RACA Journal I February 2026 www. refrigerationandaircon. co. za 11
PROCESS COOLING FEATURE SERIES
HOW SMART PROCESS COOLING IS BENEFITTING MANUFACTURE
By Eamonn Ryan
In modern manufacturing, heat is more than just a byproduct – it’ s a challenge that can make or break production. Whenever South Africa’ s manufacturing sector looks to upgrade outdated infrastructure, integrating advanced cooling technologies with smart plant design is becoming a game-changer for productivity and long-term resilience.
Manufacturing process cooling encompasses the methods and systems used to remove unwanted heat generated during industrial operations. Its purpose is clear: to maintain product quality, ensure the efficient operation of equipment and protect worker safety. In short, process cooling is not a peripheral service – it is a core component of industrial operations, enabling production to remain reliable, safe and cost-effective while meeting both quality and regulatory standards.
John Ackermann, founding chairman of SARDA, points out that process cooling represents one of the greatest opportunities for innovation within South Africa’ s manufacturing sector.“ Much of this infrastructure remains outdated and inefficient. In many plants, energy is treated as a fixed cost rather than a variable that can be engineered down.” International examples demonstrate how heat recovery, integrated system design and smart controls have cut energy consumption by up to 30 %.“ Our climate gives us an advantage if we design for it. Evaporative systems, hybrid chillers and waste-heat reuse all make strong sense here – but they demand skilled design and ongoing maintenance,” he explains.
Ackermann also warns against the industry’ s persistent focus on lowest capital cost.“ The lowest price is rarely the best price; you pay dearly for it afterwards,” he says. He advocates for life-cycle cost( LCC) analysis to become standard practice in plant design and procurement. True LCC assessment considers not only purchase price but also energy efficiency, maintenance requirements, component lifespan and potential downtime.“ A system that costs 15 % more upfront but uses 25 % less energy can recover the extra capital in a year. Procurement must stop rewarding short-term savings and start valuing long-term resilience.”
Unlike comfort or storage applications, process cooling operates at the heart of production. Its role is not to create a pleasant environment but to control a variable that directly affects output, quality and efficiency. From chemical processing to laboratory testing, maintaining precise temperatures can determine whether an operation succeeds or fails.
Marco Ferdinandi, marketing director at MS Airconditioning, emphasises the distinction: comfort cooling manages conditions for people, and distribution cooling ensures products remain safe during storage or transport. Process cooling, however, treats temperature as a parameter of production itself.“ Even a onedegree deviation can slow output, alter a chemical reaction or cause defects. Engineers must understand the process itself – not just the refrigeration technology – because every degree, every flow rate and every transition matters. In comfort cooling, you can be a little wrong and still be right. In process cooling, if you’ re a little wrong, you’ re entirely wrong,” he explains.
Based on MS Airconditioning projects, Ferdinandi notes that modern process environments demand both accuracy and rapid responsiveness. Whether a facility must shift quickly between temperature points or maintain constant thermal stability, cooling systems
John Ackermann, founding chairman of SARDA.
must adapt instantly without overshoot or lag. Achieving this often requires advanced control systems, variable refrigerant flow( VRF) technologies, or sophisticated chillers configured for fine-grained modulation.
Manufacturers are also shifting toward natural refrigerants like CO₂ and ammonia, driven by environmental goals and superior thermal properties. CO₂ systems are increasingly used in laboratories, blood banks and precision testing facilities where cleanliness and tight temperature control are paramount. Ferdinandi adds:“ Process cooling is not a variant of air conditioning – it is a branch of production engineering. Its purpose is to sustain or replicate the conditions under which a process performs optimally, and success depends on understanding the process as deeply as the technology itself.”
INTEGRATING PROCESS COOLING AND HVAC FOR MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY
As industrial facilities pursue higher efficiency and smarter energy use, refrigeration systems are increasingly viewed not as stand-alone utilities but as the operational brain of the plant environment. A growing design philosophy positions the refrigeration plant at the centre of operations, with HVAC, wet services, heating and even parts of the electrical load coordinated around its thermodynamic capacity.
Rather than designing refrigeration, HVAC and electrical systems independently, this integrated approach treats refrigeration as the anchor that co-ordinates all thermal demands. This enables dynamic control across the site, ensuring heat, cold and energy flow exactly where they are needed with minimal loss.
© RACA Journal
Process cooling
RACA Journal I February 2026 www. refrigerationandaircon. co. za 11