Evonik puts energy savings on the map
1 Aug 2008
Energy efficiency is a key target at the Evonik site at Seal Sands on Teesside, which specialises in the custom manufacture of pharmaceutical, agricultural and industrial chemicals.
Production at the 242-employee, high-tier COMAH site is based around four manufacturing plants housing over 60 reactors - from 0.1m3 up to 20m3 — with a total reactor capacity of 268m3. These units are powered by a combined heat and power (CHP) plant (see panel, below), which also feeds into administration, laboratory and utility facilities on site.
The importance of energy efficiency at the Seal Sands operation is underlined by its rising gas and electricity costs. The site's gas bill is forecast to rise from £1.4 million this year to £2.6 million in 2009, while its electricity bill is set to go up from £360,000 to £660,000 next year.
Against this background, Evonik has made energy the focus of a 'Masterclass' programme at the site. This initiative — part of an overall cultural change plan at the site, encompassing continuous improvement concepts such as Kaizen, 5C/5S, OEE and visual management — engages managers and employees at all levels in driving improvements and energy efficiencies across the site.
The Energy Masterclass, which has a target of delivering £100,00 in annual savings, led to the launch of an energy mapping exercise this February. This was to establish in detail where all the energy was being used — both across the site and within each of its four production buildings.
"The whole principle is if you can't measure it [energy efficiency] you can't improve it or sustain improvement. So you have to understand it, meter it and develop the KPIs [key performance indicators]," explained Keith Hanson, general manager at the Seal Sands site.
Evonik's energy usage analysis included comparing the theoretical and actual chemical heat load of the process. "We looked at the kinetics of the process from a chemical engineering point of view to see how much energy is required for the process. It was a real eye-opener to see how much energy is outside that of pure processing for ancillary and support equipment," said Hanson.
According to Dave Dunn, supply chain manager at the Evonik site: "Data [before the Masterclass work] was all over the place, so we had to get it back together again. We looked at the analogue meters in greater detail. Some weren't working properly and giving false readings, so we set them up to work properly again."
Dunn went on to explain how an analysis in Building 3 (B3) revealed that process equipment accounted for 75% of the energy consumption, with the temperature control modules on the motors using the most power, followed by cooling water pump B, the scrubber system and the chiller. These four items were found to take 80% of the process energy consumption.
With the energy mapping data, plant managers could assess a range of KPIs for the energy programme before settling for two: power (electricity and steam) usage per allocated reactor hour, and power usage per allocated reactor capacity. The latter indicator, said Dunn, was chosen to reflect the particular capacity profile of B3. The unit has only four vessels but they are 20m3 vessels, so if one vessel causes an issue, it is 25% of capacity.
With the KPIs in place, the continuous improvement process of 'plan, do, check, and act' is enabling the Evonik team to apply a structured approach to acquiring detailed, up-to-date data on energy usage and to act on the flow of information being generated,
"Everything starts with data analysis, so, for example, daily kilowatt-hour readings are taken by our electrical engineers to measure power going through infrastructure systems that mainly stay on but can be made more efficient, and process equipment that can generally be turned off when not manufacturing," said Hanson.
According to Hanson, senior management commitment is essential to the sustainability of any continuous improvement programme: "They have to fully support having the standard methodology running right through everything they do. In this organisation, this is embedded."
Likewise, shopfloor commitment is another key element of continuous improvement, according to Dunn. "We have been quite good with that. The feedback has been very good and the guys have jumped into it with quite a lot of enthusiasm," the supply chain manager stated.
Armed with the data on energy usage, KPIs and the continuous improvement programme, the Masterclass has helped the Evonik operation to identify a series of projects, with a combined target of achieving a reduction of around £1 million in the energy bill based on 2009 annual forecast prices (See panel, below).
Some of these projects require significant investment. The overall capital spend for the site tends to run between £2 million and £2.5 million, depending on the new products brought in and the technology needed for those products. The site also has access to up to £400,000 for smaller CAPEX projects, without requiring corporate approval.
