Following a presentation by Thermal Energy International in 2007, a partial survey was carried out on some of the steam equipment at the 180,000 square metre site which found that around 10% of the mechanical traps had either failed open, shut or partially open.
Following these findings, the company decided to test a GEM steam trap on a metered trial. The steam consumption of the mechanical traps was recorded and in 2009 eight mechanical traps, used on heat exchangers, air conditioning units, humidification systems and drip legs, were exchanged for GEM.
Six months after installing the GEM steam traps, the company was making steam savings of 8% with low-pressure steam at 3-bar, which will provide a payback to the company in just 12 months. Following these findings, 20 GEM venturi orifice steam traps were installed in the oldest part of the production site with very positive results.
Since then a total of 30 GEM traps have been installed on drip legs, kettle reboilers, heat exchangers, heating batteries and humidification systems with a further 20 traps being ordered for installation this year.
The customer’s Energy Manager said,
We were conscious that mechanical steam traps create endless problems in industrial plants as a result of their poor reliability and significant maintenance requirements. With GEM we have identified a solution that encompasses energy savings and minimum maintenance.
