Tackling greenhouse gases, a major cause of global warming

The Hitachi Plant Technologies Group has supplied process compressors to Braskem S.A, the largest petrochemical maker in the Federative Republic of Brazil.

The compressors are to be used in the world’s largest bio-ethylene plant, which manufactures ethylene, a key input for plastic, from sugarcanederived ethanol. Bio-ethylene is currently attracting worldwide attention as a “green” ethylene that helps reduce overall CO2 levels. This is because sugarcane plants typically absorb more CO2 during cultivation than the bio-ethylene production process generates.

Accordingly, we intend to further contribute to the ongoing development of bio-ethylene plants, which have created a new application for bio-ethanol, a product in which the Brazilian nation is heavily invested.

Our first “Ref Assist” system was deployed in a data center of Netherlands-based Green Data Systems (GDS). In recent years, power consumption, and by extension, heat generation, at data centers has risen along with advances in server density. This has not only significantly raised power requirements for indoor cooling but also given rise to hot spots in indoor servers. In an effort to conserve energy and improve the environment in server rooms, we developed “Ref Assist,” an energy-saving air conditioning system (“Ref Assist”) combining a cooling system that uses outside air for cooling and a natural refrigerant circulation system that does not require transportation power. Compared to conventional systems, “Ref Assist” achieves power savings of more than 60% (our estimate).

Along with door-type and rack-type cooling units, we also added a new ceiling-type unit, effectively removing the cooling device footprint from the server room. We anticipate heat generation at data centers (stemming from servers or storage) will further increase going forward, and accordingly intend to continue providing customized cooling solutions that enable power savings and efficient use of floor space.

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“Ref Assist” is a registered trademark of Hitachi Plant Technologies in Japan.

The Central Circular Shinjuku Route is an 11km-long expressway that connects the Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro districts. It is unique in that it represents one of the few expressways in the world that primarily consists of an underground tunnel structure. Unlike their elevated counterparts, tunnels expressways rely entirely on ventilation systems for air supply.

The Central Circular Shinjyuku Route includes nine ventilation areas, two of which (Honda and Nishi-Shinjuku) were constructed by Hitachi Plant Technologies. By using inverters to control the number of rotations for air intake and exhaust fans, which form the core of the ventilation system, we were able to reduce power consumption during operation. Our design was underpinned by an environmental focus and included a wide array of environmental measures such as the use of equipment to eliminate sounds and odors, as well as dust collectors and other devices.In addition, we also supplied automated control systems for all 78 air intake and exhaust fans fitted in the nine ventilation areas. These control systems ensure appropriate fan operation based on collective data analysis for the entire tunnel portion of the Shinjuku line. We intend to further build on this achievement, and continue to provide high-quality systems.