Maximise Fuel Use and Site Life Through Heat Recovery and Steam Trap Efficiency
With demand for healthy and sustainable food high on the global agenda, aquaculture, as a means of increasing food resources responsibly, is a growing sector. As a leading supplier of feed and nutrition for farmed fish, the processing site consistently looks for ways to maintain and improve production at its facilities worldwide.
With the location’s boiler up to capacity, the site was faced with the prospect of decommissioning the existing plant. In addition to investing in a new energy centre the downtime caused would affect production and have a significant cost implication.
In response, the multinational company enlisted the expertise of Thermal Energy International which, after a detailed site survey, recommended installing a heat recovery system to recycle heat normally lost through the stack or exhaust. This system would see waste heat recovered from the site’s biomass boiler’s exhaust used to preheat the boiler makeup water and dryer inlet air. This reduced the load on the boiler, extending the life of the energy centre.
Direct Technology, Direct Savings
Thermal Energy designed and installed its proprietary FLU-ACE direct contact condensing heat recovery technology on the site’s 5MW biomass boiler. By cooling the exhaust gas to below its dew point, the FLU-ACE captures high levels of evaporated water present in the flue gas as a result of burning the biomass hydrocarbon fuel.
Moisture produced as a result of burning the biomass hydrocarbon fuel needed to be converted into sensible heat. Only by using a condensing heat recovery system could the valuable energy in the latent heat be captured.
The Regional Manufacturing Director said;
In addition to the fuel savings, our biomass boiler is now running more efficiently – extending the life of our energy centre and improving its resilience. I recommend the FLU-ACE heat recovery solution based on quality of workmanship and great
communication between TEI and my team. The implementation, installation, and commissioning process were carried out smoothly, with no disruption to our production.
Specialist Design and Deployment
Given the nature of the boiler’s exhaust stream, the unit was specially developed to cope with particles and pollutants which allowed it to operate with minimal maintenance. As a result, the project achieved the removal of up to 90% of PM including PM2.5 and approximately 20% reduction in NOx and SO₂.
Taking just four months to complete, the project included an initial survey, site visits, manufacturing and final commissioning. To date, the project has not only increased the resilience of the site’s energy centre, it has also improved system efficiency by up to 32%. This equates to an energy saving of more than £126,500 a year.
With predicted lifecycle fuel savings of over £2 million, payback is expected to be no more than two and a half years. As a result of its reduced energy consumption, the plant has also reduced its carbon footprint. Each year, a total of 660 tonnes of CO₂ will be saved contributing towards the business’s wider sustainability targets
