₱180,000 a month back in your pocket.From day one.
For Philippine food & beverage processors — juice, sauce, dairy CIP, brewery, cannery, ready-to-eat. The LPG steam boiler that feeds your blanchers, your CIP, your pasteuriser — swapped for one Karnot iHEAT R290 cascade. 78% off the process-heat line, financed by the bank, no flame on site.
Useful process heat from an LPG boiler costs ₱17 per kWh.
Most CFOs cost process heat as the LPG fuel bill divided by tonnes shipped. Net out 82% boiler efficiency, 95% steam-line transmission, condensate that never returns — useful heat at the process is about ₱17 per kWh. A heat pump delivers the same duty at ₱2.50 per kWh.
LPG steam is a peso-per-kWh bill that only goes up
LPG in PH has climbed ~40% since 2020. Net out 82% boiler efficiency, 95% steam-line transmission, condensate that never returns — useful heat at the process costs ~₱17/kWh. Most CFOs miss the real number because they cost the line as "boiler fuel ÷ tonnes shipped." The bill is bigger than the P&L line suggests.
A flame, a flue, a DENR file, an insurance loading
An LPG boiler room means a permit, continuous combustion risk, periodic DENR inspections, flue-gas monitoring and an insurance loading on your plant licence. Karnot iHEAT R290 sits outdoors with a sealed refrigerant charge under 5 kg per unit — no flame, no flue, no inspection, no boiler-room maintenance schedule.
One closed loop. Heat pump + thermal storage + cascade refrigeration.
Air-to-water R290 for sub-100 °C. CO₂ cascade for above 100 °C and simultaneous refrigeration. PCM thermal storage banks afternoon solar as hot CIP water for night-shift cleaning.
Karnot iHEAT R290
Air-to-water heat pump. COP 4.0+ at PH ambient, 60–90 °C delivery. R290 natural refrigerant (GWP 3). Direct replacement for LPG/diesel steam for sub-100 °C duty — blanch, CIP, pasteurise, sterile rinse. Outdoor, sealed, no boiler room.
iCOOL CO₂
CO₂ (R744) refrigeration cascade. -40 °C cold to 90 °C hot in one machine. Reject heat captured at 60 °C, not vented. GWP 1, A1 safety. No R404A phasedown clock.
iSTOR PCM
Phase-change thermal battery at 70–90 °C. Banks afternoon solar as hot CIP water for night-shift cleaning. Non-lithium, fire-safe. FLX coconut PCM in development.
iVOLT Solar
Behind-the-meter rooftop PV plus LiFePO₄ battery, sized at ~117% of iHEAT + iCOOL electrical demand. No export to the grid. Daytime solar runs the heat pumps directly; surplus charges the iSTOR thermal battery.
Mid-size PH food processor. A real number per useful kWh.
Modelled on a mid-size Philippine food processor consuming 150,000 kWh/year of useful process heat — typical juice, sauce or dairy CIP plant. Your plant might be 50,000 kWh/yr (divide by 3) or 500,000 kWh/yr (multiply by 3.3) — per-kWh economics hold.
| Annual figure · 150,000 kWh/yr useful heat | Today · LPG steam boiler | Karnot iHEAT R290 cascade | You stop paying |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost per kWh useful (at the process) | ~₱17/kWh | ~₱2.50/kWh | 6.8× better per peso |
| System efficiency | 82% boiler × 95% steam line | COP 4.0 annualised | 5× better at the meter |
| Annual energy cost · process heat | ~₱2,550,000 | ~₱375,000 | −78% / ~₱2.175M |
| Refrigerant / combustion | Scope 1 LPG · ~750 tCO₂e/yr | R290 · GWP 3 · natural | Scope 1 → zero |
| Total investment (VAT-inc) | (already paid) | ~₱2.5M | < 6 mo cash payback |
The cash flow. Plain and dull.
CAPEX of ~₱2.5M, financed under a green loan at ~7% p.a. over 60 months. Monthly process-heat saving (~₱181K) is larger than the monthly loan payment. Net cash in pocket from day one.
You pay nothing up front. The bank does.
Three Philippine banks run green-loan programmes for energy-efficiency CAPEX. The monthly LPG saving is larger than the monthly loan payment. Net cash flow goes up from day one. Karnot files the loan, the BOI Pioneer registration and the RA 11285 Income Tax Holiday paperwork as part of project scope.
These are loans, not grants. Real green-discounted commercial loans, sized to fit on top of monthly LPG savings. Karnot files the application, BOI Pioneer registration and RA 11285 Income Tax Holiday paperwork as part of project scope.
Download the Food Processing Application Brief
A 4-page application brief and a 10-slide deck — both ready to share with your operations team, your CFO or your board.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much can a Philippine food processor save?
A modelled mid-size Philippine food processor consuming 150,000 kWh/year of useful process heat saves approximately ₱2.175 million per year — a 78% reduction in process-heat cost. Today's LPG steam boiler delivers useful heat at about ₱17/kWh; the Karnot iHEAT R290 cascade delivers the same 60–90 °C process heat for about ₱2.50/kWh at COP 4.0 on the GP commercial tariff ₱14/kWh.
What is the payback period?
Sub-6-month cash payback on a 150,000 kWh/yr plant. CAPEX is approximately ₱2.5M for an iHEAT R290 50 kW cascade + 500 kWh iSTOR PCM buffer + controls + Permits-Managed Service. With a 5-year green loan at ~7% p.a., monthly LPG savings exceed the monthly loan payment by ~₱180,000 net cash in the operator's pocket every month from day one.
Can a heat pump deliver process heat at 90 °C and above?
Yes. The Karnot iHEAT R290 cascade delivers 60–90 °C at COP 4.0+ — sufficient for CIP, blanching, pasteurisation, sterile rinse and most sub-100 °C food-processing duty. For temperatures above 100 °C the iCOOL CO₂ cascade can deliver process heat up to 110 °C while simultaneously providing refrigeration on the cold side.
Does this work for both heating AND refrigeration?
Yes — that's the iCOOL CO₂ cascade's core advantage. A single CO₂ refrigeration machine delivers blast freezing, ingredient chilling and finished-product cold store on the cold side AND captures the reject heat at 60 °C for process-heat duty. Same machine, both jobs, one bill.
Why is process heat ₱17 per kWh useful — that seems high?
Most CFOs cost process heat as the LPG fuel bill divided by tonnes shipped — a gross number that ignores boiler inefficiency, steam-line losses and condensate that never returns. Real cost per useful kWh: LPG (₱85/kg) ÷ 13.6 kWh/kg gross ÷ 0.82 boiler efficiency ÷ 0.95 steam-line transmission = approximately ₱15–17 per useful kWh for a typical Philippine plant.
Is R290 refrigerant safe for a food plant?
Yes. The Karnot iHEAT R290 cascade is installed outdoors with sealed refrigerant charges under 5 kg per unit — well under EN 378 thresholds. No indoor flue, no flame, no boiler-room maintenance schedule.
Does this support SEC PFRS S2 and BOI Pioneer status?
Yes to both. Replacing the LPG steam boiler eliminates Scope 1 combustion emissions — roughly 750 tCO₂e/year on a 150,000 kWh useful-heat plant. R290 has GWP 3 vs 2,088 for legacy R410A. The project typically qualifies for BOI Pioneer status under RA 11285, unlocking Income Tax Holiday.
Want the numbers for your plant?
Send us 12 months of LPG + electricity bills, your boiler nameplate kW and a daily shift schedule. We come back with a sized iHEAT cascade, projected saving, payback and the bank + BOI application ready to sign.