"The principle in a lot of this, though, is use your mind, not your money," explained Hanson. "A lot of energy can be saved through a change in the culture … As we say to our people, you can spend money on whatever you want, if you want to give it to contractors you can do, but then you can't have the money for the plant. What we are trying to do is to get more money to our equipment and less money going off site."
Energy-saving projects identified by Evonik
Evonik is targeting savings of £200,000, for example, through secondary recovery of heat from jackets. "We could use the jacket water to feed the heat into the labs, currently on a 10bar steam supply system," according to the company's supply chain manager Dave Dunn.
Another plan is to send water from the absorption chillers, which is at about 80°C, to the dryers, to remove water or organic solvents with moderate boiling points. The company also sees potential to tap energy from the flue gases, which go into the atmosphere at around 180°C.
Evonik is also looking at managing the set points for the site demand of electricity to prevent trips due to overheating, which leads it to import expensive energy from the national grid. Another, more costly, option is to install another CHP engine.
Improvements here could save £200,000 across the site. About 30% of site electricity demand is for chilled fluids at present. Evonik is looking at whether it needs to operate as low as minus 20°C, as well as at the lagging efficiency across its chiller system.
Many motor are oversized and there is also scope to turn off or turn down these units. Only 5-10% of total life cycle cost of pumps is capital cost, so the company is looking to further involve its electrical engineers as well as chemical engineers and process engineers in the purchasing of these appliances.
The company envisages savings of £50,000 in this area, for example, by improving condensate return. This is currently inefficient at about 50% due to leaks. There is also scope to improve burner efficiency at low turndowns and investigate heat exchanger efficiency and heat recovery on the blowdowns and the use of alternative fuels.
This is probably the biggest potential project at the Evonik site and promises savings of £400,000. The company is looking at the feasibility of using its high-calorific effluents instead of natural gas to generate its own steam — and so reduce disposal costs. This project would focus on a mothballed waste incinerator, and would require significant investment.
Evonik is targeting about £20,000 in savings. The current motor on the compressor is about 200kW, one of the largest single drives on the site. We need a bit more load data to determine the potential for variable speed drives and on the feasibility of adapting the compressors for pressure swing absorption, said the company's supply chain manager.
Production at the 242-employee, high-tier COMAH site is based around four manufacturing plants housing over 60 reactors - from 0.1m3 up to 20m3 — with a total reactor capacity of 268m3. These units are powered by a combined heat and power (CHP) plant (see panel, below), which also feeds into administration, laboratory and utility facilities on site.
The importance of energy efficiency at the Seal Sands operation is underlined by its rising gas and electricity costs. The site's gas bill is forecast to rise from £1.4 million this year to £2.6 million in 2009, while its electricity bill is set to go up from £360,000 to £660,000 next year.
Against this background, Evonik has made energy the focus of a 'Masterclass' programme at the site. This initiative — part of an overall cultural change plan at the site, encompassing continuous improvement concepts such as Kaizen, 5C/5S, OEE and visual management — engages managers and employees at all levels in driving improvements and energy efficiencies across the site.
The Energy Masterclass, which has a target of delivering £100,00 in annual savings, led to the launch of an energy mapping exercise this February. This was to establish in detail where all the energy was being used — both across the site and within each of its four production buildings.
"The whole principle is if you can't measure it [energy efficiency] you can't improve it or sustain improvement. So you have to understand it, meter it and develop the KPIs [key performance indicators]," explained Keith Hanson, general manager at the Seal Sands site.
Evonik's energy usage analysis included comparing the theoretical and actual chemical heat load of the process. "We looked at the kinetics of the process from a chemical engineering point of view to see how much energy is required for the process. It was a real eye-opener to see how much energy is outside that of pure processing for ancillary and support equipment," said Hanson.
According to Dave Dunn, supply chain manager at the Evonik site: "Data [before the Masterclass work] was all over the place, so we had to get it back together again. We looked at the analogue meters in greater detail. Some weren't working properly and giving false readings, so we set them up to work properly again."
