This August we were at a well known brick manufacturer in Nottinghamshire, helping them achieve their goal of net zero carbon emissions. This may seem like a tall order in an industry that burns ALOT of natural gas, but bit by bit, it is starting to bear fruit.
Energy
Besides the obvious natural gas, the industry consumes huge amounts of kinetic and electrical energy. In order to make those little brown cuboids. The raw material needs processing. And by processing, we mean, crushing and squeezing. In this industry they use crushing rolls, grinding mills and presses. Each demanding large amounts of electrical energy. You can see an example below of a set of modern material crushing rolls.
Series 2000 Multi Tooth Crusher, Craven Fawcett.
The Proposal
The goal was clear. REDUCE energy consumption by a maximum amount, in a cost effective manner.
We proposed a mixture of Siemens Variable Speed Drives and Soft Starts to replace traditional star delta motor starters on drives greater than 37KW. This was not only to conserve more energy, but also to prolong the service life of the equipment from the harsh stop/starts of a Star Delta motor starter.
Variable Speed Drive, Siemens.
The Result
The data speaks for itself. Without giving away confidential information, energy was reduced by a demonstrable 22% consistently over a 2 month period.
The energy savings have been tremendous and with a ROI of less than 2 years, the upgrades come with a vast range of benefits:-
- Increased service life of mechanical hardware.
- Replacement components installed into a 30 year old system.
- Endorsement of environmental commitment.
- Cost saving, estimated at around £40K/yr.*
How Can We Help You?
If you operate heavy plant, or maintain industrial equipment with motors over 15KW. We can offer solutions to save energy, and save you money! We can help with the raising of Capital Expenditure, and consult on case studies to get you the data you need to get your investments off the ground.
We specialise in bringing a new lease of life into old machinery, but it's not to say we can't help you automate energy saving initiatives on modern equipment. Reach out today to find out how we can help your business meet it's environmental, and Health & Safety commitments.