Industrial HVAC and plumbing systems are being designed to improve energy and water efficiency while meeting demanding process requirements.
HVAC and plumbing insights
- Engineers are using heat recovery, multiple chilled water temperature loops, energy recovery and centralized building management systems to reduce energy use.
- Tight environmental controls, specialized piping, water reuse and reliable utility systems are essential to support manufacturing processes and product quality.
Respondents:
- Matthew R. Merli, PE, Principal/Client Services Director, Fitzemeyer & Tocci Associates Inc., Woburn, Massachusetts
- Darren Rogge, Principal, Jordan & Skala Engineers Inc., Norcross, Georgia
- Michael P. Walsh, PE, LEED AP, Senior Director of Industrial, IMEG, Cincinnati
- Jacob Weber, PE, Project Engineer, Affiliated Engineers Inc., Madison, Wisconsin
What unique cooling systems have you specified into industrial projects?
Matthew Merli: Some of our projects require low humidity/process controls, so we have been using more low-temperature chilled water to hit our dewpoint requirements. In addition to desiccant dehumidification for ultra-low dewpoints, that is becoming more common in our applications. In one project, we had a cleanroom with 68ยฐF at 10% relative humidity, a very low-humidity application.
Jacob Weber: For a large industrial test lab in a hot, dry climate, we developed a cooling strategy that used 57ยฐF chilled water to serve all process loads and most sensible heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) loads. Office and lab sensible loads were served with chilled beams, which significantly reduced the load on the more typical 42ยฐF chilled water system. This reduced chiller lift and energy consumption, and on low-dewpoint days, allowed the 57ยฐF water to be produced without chillers by using fluid coolers.
The approach worked because the system separated loads that could be served by a warmer, more efficient loop from loads that truly required lower-temperature chilled water, rather than forcing all cooling through a single low-temperature system.
How have you worked with HVAC system or equipment design to increase a buildingโs energy efficiency?
Michael Walsh: Improving HVAC energy efficiency in industrial facilities often involves recovering and reusing energy within the system. For example, in controlled environment agriculture applications, we have designed systems that use heat exchangers to transfer energy between return and supply air streams, reducing the overall heating and cooling demand.
In one case, this approach allowed for a significant reduction in required chiller capacity while maintaining tight environmental control. Strategies like this โ combined with right-sizing equipment and optimizing system configurations โ help reduce energy use without compromising process requirements, which is critical in facilities where environmental conditions directly impact production.
Darren Rogge: The HVAC equipment can be specified to be a higher efficiency type. This can be tailored to the projectโs goals and budget. The controls can also be configured to take advantage of outside environment or nighttime cooling to assist with reducing energy use. A centralized building management system is a great tool for providing capabilities that allow programming efficiencies into the HVAC system.
Jacob Weber: One effective strategy is separating loads by required supply temperature. In industrial and manufacturing facilities, process cooling typically accounts for a large portion of the total load but often does not require the same chilled water temperature needed for dehumidification or comfort cooling. Serving those loads with higher-temperature chilled water can reduce chiller lift and improve efficiency. This can increase first cost because it requires multiple temperature loops, but the efficiency gains can provide payback over the life of the system.
We also look for opportunities to use heat recovery chillers. Many industrial facilities are cooling-dominated but still have simultaneous heating needs for ventilation air, space heating, domestic water, process heating or preheating. When temperature requirements align, heat recovery can reduce total energy consumption.
Matthew Merli: Weโre always thinking about energy recovery especially in industrial applications where the process is generating enormous amounts of energy and heat that we can try to reclaim. Contamination risk is a concern, so sometimes youโre stuck with things like run-around loops. However, there is enormous opportunity here.
How are process loads and environmental requirements driving HVAC system design compared to traditional buildings?
Jacob Weber: Beyond the wide variety of environmental control setpoints found in industrial and manufacturing spaces, the required conditions must often be maintained within tighter tolerances than in traditional commercial buildings. If an office drifts off setpoint by a few degrees, the impact is usually limited to occupant comfort. If a cleanroom, dry room or test lab drifts out of range, the consequences are more substantial. Product quality, test validity or production throughput can be affected. These requirements often drive specialized air handling, desiccant dehumidification, robust filtration, elevated air change rates and more precise controls or programmable logic controllers than would typically be required in a commercial facility.
Darren Rogge: Industrial and manufacturing buildings have similar space condition requirements as traditional buildings except these buildings have equipment and processes that contribute heat, humidity and emissions to the various zones. Depending on the contributions from the equipment, isolation rooms may be used to contain the process equipment contribution so it can be dealt with in a controlled environment or the volume area of the process zone can be taken into consideration to disperse the process equipment contribution. There are a range of factors to be considered in these conditions and discussions with the user are paramount in determining the proper solution.
Michael Walsh: In industrial facilities, HVAC system design is often driven by process requirements rather than occupant comfort. Temperature, humidity and contamination control can be critical to product quality and equipment performance, requiring tighter tolerances and more specialized systems than traditional buildings.
This often leads to the separation of process and comfort HVAC systems, allowing each to be optimized independently. Engineers must also account for high process heat loads, ventilation demands and air quality requirements, which can significantly impact system sizing and energy use. As a result, HVAC design in these environments is more closely integrated with process engineering to ensure reliable and consistent operation.
What strategies are being used to reduce water consumption and manage wastewater in industrial and manufacturing facilities?
