2020-06-11 Product news

Alfa Laval sets a new standard of safety in tap water duties with launch of AlfaNovaTW®

Limiting heavy metal contamination in drinking water is critical for public health and, increasingly, required by law in many jurisdictions. Unfortunately, many of the heat exchanger technologies still used in tap and warm water applications leak traces of nickel and copper into water supplies over time. Alfa Laval is addressing this challenge with the new Alfa Laval AlfaNovaTW, the market’s first truly 100% stainless steel plate heat exchanger for tap water duties.

 


“The United Nations defines clean water as a basic human right, and organizations from the European Union to the World Health Organization have sought to define guidelines an regulations to make this a reality,” explains Fredrik Ekström, President Business Unit Brazed & Fusion Bonded Heat Exchangers, Energy Division at Alfa Laval. “We are launching AlfaNovaTW to provide our customers with a better solution for meeting these standards and ensuring the safest possible drinking water for end-users.”

Proven performance, proven safety

"When you need to avoid the risk of copper or nickel contamination, Alfa Laval can now provide an alternative", Ekström continues. "We believe that our solution is far safer than conventional brazed heat exchangers which have been treated with coatings, as well as socalled “stainless steel” products where nickel is added to the brazing material to improve corrosion properties.”

Alfa Laval manufactures the AlfaNova portfolio of heat exchangers with a patented fusion bonding process that ensures a 100% stainless steel construction. The result is compact heat exchanger that offers the robustness and high thermal efficiency of brazed heat exchangers, but without the addition of copper and nickel. Thanks to this unique design, AlfaNova models have a long record in applications where heavy metals or copper can cause challenges with contamination or chemical reactions.

“Based on this proven technology as the starting point, we developed the new AlfaNovaTW with an updated design specifically for the needs of common tap and warm water heating and cooling duties,” says Ekström. Among other changes, this has included port configurations and connections that meet the industry standard, as well as an optimized footprint for tap water use.

Additionally, Alfa Laval has been able to streamline the production of the AlfaNovaTW in order to ensure a cost-effective solution with short lead times for customers. “We currently offer two unit sizes with standardized connections for tap water,” Ekström explains. “Our aim was to provide customers with a high-quality, affordable product that we could deliver quickly. With same-day shipping, I’m proud to say we can offer lead times of one business day for stocked units.”

A sustainable option

In addition to increasing safety, AlfaNovaTW’s all-stainless-steel design gives Alfa Laval customers a new way to meet sustainability targets and boost their environmental profile. By minimizing the possibility of metal release, the unit will help to reduce copper pollution in the environment. This has been a major problem in cities like Stockholm, for example, where as much as six tonnes of copper end up in the wastewater each year. Additionally, the optimized plate design increases the thermal efficiency of the heat exchanger, reducing both energy demands and the amount of material required to construct each unit.

“And, of course, working with 100% stainless steel gives us a design that is 100% recyclable,” adds Ekström. “Customers can be confident they won’t be adding to landfill waste when the heat exchanger reaches the end of its long lifecycle. It also means we at Alfa Laval can take advantage of recycled metals in the construction, and today each AlfaNova is made with up to 90% recycled materials!”

To learn more about AlfaNovaTW, please visit alfalaval.com

Editor’s notes

Alfa Laval is active in the areas of Energy, Marine, and Food & Water, offering its expertise, products, and service to a wide range of industries in some 100 countries. The company is committed to optimizing processes, creating responsible growth, and driving progress – always going the extra mile to support customers in achieving their business goals and sustainability targets.

Alfa Laval’s innovative technologies are dedicated to purifying, refining, and reusing materials, promoting more responsible use of natural resources. They contribute to improved energy efficiency and heat recovery, better water treatment, and reduced emissions. Thereby, Alfa Laval is not only accelerating success for its customers, but also for people and the planet. Making the world better, every day. It’s all about Advancing better™.

Alfa Laval has 17,500 employees. Annual sales in 2019 were SEK 46.5 billion (approx. EUR 4.4 billion). The company is listed on Nasdaq OMX.

www.alfalaval.com

 

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Alfa Nova heat exchanger

For further inforamtion, please contact

Erik Uppman

Product Manager

Alfa Laval Energy Division

Phone: +46-46366789

E-mail: erik.uppman@alfalaval.com

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