Step 2 - Assessment
Task 2e: Quantify losses through a material balance
TK Chemical Complex Ltd (Chemicals, Bangladesh)
Yuanping Municipal Chemical Industrial Co. Ltd (Chemicals, China)
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Heat losses for the boiler were observed and upon analysis the Team found that heat was lost in several ways as illustrated below. Although the individual losses could not be quantified, this information was useful to be able to identify causes of these losses and options to reduce the losses.
Lesson learnt: Even if quantification of losses is not possible, the identification of the type of losses is already helpful for identifying causes and options at a later stage.
Hutul Cement Ltd (Cement, Mongolia)
- Material and energy figures were provided for the plant as a whole. However, a materials and energy balance for the three focus areas was not prepared as part of the first visit to the plant because data were not readily available in English.
Erel Cement Ltd (Cement, Mongolia)
- Because the kiln is the largest energy consumer in the plant it was selected as a focus area. A material energy balance was established for the kiln, which is much easier than for the entire plant. The results showed that the kiln efficiency is only 20% and therefore there is an enormous potential for energy efficiency
Lesson learnt: If a material energy balance is too difficult to establish for the entire plant then it can be established for a specific production section or equipment, such as the kiln
Thai Kraft paper Industry Co. Ltd (Pulp and paper, Thailand)
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Sludge from the company’s wastewater treatment plant is one of the major wastes of this company, and it is an important one because it is expensive to get rid of this waste stream. When options were identified an obvious option was to use sludge as an alternative fuel at the plant.
Lesson learnt: Identifying the major waste is also useful because sometimes a waste stream can be reused to improve energy efficiency, for example the reuse of waste paper sludge as alternative fuel.
Other lessons learnt:
- For batch production, consider one full batch to establish a material/energy balance. It is also important to include start up and cleaning operations
- It is not an easy task to develop the “perfect” material/energy balance. Do the best you can and you will discover that even a preliminary material balance can open up opportunities for energy savings!
- Establishing a material/energy balance is often easier for a small and closed focus area, such as a cooling tower or fan, rather than a large focus area, such as a compressed air system
- For chemical processes, the material and energy balance can be calculated from the chemical composition of input and outputs and information about the chemical reaction
- When it is not possible to establish a full material and energy balance due to the lack of data, try to do this for the most important inputs and outputs
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