The scalder burns diesel.The chillers throw heat away.
A dressing plant holds the scalder at 52–55 °C all shift (PAES 529 soft scald) — usually from a diesel steam boiler, at about ₱13 per kilowatt-hour of heat. Twenty metres away the immersion chillers pull heat out of the birds and dump it into the yard. A Karnot heat pump delivers the same scalder heat for about ₱3 — and around ₱2 when it recovers the chillers' rejected heat. Same water, same throughput, no boiler.
Where the money goes in a dressing plant.
There are 174 NMIS-licensed chicken dressing plants in the Philippines, and thermally they all do the same four jobs: scald, sterilise, wash down, chill. In most plants the first three burn diesel or LPG while the fourth throws heat away. That is the whole problem, and it is fixable.
Diesel scalder heat — about ₱13/kWh
A litre of diesel holds about 10 kWh of energy. A steam boiler feeding the scalder through a distribution loop typically puts about 65% of it into the water — flue, blowdown, standby and pipe losses eat the rest. At ₱85 per litre that is about ₱13 per kilowatt-hour of useful heat, all shift, every shift. It is the most expensive routine heat in the plant.
Chillers dumping the heat the boiler buys
Immersion chilling pulls heat out of every bird and rejects it to the yard — at the same moment the boiler is burning diesel to put heat into the scalder. The plant pays to throw heat away and pays again to buy it back. A heat pump that sources from the chillers' rejected heat does both jobs from one compressor input.
The 82 °C steriliser loop
Knife and equipment sterilisers hold 82 °C, and an R290 heat pump tops out at 75 °C — so no, one machine does not do the whole plant, and we will not pretend otherwise. That loop runs on a Karnot CO₂ unit, which delivers up to 90 °C. Both are natural refrigerants with no phasedown clock.
Fuel deliveries, flue and a pressure vessel
The boiler brings weekly fuel logistics, a flue, fuel storage and a pressure vessel onto an NMIS-audited food site — plus a boiler watch. Replacing it removes all of that, and the metered kWh give you clean numbers for RA 11285 energy reporting. The heat pump sits outside; only hot water enters the building.
The Karnot dressing-plant package.
One R290 unit carries the big loads — scalder and washdown. A smaller CO₂ unit carries the 82 °C steriliser loop. Heat recovery ties the chilling side to the heating side. Solar cuts the input cost during exactly the hours a dressing plant runs.
iHEAT R290
Scalder + washdown. Hot water to 75 °C — the 52–55 °C soft-scald range is its sweet spot. For every ₱1 of electricity, about ₱4 of heat. Outdoor monoblock, R290 sealed outside.
CO₂ high-temp unit
The 82 °C steriliser loop, honestly handled — CO₂ delivers water up to 90 °C where R290 stops at 75. Natural refrigerant, GWP 1, no phasedown clock.
Chiller heat recovery
The heat your immersion chillers reject becomes the heat pump's source. One compressor input assists the chilling AND heats the scalder — effective heat cost around ₱2/kWh.
iVOLT solar · zero-export
Dressing plants run in daylight — exactly when the roof generates. Zero-export PV sized to the heat-pump load cuts the ₱12/kWh input cost further. No export paperwork.
₱176,800 a month on diesel. ₱40,560 on a heat pump.
Stated assumptions you can check against your own bills: 65 kW scalder load (2,000 birds/hr at ~32.5 Wh per bird), 8 hours a day, 26 days a month — 13,520 kWh of heat monthly. Diesel at ₱85/litre and 65% steam-system efficiency: ~₱176,800/month. Karnot iHEAT R290 at COP 4 on a ₱12/kWh tariff: ~₱40,560/month. Kept in the plant: about ₱136,000 a month, ~₱1.6M a year, on the scalder alone — before the sterilisers, the washdown, heat recovery or solar. About 38 tonnes of CO₂ a year avoided. These are estimates, not a quotation — the point of the free first pass is to run them on your numbers.
Download the Karnot Poultry Scalder brief
The full sales deck and the four-page flyer — both ready to share with your plant manager, your CFO or your board. Then check our arithmetic on the scalder calculator or read the full article.
Engineering Tools for Poultry Projects
Free calculators to size your dressing-plant system.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to heat a poultry scalder with diesel?
At about ₱85 per litre and 65% steam-system efficiency, each kilowatt-hour of heat reaching the water costs about ₱13. A 2,000 birds-per-hour line needs roughly 65 kW of scalder heat — around ₱177,000 a month on diesel (8 hours a day, 26 days a month).
How much can a heat pump save on the scalder?
About ₱13 per kWh of heat becomes ₱3 — roughly ₱136,000 a month kept in the plant on a 2,000 birds-per-hour line, on the scalder alone. With heat recovery from the chillers, the cost per kWh falls to around ₱2.
What temperature does a chicken scalder need?
PAES 529 specifies soft scalding at around 52–55 °C for broilers. That sits comfortably inside the working range of the Karnot iHEAT R290, which supplies hot water up to 75 °C.
Can one heat pump also supply the 82 °C steriliser water?
No — R290 stops at 75 °C and sterilisers need 82 °C. That loop runs on a Karnot CO₂ heat pump, which delivers up to 90 °C. The usual arrangement is a large R290 unit on scalder + washdown with a smaller CO₂ unit on the steriliser circuit.
Does heat recovery from immersion chilling really work?
Yes. Your chillers reject heat all shift while your scalder buys it. A heat pump that takes the chillers' rejected heat as its source does both jobs from one compressor input — that is where the ₱2 per kWh figure comes from.
What should we do first?
Send one month of diesel or LPG receipts and your line speed to our contact page. You get a one-page savings estimate on your actual numbers — free, usually within two working days, no site visit needed for the first pass.
One month of fuel receipts. That's the whole ask.
Send your diesel or LPG receipts and your birds-per-hour figure. We reply with the same worked table shown above — on your plant, not a sample. If the numbers hold, the next step is a metered survey. We measure before we promise.