This article contains paid for content produced in collaboration with HRS Heat Exchangers.
When making investment decisions, particularly when purchasing high-value environmental systems (such as heat exchangers and thermal processing systems), capital cost is one of the first things to be considered. However, a far more accurate metric is the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Because both capital and operating costs contribute to the time taken to achieve a return on investment, businesses are realising the benefits of assessing TCO, which assess the total costs of an operation (assets, energy, inputs, labour, maintenance, marketing, etc.) and provides a more realistic view of the overall financial benefits from investing in equipment, and an improved evaluation of the overall return on investment.
Any investment in heat exchangers or systems for the environmental sector should be based on getting the right solution for technical need; not because the purchase price fits an arbitrary payback period.
Factors which contribute to TCO over the lifetime of heat exchanger assets include:
1. Purchase price – often only 10-20% of the total cost of ownership for a pasteurisation system.
2. Cleaning and maintenance – fouling can severely reduce the thermal efficiency of heat exchangers. Choosing a solution which minimises fouling, such as HRS’s corrugated tube technology or scraped surface heat exchangers, reduces cleaning costs and maintains productivity.
3. Ease of maintenance – many HRS heat exchangers are available with removable tubes, making inspection and maintenance easy. Corrugated tubes often require less maintenance than plate or spiral heat exchangers.
4. Customisation – tailoring systems to meet specific briefs ensures they are designed with efficiency in mind from the outset, both in terms of operational energy efficiency, but also material utilisation and cost.
5. Energy efficiency – a difference of 5-10% in thermal efficiency quickly translates into direct savings in energy and running costs and could be the biggest factor in determining payback period and TCO.
