An orange juice processor constructed a new 15,000-ton refrigerated warehouse with hopes that the facility could reduce water usage, lessen the environmental impact, improve worker safety and lower overall operating costs for the company.

Three 250-gal/min condenser units from VRTX Technologies, Schertz, Texas, and a high-capacity automated filtration system were installed in the warehouse. The new condensers were properly passivated during the initial startup of the system.

Frequent visual inspection and compressor head pressures showed no scale formation. Corrosion rates were less than 3.0 mpy for mild and galvanized steel, and less than 0.3 mpy for stainless steel. Bacteria counts were 50 percent less than older systems still under chemical treatment.

The juice processor is saving over 5 million gallons of water annually, with cost saving exceeding $100,000 per year. The entire project was paid off in less than 22 months and the processor has the ability to reuse 2 million gallons of non-potable water each month.