Jindal Films Europe makes trigeneration investment in Italy

Jindal Films Europe has made a strategic investment at its Brindisi plant in southern Italy in the form of a trigeneration plant, which allows for the production of heat, electrical power and cooling power from just one power source.

Trigeneration further reutilizes the unused heat released in to the atmosphere by converting it into cooling and therefore avoiding the need to consume electricity to generate chilled water

Combined heat and power (CHP), or co‐generation, is an established process of capturing and using the waste heat produced by the generation of electricity. Technological advances have enabled an additional benefit resulting in trigeneration.

Traditional power generation converts fuel into electricity and disperses heat in to the atmosphere. Co-generation utilizes part of the released heat into production by reducing the fuel consumption needed for heating. Trigeneration further reutilizes the unused heat released in to the atmosphere by converting it into cooling and therefore avoiding the need to consume electricity to generate chilled water. Trigeneration allows for savings of up to 30 percent of primary energy as well as reduced carbon dioxide emissions from the lower consumption of fossil fuels.

Marcello Bergamo, Jindal Films Europe managing director, said: ‘Our Brindisi manufacturing site is already embracing energy optimization and sustainability objectives by integrating them in to our daily work activities so the site employees are delighted by this announcement. The installation of the new trigeneration unit will provide the next step in further saving on primary energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by having an operating yield above 70 percent, thanks to the conversion of the natural gas into electrical power, heat and cooling output.’

Paul Griffith, Jindal Films Europe executive vice president, said: ‘Our customers and major stakeholders will notice a consistent theme in our strategic choices around the elimination and reduction of each form of waste in our plants and operations. This latest investment is another example of how we intend to achieve our objectives and there will be more to come as we seek to add value for our customers and increase our competitive advantage.’