Step 2 - Assessment

Task 2c: Walkthrough of focus areas

Abul Khair Steel Products Ltd (Iron and steel, Bangladesh)

• During the walkthrough, the plant’s Team, external facilitators from Bangladesh and an international consultant made several observations that immediately resulted in the some obvious options to improve energy efficiency. Some of the observations and options were:

  • There is no insulation material on steam pipe valves and fittings and insulation on some pipelines is absent. Option: insulate all steam pipelines, valves and fittings
  • There is no condensate recovery on the main pickling line. Option: install an economizer on the boiler to preheat feed water using return condensate at high temperature
  • One bore well pump is running continuously to supply water, but when water is not needed it has to be stored. Option: install a float valve controller to enable intermittent bore well operation so that water is only pumped up when it is needed.
  • Cold water recycling pumps operate all the time even when the cold rolling mill is shut off. Option: turn off the main pumps on the rolling mills when the mills are off-line

  Lesson learnt: the walkthrough of focus areas can generate a lot of options that would not have been identified otherwise

Bengal Fine Ceramics Ltd (Ceramics, Bangladesh)

• This plant was a demonstration plant as part of a Cleaner Production training programme of the five Bangladeshi plants participating in the GERIAP project. Staff from the fertilizer plant and the trainer identified ten additional options during the plant walkthrough based on the experiences from their own plant (see table below). This was possible despite ceramics manufacturing and fertilizer production being totally two different processes, because many of the equipments used and environmental problems are the same.
  Lesson learnt: It can be useful to have employees from other companies join in the plant walkthrough because they can identify energy efficiency opportunities based on what is done at their company.

Medigloves Ltd (Chemicals, Thailand)

• Prior to the walkthrough of the plant, several non-technical workers were trained on how to recognize inefficient use of energy and materials. They joined the Team, the external Thai facilitators and an external consultant in the walkthrough of the plant and managed to point out several inefficiencies that staff working in the plant every day had got used to, such as dripping or left open water taps, leaking steam valves, and compressed air leaks.
  Lesson learnt: Non-technical staff who do not work in the plant on a daily basis are able to identify obvious losses of materials and energy because they look at the processes with fresh eyes, and therefore they should join the walkthrough of the focus areas.

Other lessons learnt:

• Keep an open mind during the walkthrough and try to “think outside the box”. Just because a process has been running in a certain way for years, it does not necessarily mean that it is the best way of doing it!
• Time can be saved by splitting the different tasks within the Team, especially if several focus areas are selected. For instance, of three focus areas are selected, split the Team into three groups to work on one focus area. After one or more days, meet up to discuss your findings and exchange ideas
• Ensure to use all necessary safety equipment during the walkthrough, such as protective clothing, boots, helmet, glasses and earplugs
• If the company doesn’t have its own measuring equipment, try to solve this problem quickly because quantifying inputs and outputs will be much more difficult without measurements. Possible solutions are involving an external facilitator/consultant who has monitoring equipment, hiring monitoring equipment, or asking suppliers of the energy equipments that are included in the focus areas to come and take measurements for you
• For some locations in the plant it is not possible to take measurements using portable or installed monitoring instruments. An alternative source for information is the control room
• A walkthrough can be done by following the process pathway from start to finish, for example, check the compressed air piping system for leaks starting from the compressor
• Use labels or tags to mark findings on site during the walkthrough
• Make time to speak to the staff on the floor during the walkthrough as they best know the day-to-day functioning and routines of their working areas. To get their cooperation, explain that you want to help to improve (and not criticize!) their ways of working
• A walkthrough usually generates many observations, but it does not necessarily result in the identification of clear options
• It is very useful to talk to the operators because they often have information that can be useful in identifying low cost opportunities, such as changes in operating procedures or simple equipment modifications
• It is useful to prepare questions before the walkthrough which need to be asked to work floor staff
• Monitoring instruments are useful to quickly identify energy losses during the walkthrough, such as the infrared thermometer to determine heat loss