Western New York Energy, the operator of an ethanol plant in Medina, New York, United States, has revealed plans to deploy an industrial steam-generating heat pump at the facility.

US-based Skyven Technologies will provide its Acturus heat pump system for the project. It claimed that its system provides “high efficiencies” and reduces power consumption and costs in on-site process steam generation.

“Skyven Arcturus, built on mechanical vapor recompression (MVR) technology, uses electricity to upgrade low-temperature heat captured from industrial processes and uses that heat to produce boiler-quality steam up to 420 F (215 C) and 300 pounds per square inch,” the two companies said in a joint statement.

The system measures 45 meters x 15 meters and has an expected lifetime of 30 years. It uses water as the refrigerant and its coefficient of performance (CO)  is reportedly 2.7.

“COP varies as a function of heat source temperature, steam output pressure, and temperature lift,” Skyven states on its website. “Arcturus achieves COPs ranging from 2.1 to more than 8.0 depending on temperature lift. For a typical temperature lift of 235 F (112 C), Arcturus produces a COP of 2.7.”

The heat pump also features a minimum heat source temperature of 29 C and a temperature lift of 166 C. Maximum output temperature is 215 C.

“The implementation of Skyven Arcturus is expected to eliminate 20,000 [metric tons] of CO2 emissions each year, equivalent to taking over 4,300 cars off the road,” said the companies.