Technical Tour to Viessman and Hütt Brewery

Host: Kassel (GE)
Date: April 8th, 2016

The day started with the visit of the production site of Viessman in Allendorf/Eder. Throughout the show rooms and the production lines, the students discovered some of the latest products of Viessman, including solar collectors and a gas adsorption boiler. The lunch was gently offered by their host. The excursion continued with the visit of a gas pressure regulating station in Großseelheim. A few years ago, the station was refurbished and its heating demand (in order to keep the gas temperature above the freezing point of water) is now covered by renewable energy production technologies (solar thermal and biogas). The students could enter the facilities and discuss the functioning of the system with the person in charge.

The day ended with the visit of the Hütt brewery in Baunatal which integrated in 2010 solar heat into its beer production process. The brewery started this investment after an energy audit made by scientists of the Kassel University. With the results, they decided to make some changes in order to increase the energy efficiency. The new installations are now saving a third of the energy Hütt used before. The heat that previously used to be evacuated, is now being used to preheat the wort from 75ºC to 95ºC.

In addition to the solar heating, 155 m² area of solar collectors that could supply an amount of 108,5 kWh of thermal power was also installed. A 10 m³ energy storage tank was also installed to heat the cold brewing water from the supply tanks to a maximum of 90ºC.