Product category:
Industrial Drives/Controls
News Release from: ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors) | Subject: Industrial drives
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 13 October 2004
Replacement drive is well worth its salt
ABB equipment installed for just GBP 20,000 is saving over GBP 100,000 a year at Salt Union's plant in Runcorn, Cheshire.
ABB equipment installed for just GBP 20,000 is saving over GBP 100,000 a year at Salt Union's plant in Runcorn, Cheshire Replacing a single oversized fan with a smaller version equipped with speed control has cut the energy consumption on one of the plant's dryers by over 60%
This article was originally published on Engineeringtalk on 10 Dec 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Replacement drive improves pump control
A water treatment plant operated by South East Water has reduced its maintenance costs by GBP 2000 a year and improved water quality, by replacing a motor with an industrial drive and motor from ABB.
Variable speed drive is worth its salt
Salt Union, one of Europe's largest salt producers, has received ABB's special award for energy savings, recognising its outstanding achievement in saving over GBP 100,000 a year in energy costs.
Salt Union has a flowsheet capacity of producing 1Mt of salt every year at the Runcorn site.
As well as food grade pure dried vacuum salt, the plant also produces a courser granular product as well as tablets.
The dryer in question processes a coarse, granular product used in applications such as dishwashers.
Further reading
Drives and motors gain blanket ATEX certification
ABB has gained blanket ATEX certification for its industrial drives of 4kW and above and flameproof and nonsparking motors for use in hazardous areas.
Two drives improve transport at steel works
Drives let firm accurately position two coil shuttle cars ahead of the hot dipping production lines, so the company can reduce road haulage, providing a more efficient steel coil delivery system.
The previous fan sucked air through the dryer at a rate controlled by a damper in the pipeline.
During normal operation, this damper was 95% closed so most of the fan's energy was being used to suck the air through the narrow constriction.
An energy survey by ABB Drives Alliance member Central Electrical was carried out to determine what potential savings could be achieved.
The original fan motor was rated at 337kW, but Central Electrical's calculations showed that 132kW should be enough to create the draft needed by the dryer.
"That's a huge energy saving when you think we run the unit for about 8000 hours a year", says Electrical Plant Improvement Engineer Dave Mullin.
"In fact, it equates to over 1.6GWh per year".
The old fan was replaced by a smaller version from Fan Systems of Halifax, equipped with a 132kW four-pole motor coupled to an ABB industrial drive.
The resulting energy savings now average a staggering GBP 9000 a month.
The original fan was badly oversized for historical reasons.
The dryer was previously used to process vacuum salt crystals, which are much smaller than the spherical, 2-3mm diameter particles in granular salt.
The fine crystals created a far bigger pressure drop across the dryer than today's coarse product.
"The fan was probably on the generous side to start with".
"Years ago it was common for engineers to add a safety margin", says Mullin.
"But once the duty changed it became grossly oversized".
It's a common problem, according to Ken Tym of Central Electrical: "Industries and processes change, but there are a lot of areas that manufacturers don't seem to consider".
"Sometimes it's about re-educating end users about the energy savings that are achievable".
At Salt Union, energy-saving initiatives aren't confined to the process.
Even the small amount of waste heat now produced by ABB's variable speed drive is being put to work warming up the switch room in winter.
"It's not a major saving but it's good to be using a waste product in this way", says Mullin.
• ABB Automation Tech (Drives and Motors): contact details and other news
• Email this article to a colleague
• Register for the free Engineeringtalk email newsletter
• Engineeringtalk Home Page
