Arla AKAFA: high-temperature CO₂ heat pump for spray drying
An operating Danish dairy installation with subsequent performance disclosures; newly added to this library, not a newly built 2026 plant.
Engineering data
- Case type
- Public-source case — figures from published reports, papers, or vendor materials
- Data status
- Public-source case
- Data source
- Arla, 9 Oct 2025: https://www.arla.com/company/news-and-press/2025/pressrelease/arla-foods-pioneers-heat-pump-breakthrough-to-cut-supply-chain-emissions/ — GEA operating case (undated): https://www.gea.com/en/customer-cases/arla-addcool/ — Arla half-year report 2024, p.13: https://www.arla.com/4a503c/globalassets/arla-global/legal-information/arla-hyr-2024-uk.pdf — Reviewed 2 Nov 2026.
- Reviewer / date
- Editorial (Open Thermal AI) · 2026-11-02
- Industry
- Food
- Source temperature
- Not disclosed
- Sink temperature
- Not disclosed
- Temperature lift
- Not applicable
- Heating or cooling duty
- Not disclosed
- Architecture
- GEA AddCool high-temperature CO₂ heat pump integrating heating and cooling.
- Result status
- GEA reports 59% less gas for primary-air heating in the operating installation, plus 430 kW useful cooling.
- Key risk
- 59% applies to primary-air heating, not total factory energy. 430 kW is cooling duty, not heating capacity; COP is undisclosed.
- Existing system
- Natural gas for spray-dryer primary-air heating, alongside separate cooling demand.
- Refrigerant
- R744
- COP
- Not disclosed
- Annual energy / emissions savings
- GEA reports 670,000 Nm³/year less gas for primary-air heating and about 1,500 t/year CO₂ avoided with renewable electricity.
- Estimated payback
- Not disclosed in the sources reviewed.
Project background
Arla’s 2024 half-year report already lists AKAFA in commercial operation. The owner’s 9 October 2025 release provides a later account.
Narrative inputs
The owner identifies CO₂ as the working fluid and temperatures up to 120°C. Heating duty and detailed source conditions remain blank pending evidence.
Heat pump solution
Match the dryer heat demand with useful cooling elsewhere in the plant. Check both loads over the same operating period before transferring this approach.
COP & savings
GEA describes a passed site performance test and ongoing monitoring. These are supplier disclosures; this site has not reviewed raw metering or an independent verification report.
Investment / ROI notes
No numerical project cost or payback is provided in the selected case sources. Do not infer them from gas savings alone.
FAQ
What should I check at my own site?
Record source and demand temperatures, simultaneous loads, backup duty and electricity use across the full system. Recalculate costs with local tariffs; this reference is not a performance guarantee.