Dunn went on to explain how an analysis in Building 3 (B3) revealed that process equipment accounted for 75% of the energy consumption, with the temperature control modules on the motors using the most power, followed by cooling water pump B, the scrubber system and the chiller. These four items were found to take 80% of the process energy consumption.
With the energy mapping data, plant managers could assess a range of KPIs for the energy programme before settling for two: power (electricity and steam) usage per allocated reactor hour, and power usage per allocated reactor capacity. The latter indicator, said Dunn, was chosen to reflect the particular capacity profile of B3. The unit has only four vessels but they are 20m3 vessels, so if one vessel causes an issue, it is 25% of capacity.
With the KPIs in place, the continuous improvement process of 'plan, do, check, and act' is enabling the Evonik team to apply a structured approach to acquiring detailed, up-to-date data on energy usage and to act on the flow of information being generated,
"Everything starts with data analysis, so, for example, daily kilowatt-hour readings are taken by our electrical engineers to measure power going through infrastructure systems that mainly stay on but can be made more efficient, and process equipment that can generally be turned off when not manufacturing," said Hanson.
According to Hanson, senior management commitment is essential to the sustainability of any continuous improvement programme: "They have to fully support having the standard methodology running right through everything they do. In this organisation, this is embedded."
Likewise, shopfloor commitment is another key element of continuous improvement, according to Dunn. "We have been quite good with that. The feedback has been very good and the guys have jumped into it with quite a lot of enthusiasm," the supply chain manager stated.
Armed with the data on energy usage, KPIs and the continuous improvement programme, the Masterclass has helped the Evonik operation to identify a series of projects, with a combined target of achieving a reduction of around £1 million in the energy bill based on 2009 annual forecast prices (See panel, below).
Some of these projects require significant investment. The overall capital spend for the site tends to run between £2 million and £2.5 million, depending on the new products brought in and the technology needed for those products. The site also has access to up to £400,000 for smaller CAPEX projects, without requiring corporate approval.
"The principle in a lot of this, though, is use your mind, not your money," explained Hanson. "A lot of energy can be saved through a change in the culture … As we say to our people, you can spend money on whatever you want, if you want to give it to contractors you can do, but then you can't have the money for the plant. What we are trying to do is to get more money to our equipment and less money going off site."
Energy-saving projects identified by Evonik
Evonik is targeting savings of £200,000, for example, through secondary recovery of heat from jackets. "We could use the jacket water to feed the heat into the labs, currently on a 10bar steam supply system," according to the company's supply chain manager Dave Dunn.
Another plan is to send water from the absorption chillers, which is at about 80°C, to the dryers, to remove water or organic solvents with moderate boiling points. The company also sees potential to tap energy from the flue gases, which go into the atmosphere at around 180°C.
Evonik is also looking at managing the set points for the site demand of electricity to prevent trips due to overheating, which leads it to import expensive energy from the national grid. Another, more costly, option is to install another CHP engine.
Improvements here could save £200,000 across the site. About 30% of site electricity demand is for chilled fluids at present. Evonik is looking at whether it needs to operate as low as minus 20°C, as well as at the lagging efficiency across its chiller system.
Many motor are oversized and there is also scope to turn off or turn down these units. Only 5-10% of total life cycle cost of pumps is capital cost, so the company is looking to further involve its electrical engineers as well as chemical engineers and process engineers in the purchasing of these appliances.
The company envisages savings of £50,000 in this area, for example, by improving condensate return. This is currently inefficient at about 50% due to leaks. There is also scope to improve burner efficiency at low turndowns and investigate heat exchanger efficiency and heat recovery on the blowdowns and the use of alternative fuels.
This is probably the biggest potential project at the Evonik site and promises savings of £400,000. The company is looking at the feasibility of using its high-calorific effluents instead of natural gas to generate its own steam — and so reduce disposal costs. This project would focus on a mothballed waste incinerator, and would require significant investment.
Evonik is targeting about £20,000 in savings. The current motor on the compressor is about 200kW, one of the largest single drives on the site. We need a bit more load data to determine the potential for variable speed drives and on the feasibility of adapting the compressors for pressure swing absorption, said the company's supply chain manager.
