottish Government’s Low Carbon Infrastructure Transition Programme. The new system will include replacement refrigeration, an absorption chiller, two biomass boilers, two new ice cream freezers, an ice machine and a spiral freezer.
The biomass boilers will be the principal energy source, providing heat for the mix tanks, pasteurisation, cleaning and refrigeration processes. It will also use mainly ammonia and some CO2 as the refrigerant gases. These have much lower global warming potential than the current refrigeration gases.
During normal operation, the carbon footprint of the new refrigeration system is expected to be around 20% of that of the existing system.
Mackie’s renewable energy is currently derived from four wind turbines that produce 8500MWh of electricity each year and a 7,000-panel solar farm. Mac Mackie, Managing Director with Mackie’s, said: “This freezer can be the final piece in the jigsaw to our farm becoming entirely self-sufficient in renewable energy.”
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