Michael Walsh: A growing strategy in industrial facilities is expanding wastewater treatment systems to enable water reuse rather than discharge. By applying advanced filtration technologies such as microfiltration and reverse osmosis, treated effluent can often be reused within the facility, significantly reducing both water consumption and sewer discharge. In some cases, these approaches can reduce overall water demand by more than 90%.
In addition, facilities are revisiting traditional systems such as steam condensate return, which can reduce makeup water, energy use and treatment costs. These strategies require close coordination with process design but can deliver meaningful operational and sustainability benefits.
Jacob Weber: Water reduction strategies should be evaluated against energy use, utility availability and process risk. Air-cooled chillers significantly reduce facility water consumption but typically consume more energy than water-cooled chillers. Dry coolers can also reduce condenser water consumption while maintaining better efficiency than traditional air-cooled chillers in some applications, though usually not as efficiently as evaporative cooling.
We are also seeing more evaluation of water recycling within mechanical systems, such as reusing appropriately treated process water, condensate or other non-potable streams for cooling tower makeup or similar uses. These strategies can reduce overall water consumption but require careful attention to water quality, treatment, scaling, corrosion and discharge requirements.
Describe an industrial or manufacturing project in which process piping was required. What were the challenges and solutions?
Darren Rogge: We have projects that include steam, process water and/or chilled water systems. The challenges are coordinating the main piping, pipe drops around building elements, equipment and the other building systems. The other challenges are developing a layout that allows for maintenance access to all the valves and cleanouts. 3D modeling of the piping systems is a great tool to ensure that these systems are coordinated and configured to provide a functional design.
Jacob Weber: For an automotive manufacturing plant with stamping, body, paint and general assembly areas, process piping is a major part of the facility infrastructure. A typical challenge is designing systems that support current production while allowing future model changes and tooling refits. The typical approach to this challenge is piping layouts in layers. Main headers are treated as permanent infrastructure and are located where they should not need to move. Branch lines are isolatable and semi-permanent, allowing modification during major tool layout changes without disrupting mains or other branches.
Final tool connections are the most flexible and can be moved as equipment changes. They also often require a higher level of detail than typical commercial projects, approaching bill-of-materials-level documentation.
Michael Walsh: Process piping is a critical component of most process industrial projects, with design challenges often driven by fluid characteristics such as temperature, pressure, viscosity and chemical compatibility. Selecting the appropriate materials of construction and system configuration is essential to ensure performance and longevity.
For example, in one project involving a viscous fluid feeding a reactor, the material was compatible with standard stainless steel at ambient conditions but became corrosive at elevated temperatures. The solution required upgrading to more corrosion-resistant materials and incorporating heating systems to manage viscosity. This type of coordination between process conditions and piping design is key to delivering reliable systems.
What type of specialty piping, plumbing or other systems have you specified recently?
Michael Walsh: In pharmaceutical facilities, specialty piping systems must meet strict hygienic and material requirements. This often includes 316L stainless steel tubing with controlled internal surface finishes and sanitary fittings, installed using orbital welding and followed by passivation to ensure corrosion resistance and product integrity.
In other process applications, we have designed jacketed piping systems to maintain temperature for viscous materials that solidify at lower temperatures. These systems use steam or hot oil to control temperature and require careful consideration of thermal expansion and system flexibility. Across all applications, close coordination between process and piping design is essential to ensure reliable operation.
Darren Rogge: We have a user that requires a central vacuum system to support specific robotic equipment. The design implements two vacuum units (one redundant in a lead/lag configuration) and loop piping around the equipment floorplate with drops to each piece of robotic equipment. The loop piping is configured with isolation valves to isolate specific areas and to allow for maintenance. We color code the vacuum piping system along with labeling to easily differentiate it from other piping systems within the facility.
What are some of the challenges or issues when designing for water use in such facilities?
Michael Walsh: Designing for water use in industrial facilities presents challenges related to both supply and discharge. Accurately defining water demand, including peak usage rates and diversity factors, can be difficult early in the design process, particularly when process requirements are still evolving.
Water quality requirements also vary significantly depending on the application, which can impact treatment system design and distribution infrastructure. On the wastewater side, understanding the composition and variability of discharge streams is critical for proper treatment and regulatory compliance. Close coordination with process teams is essential to align system design with actual operational needs and avoid under- or over-designing critical water systems.
Outline a project in which compressed air was needed. What were the challenges and solutions?
Darren Rogge: We designed a compressed air system for an automotive processing facility where vehicles are prepared with options before being delivered to the dealerships. This design has unique challenges due to the large compressed air needs. The system design implemented a redundant air compressor along with a robust loop piping layout having isolation vales and multiple storage tanks to allow for maintenance and maintain the loop pressure needed to support the various equipment requirements.
Michael Walsh: Compressed air is a critical utility in most industrial facilities, supporting equipment such as pneumatic pumps and control valves. A common challenge arises in colder climates, where moisture in compressed air systems can condense and freeze, leading to equipment malfunction or downtime, particularly for outdoor applications.
To address this, engineers must carefully consider air treatment strategies. While some facilities use alternative gases such as nitrogen for critical outdoor systems, a more cost-effective approach is often the use of ultra-low dew point desiccant dryers instead of standard refrigerated dryers. Proper system design ensures reliable operation while balancing performance, cost and maintenance requirements.
