Food and Beverage
Use of the GEM® steam trap has enabled many major food and beverage manufacturers to not only save energy and reduce carbon emissions, but also to improve process control and increase productivity while reducing maintenance costs. GEM® steam traps have been successfully used in a wide range of applications in the food and beverage sector including autoclaves, CO2 vaporizers, evaporators, dryers, CIP systems, starch converters, heated tanks and line drainage.
All GEM® steam traps are made from 100% stainless steel, ideal for the quality and cleanliness requirements specific to the food and beverage industry. In addition, GEM® steam traps release condensate at a steady rate, not “on/off” like mechanical traps, resulting in more steady temperature and pressure control.
A multi-national candy and confectionery company replaced 150 mechanical traps with GEM® traps at three different facilities and achieved a steam saving of 15%. This company has now implemented a policy of utilizing GEM® steam traps at all of the company’s plants.
A leading worldwide food ingredient manufacturer installed 450 GEM® traps at one of its European facilities and achieved 10% savings in steam consumption, 10 to 20% faster warm up on batch processes, and 15% in increased production. Replacing their existing steam traps with GEM® traps has given them a payback of less than one year. They have since recommended GEM® steam traps for an additional three facilities.
A major food producer has replaced over 1,000 of their mechanical traps with GEM® traps at nine of their facilities in the UK. Energy savings from the GEM® traps as measured by an on-site steam meter indicates the GEM® traps will generate a payback of less than 2 years.
Hospital
High energy reduction targets have lead to the installation of GEM® traps in a wide variety of process and line drainage applications in hospitals. The GEM® trap design has reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions between 10% and 20% in many hospitals and hospital laundries providing rapid paybacks of typically less than 2 years. Suitable for use on autoclaves, washers, steam generators, DHW (domestic hot water) heaters, heating calorifiers, steam to water heat exchangers, ironers, tumble dryers, presses, heating and frost coils and humidifiers for HVAC systems, the GEM® trap provides a system-wide solution, helping to reduce maintenance, improve equipment performance and longevity, and ultimately reduce energy, water and carbon emissions.
A UK government backed study at a hospital laundry in 1999 as part of the Best Practice Program provided proven evidence of a 19% energy saving. The GEM® traps are still operating efficiently at the facility today.
A hospital saw a 10% reduction in steam use after the installation of GEM® steam traps, and achieved a payback of 18 months in energy savings alone.
In 2005, a major Orthopaedic Hospital replaced all its failed mechanical traps with GEM® traps. Today, these original GEM® traps continue to operate as efficiently as the day they were fitted. Payback on the investment was achieved in less than 16 months. The hospital has since installed a heat recovery system from Thermal Energy to help them meet their carbon emission reduction targets for 2015.
Laundry
GEM® traps enable laundries to increase their daily output and improve equipment longevity while dramatically reducing costs despite rising fuel prices. Suitable for all steam powered processes such as ironers, tumble dryers, presses, space heaters and line drainage, the GEM® traps’ absence of mechanical parts eliminates excessive wear on steam processing equipment and reduces maintenance.
A laundry previously using mechanical steam traps has achieved a payback of less than 12 months on energy savings alone. Experiencing zero trap failures, the laundry has saved on annual maintenance and replacement costs, and has eliminated inconvenient maintenance schedules.
A leading washroom hygiene service fulfilled its energy reduction pledge by installing GEM® steam traps and achieved a payback within 12 months. With a verified 10% savings in gas consumption and 14% reduction in steam, the company replaced all mechanical steam traps with GEM® traps in its two other facilities.
An Italian industrial laundry was able to restore reliable steam production by replacing failed mechanical traps with GEM® traps in their tumble dryers, steam presses, dryers, wrapping and sterilization machines.
Pharmaceutical
Pharmaceutical manufacturing requires a high level of care and specialized process. For this reason, GEM® traps are used throughout pharmaceutical sites to improve reliability on sterilization processes, to increase process control on reactors, to reduce steam leakage on line drainage applications, and to improve energy consumption on clean steam generators, dehumidifiers, humidifiers, heating and frost coils. Each GEM® trap is carefully sized to suit each application so longevity, reliability and process performance are assured.
All GEM® steam traps are made from 100% stainless steel, ideal for the quality and cleanliness requirements specific to the pharmaceutical sector. In addition, GEM® steam traps release condensate at a steady rate, not “on/off” like mechanical traps, resulting in more steady temperature and pressure control.
GEM® was named the steam trap of choice for an international pharmaceutical and health-care group after achieving steam savings of 8% with low-pressure steam at 3bar (45 psi), which provided a payback in just 12 months. Since then, additional GEM® traps were installed on drip legs, kettle re-boilers, heat exchangers, heating batteries, air conditioning units and humidification systems.
A top pharmaceutical company with an energy reduction target of 25% over a three-year period achieved the target in less than 12 months by replacing all mechanical traps with GEM® traps. In addition, their process plant reduced annual carbon dioxide emissions by 3,300 tones.
As part of an international energy saving program, a major pharmaceutical company has converted over 50% of its global trap population to GEM®. GEM® traps continue to be fitted in the company’s facilities throughout the world.
Pulp and Paper
Paper manufacturers have found that GEM® traps reduce energy consumption and maintenance when they are fitted to heated cylinders/rolls, pocket ventilation heaters, steam to water heat exchangers, space heaters, steam turbines, boilers and line drainage. In addition to substantially reducing steam leakage and improving equipment performance and reliability, GEM® traps eliminate the requirement to hold costly spare parts.
Failing mechanical traps were causing insufficient heat output from an auxiliary heat recovery heat exchanger at a major paper mill. The problem was eliminated by installing GEM® stream traps, which also minimized water logging and water hammer. As a result, the mill implemented a progressive retrofit of all remaining mechanical traps with GEM® traps.
A paper mill owned and operated by an international ISO 14001 certified organization observed a payback of less than five months following the installation of GEM® stream traps at the mill’s coater machines, paper machines, heaters and containerboard machines. GEM® traps were subsequently fitted in other areas of the site.
In 2005, a specialist paper manufacturer retrofitted GEM® traps as part of an energy reduction program and observed a payback in less than 7 months. The original GEM® traps still operate efficiently, and the company continues to benefit from increased condensate return and reduced water consumption.