Reducing energy consumption at a leading manufacturer of organic and inorganic and effect pigments in South Asia

The plant aimed to lower its steam fuel bill while addressing the gap between steam generation and consumption. Additionally, the objective was to reduce overall steam consumption and shut down one boiler that was maintained on hot standby for peak loads.

Forbes Marshall engineers conducted a thermal audit of the plant, which also focused on the Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) and Solvent Recovery Section (SRS), which together accounted for nearly 70% of the plant’s steam usage. We optimized the temperature gradient, addressed excess steam consumption in the SRS columns, and enhanced the design of the condensate and flash recovery system. These improvements led to significant reductions in both fuel and water consumption across the steam system.

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OBJECTIVE

Reduce energy consumption

Address the 10% gap between steam generation and steam consumption against an ideal distribution loss of 3-4%

SOLUTION

The Forbes Marshall team conducted a detailed study of the plant, identified the gaps and defined corrective actions.

Solutions were implemented, with appropriate products where required, for

– Improving condensate and flash steam recovery

– Addressing the steam distribution network for losses

– Addressing selection and uptime of steam traps in the plant including for the reactors and driers

– Addressing condensate evacuation from the equipment

– Boiler efficiency improvement

BENEFITS

Overall cumulative opex reduction of 14% on the steam fuel bill across both plants.

Meeting the steam demand with just one boiler operating instead of two at one of their plants (shut off one boiler).

Feed water temperature improvement from 50deg C to 90deg C at one plant and reduction in live steam to the deaerator at the second plant by improving condensate and flash steam recovery.

Maximising the condensate recovery additionally resulted in water savings of 80 kilolitres per day.

Boiler efficiency improvement from 67% to 71.5%.

Improvement in the specific steam consumption at the continuous drier from 7.2 to 5 tons of steam/ton of product dried.